Reviews / previews
Skydive!, the debut title on Electronic Arts' extreme
adventures label Gonzo Games (the next one is, I kid
you not, Ted Nugent Wild Hunting Adventure), offers
nothing for gamers or skydiving enthusiasts. You'll
have more fun dropping a bunch of those plastic
paratroopers off your rooftop than playing Skydive-and
the sim aspects will be about as good.
The $20 game doesn't even come close to recreating
the adrenaline rush of jumping out of an airplane and
watching the earth approach at 100 mph as the wind
whistles through
your head and
makes your eyes
water. And with
cheeseball features
such as automatic
landings, it's not
realistic enough to
interest skydiving
experts or serve in
some kind of
instructional role.
You're left with a boring, basic, budget game whose
best feature is the ability to chose the type of
soundtrack you favor. The diving itself is simple-click
to jump out of the airplane, hear the same silly
"yeeeehaw" soundbite whether you're the male or
female diver, then use a right-mouse-click to go from
a spread-eagle position to a tuck, move the mouse
left and right to perform various tricks, and finally click
the spacebar to pull the ripcord. A quick look at the
"skydive.pdf" file will have you performing the advanced tricks in no time at all
since the controls are so basic.
There are three components: accurate
landing where you try to freefall as fast as
you can before landing in the middle of a
bull's eye, target courses where you try to
maneuver through aerial hoops to get points,
and free flying where you get points for
performing tricks in a certain order.
Within minutes you'll be entering your initials
on the high score list and thinking how much
more fun it would be to throw this game from
a plane, sans chute.-- Willem Knibbe / GamePro
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