I have to admit, we wanted to dislike this game. There are just so many Zuma clones that the world can bear, and as a sequel to Atlantis, this is actually a sequel of a clone of a clone. That’s not a pedigree to inspire confidence in innovation. However, there is a surprising amount of new and interesting stuff in Atlantis: Sky Patrol that gives it a certain raison d’etre that other ball shooters don’t have. And we get bonus points for busting out our college French in a game review.

There are three major innovations in the game. Two of them totally rock, and one is… well at least they tried, and we do give points for effort around here. The first is a “stop playing a level when you want” dynamic, which gives you some non-mobile targets to shoot at. When you have destroyed all of them the level is over. So you can hang back and take your time playing for points or you can power through the levels in a minute or two each. It’s a great level of control, and puts power in the player’s hands – always a good thing. The second is the ability to collect coins to buy permanent upgrades for your paddle/shooter/thingey. This gives some point to all of the shooting: buying stuff to shoot better. Sure, we see the circularity of that logic, but we’re cool with it.

On the “Not so cool, but at least they tried” part of the game… there is the multiplayer. Basically, you can plug a couple of mice into your computer, and play two-player. The problem is: who has 2 mice? And are you really going to crawl back behind your computer past the spiderwebs and fossilized burrito scraps to plug it into your last remaining USB port? And even if you were that hardcore, who has room at their desk for two people to use mice? I don’t know about you, but unless we’ve swapped spit, you’re not sitting at my desk while I’m at it, I can tell you that. That being said, a lot of people have home wireless and a couple of laptops – isn’t it time for some of these games to have online or LAN multiplayer? Maybe this is a step in the right direction, at least.

As for the story, it ends up being the real weakness of the game. We’re not big fans of the art deco retro-future steam punk theme, but I guess some people are. In truth, people love or hate steam punk. It’s like rockabilly music or anchovies: there is no middle ground. But that’s not really the problem. The problem is that they did very little with the theme, so even if you liked steam punk, you might feel let down. The story ends up being some great level names and some strangely bland backgrounds. Overall, most of the art in this game was somewhat reminiscent of hotel art: designed to be completely inoffensive. Which it is. To its own detriment.

In all, it’s a great little ball-shooter, and is likely going to do well. People who like these games will find much to enjoy, and people who aren’t already acquainted with ball shooters… well, they’re probably not reading this article anyway. So go give it a look.

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