Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire

We can forgive a game for being too ambitious for its own good, trying something bold, and possibly falling short. The trouble with Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is that it tries to deliver something we've seen before and still manages to fail at it. Even if you stripped out every technical issue, improved the camera, and polished up the visuals, you would still be left with a painfully average gaming experience. Sky Oceans doesn't even crash and burn – it fails to leave the runway.

Despite its earnest story and the potential, Sky Oceans struggles to soar due to its obtuse gameplay systems, dull combat, and raft of glitches.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire should have been great. However, poor controls and slow and repetitive gameplay hold it back. It's a shame as the storytelling was fun and I liked the lore.

There's so much potential here, but Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire just feels rushed and unpolished. I had high hopes, but they just didn't fly.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is a self-proclaimed love letter to Japanese RPGs of yesteryear, but issues with gameplay and lack of polish hold back an otherwise promising game.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is a game with a lot of heart and ambition. It mildly revisits elements from JRPG classics like Skies of Arcadia while trying to bring new ideas into the fold. While the nostalgic appeal to the atmosphere, style, and gameplay has its merits, the game depends too much on it, making it a bit lackluster on many fronts.

Although the game is beautiful and the premise is cool, in addition to the idea of ​​exploring the air and being the bosses of our own crew, the dullness of several moments in the game, the bugs, the difficulties in controlling and the repetitiveness of the combat - in addition to its slowness and simplicity - end up making the title much less enjoyable than it should, and could, be.

I really feel like Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire had the potential to be a charming and engaging RPG, but it falls short in many areas which keeps it from getting airborne. The clunky controls, repetitive gameplay and numerous tech issues make it a really frustrating experience rather than an enjoyable one. Don’t be tricked by the fantastic ‘Studio Ghibli’ visuals because sadly its all smoke and mirrors with this one; the visual design just isn’t enough to save this game.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is a game that had a lot of potential by bringing a very interesting concept, exploring dogfights in an RPG context with a focus on strategy. The game has a number of technical problems that could have been solved with a little more development time. It's also important to highlight the dedication to the game's visual presentation, which is very charismatic and will please animation fans. Something that the studio can benefit from in new projects.

All-in-all, Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is a decent enough RPG with an engaging story. It should run flawlessly on pretty much anything you can throw it at made in the last decade and there's a demo available to try it out before committing to it.