Review: SkyDrift Infinity – PS5, PS4

SkyDrift to infinity… and beyond!

Kart racers are all the rage these days, but what about plane racers? That’s a sorely overlooked genre and one that has been neglected by an industry too busy chasing after Mario and his gold coins. They’re even going after his fighting games!

Game Information
Release Date: July 29th, 2021
Developer: Digital Reality
Publisher: HandyGames
Availability: PSN (Digital)

SkyDrift Infinity is a simple but fun sky-racing game and it plays out like your typical kart racer. You fly along pre-determined tracks, collecting offensive and defensive pickups along the way, blasting those who dare to overtake you, and avoiding the incoming aggression from those in your slipstream. Powerups can be recycled and turned into energy for your boost gauge if you prefer the pacifist approach. I don’t. I wake up every day and choose violence, or so I’ve been told…

I must admit that when I was playing the tutorial, I was ready to write this one off as another shoddy kart racer, but by the end of the helpful lesson I kind of liked it, and after a couple of races, I was hooked.

SkyDrift Infinity is split between seven chapters and each one is unlocked by completing a set number of races in the previous chapter. You also unlock new planes by progressing through the campaign.

[irp posts=72676]

There’s a nice variety of planes, each with attributes so you can decide which is best for the job at hand, as well as unlockable skins for completing challenges. There are even a couple of cheeky surprises for fans of Darksiders. Yeah, THQ is throwing its properties together willy nilly, but it’s all good fun. Shared universe confirmed?

There are three different types of races. You have your traditional race where whoever is first after a set number of laps is the winner. Standard stuff. Then you have Survival, which eliminated whoever is in last place every 30 seconds. I didn’t like this mode as much as the normal races because… well, I couldn’t win. Honestly, I just could not beat the in-game racer called Ruby, who is an absolute savage and if her A.I ever becomes sentient, we’re all screwed.

And finally, there are the Speed races, which does away with the powerups and instead puts rings throughout the track. Hit the rings for a speed boost and try not to smash into a wall. Easier said than done, in my experience…

[irp posts=71991]

The normal races were my favourites because at heart I’m a traditionalist. Drifting my plane around canyons, swooping under glaciers, and squeezing through crevices as the other racers piled on me with rockets, bullets, and all the rest was really good fun and it reminded me of an arcade game from years gone by, whose name I have sadly forgotten.

If I had to complain about anything, it would be that the pickups could have done with a bit of extra variety – that, and being a bit bigger and easier to pick up.

SkyDrift Infinity is a lovely little arcade racer that I can’t find any major faults with – something of a rarity these days! It’s fun, it looks great, it runs well, and it’s very fairly priced at just $15/£13, which is great value pocket-money gaming and reflective of the overall package. There’s even online multiplayer and local split-screen, which is a nice touch.

There aren’t nearly enough sky-racing games out there, and even fewer decent ones. SkyDrift Infinity has earned its right to be called one of the best, even if it takes that title by default.

Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out using a copy of the game provided by the publisher. For more information, please read our Review Policy.

Primary version tested: PS4. Reviewed using PS5.