To Infinity and.. well.. you know…
While THQ Nordic may have its name listed as its developer, the game’s opening screen illustrates something else entirely. Originally developed by Digital Reality, Skydrift once existed as a 2011 title on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. And for as much as I’ve been able to look into, there isn’t much new here apart from some cleaned-up visuals, better performance, and some new planes, with two oddly picked out of the Darksiders branding of all things. Still, Skydrift Infinity is a damn good time, for as long as it lasts, and if you aren’t looking to rely on its multiplayer suite.
For all its comparisons, Skydrift feels like a more realistic-looking take on the flying aspects of Diddy Kong Racing, complete with power-ups, weapons, and hoops that speed your plane ahead of the pack. Sure, there are other comparisons to be made, but more or less, that’s the pitch. While Infinity doesn’t seem to build on the original apart from a few new planes, the game released now that was technically released a decade ago stills remains strong, making for a very engaging racing game on modern consoles.
Skydrift Infinity has a very arcade feel to how its looks, sounds, and how it handles. It has a very forgiving nature towards brushing up against a cliffside or bouncing off the ground as you attempt to right your plane and regain control. Sure, you can slam into an arch or the side of a mountaintop facility, in an explosive fashion, but the super quick reload has you back in the thick of it in just seconds, always making you feel like you still have a leg in this race.
The campaign, which has seven overall chapters, is fairly short, and while the levels themselves are fantastic; including many death-defying turns in their level design, they are simply reused far too often. Each track is used multiple times to host the variety of modes and then reversed to host them yet again. While these environments are super fun to play around in, which is in large part to just how great the game feels, it’s a shame new levels were not created for Infinity, expanding on what worked so well, but ultimately comes up short because of this excessive reuse. We do get more variety in the versus modes for online play, but in regards to what THQ Nordic has done here, it’s yet another remaster that could have benefited from more content being added instead of just pushing the up-res button and sending it out the door.
Skydrift is built around incredibly fast-paced flying and the ability to quickly arch your plane with either a quick-turn button alongside the use of a brake, making sharp turns somewhat easier to pull off at the last minute, but the speed at which you can burn can make some turns almost too late before you smash into the cliffside. Flying feels incredibly responsive and has a fun arcadey feel that allows for some great handling no matter your ride. Each of the 16 planes available all feel good with a varying emphasis on speed, armor, boost, handling, and more. Each plane has four skins to unlock from either completing campaign missions or winning online. Thankfully, every single skin and plane is unlocked just by playing, with nothing hidden behind a paywall or DLC. If this feels like something of the past, it’s well, because much of the Skydrift here is a decade old in its design.
The modes you’ll take on vary in the form of Power, Survival, and Speed; each taking place in one of seven environments that are then reversed to incorporate them yet again. Power and Survival both act the same in regards to allowing the use of powerups, but Survival doesn’t warrant a first-place finish through the gate to win, but rather being first once the timer runs out. Speed removes the use of weapons and instead has you burning through speed hoops to win. The final challenge at the end of the campaign brings all these elements together in one epic race, it’s just a shame we only get the one level to do this in. Still, the modes are fun enough with Power being my favorite of the lot.
The power-ups you will use across your 16 available planes all vary despite not having any that are original in any capacity. Still, there are some ways the game does use them in unique ways. The power-ups you’ll be using are; homing rockets, machine guns, emp blasts, mines, shields, and a repair tool. What is interesting here is that capturing a second power-up while holding onto the first one is that you can power it up by collecting two of the same. You can also hold onto two different power-ups at once, or simply burn them all to gain more boost. This allows you to forgo combat to simply add to your boost, something that can also be gained back by flying low to the ground. The power-ups all feel good, especially the homing rockets that have you needing to line up your foe, allow the tracker to work its magic, and then hold down the button to fire off your entire volley of rockets. The mines, when powered up, lets you drop a spinning rotation of three mines instead of just one, just waiting for someone to fly through them. I’ve lost track of how many double or triple kills I’ve gained with many of these weapons and kills always feel satisfying.
Skydrift Infinity features seven locations; Lagoon, Avalanche, Dawn, Heatwave, The Damn, Wrecks, and the Petrol Coast. Lagoon is your first location, as well as where the game’s opening tutorial takes place. It’s also the course I felt was used the most. Avalanche and its winter theme is enjoyable, as are the locations where you’ll be flying through desert rock formations, lush jungles, or across a bed of lava. Each location is perfectly themed to stand out, I just wish more paths were opened up upon being reused or reversed. Though the Spit-Second type approach to a rock slide or an archway crumbling on your final lap is neat, I just wish it caused the level to change more so than just having to take the top path versus the crumbling bottom one. There are also a lot of shortcuts to master, usually requiring a bit more finesse to traverse them, but they can often ring true for victory if you can utilize them.
Given my review is based on having a pre-release copy, I’ve had to delay my finished draft to wait for lobbies to fill up via the first few days of launch, as no matter how long I waited, not a single other person ever joined those pre-release lobbies during the few days I spent with the game. And, even on launch day, I’ve yet to play with a full set of players, making its multiplayer likely to be a slow burn to gain at least some popularity due to word of mouth, or maybe it’s just dead on arrival as it appears to be. Still, the few matches I’ve played have been really enjoyable, I just wish I could have played with a full team to get a greater sense of what this game could be. Multiplayer allows you to jump into any of the available modes I’ve talked about, as well as deathmatch and team deathmatch, which were DLC modes in the original. You can have some local multiplayer with some bots in case you can’t find anyone to play with, but these are limited to just the racing modes available and not any of the direct combat modes, sadly. Thankfully, local multiplayer does include split-screen, which is a very much welcomed addition to Infinity.
As a single-player experience, Skydrift Infinity is a fast-paced affair with smart use of its weapons and boosting, making for a very enjoyable racer. The levels are designed to create thrills and death-defying turns across a variety of levels that do in some way become less impressive due to their excessive reuse. Still, the variety in planes and their available skins are worth unlocking, as are the various medals you can earn as well. However; the multiplayer experience of this game is questionable as no one seems to be playing this, least of all the number of players needed to get into a fully packed lobby. Had Skydrift Infinity launched on Game Pass, I could see lobbies filling up, but as it stands right now, its online lobbies are barren, making the game exist solely for its short and repetitive single-player campaign. It’s a shame, especially since Skydrift Infinity is such a blast to play due to its very arcadey feel that is very enjoyable as you pull off that out of nowhere sharp turn, firing off a mine to get that triple kill, securing that last second first-place finish in style.
Developer - THQ Nordic/Digital Reality. Publisher - THQ Nordic/HandyGames. Released - July 28th, 2021. Available On - Xbox One, Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Windows, Switch. Rated - (E 10+) Fantasy Violence, Users Interact. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X (Backwards Compatible mode). Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.