Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 comes from the development studios of Atypical Games which is a studio not new to aerial combat or war games. Having released plenty of aerial combat games in the past, the studio has brought back the Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy franchise to life with Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2. Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 is an aerial dogfighter game that brings plenty of content for both hardcore and casual flight game lovers. This is our review of the Nintendo Switch version of Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 in which we destroy some enemy jet fighters after intense dogfights.
Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 offers a single-player campaign with 14 missions for you to complete in various difficulties. If you want to play something different, you can jump into any of the 8 offline custom game modes. These range from Free-For-All dogfights, Team Deathmatch, Survival, Capture the Flag, and so on. Each of these modes is different and comes with its own unique challenges and gameplay requirements. The same number of modes are also available with Multiplayer mode so you can take the action online and challenge your friends and people from around the world in aerial dogfights and more.
For starting with the game, you will definitely go with the game’s Singleplayer campaign, which serves as the spotlight of Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2. You begin with two tutorial missions that guide you through both basic flight controls and weapons training. After completing the tutorial missions, you are all set to tackle the 14-mission strong campaign of the title. You can follow the story or not, it depends completely on you since there are no proper cutscenes in the game, and you are fed the story through text on the screen. It is not really immersive but if you want to follow the story, you do get plenty of text-based narrative screens throughout the campaign. Mission briefings are cool with animations on a map.
The missions are meaty, and they offer plenty of objectives for you to complete. The developer certainly did not half-baked these missions as well. You start a mission by taking off an airport or an aircraft carrier, destroying aerial or ground threats, and then you must land back on the ground to successfully complete a mission. The objectives during the missions are typical where you must destroy enemy squads of fighter jets, take care of ground targets, and then take care of some more enemy fighters. Sometimes you have to protect cities or certain targets or installations from enemy attacks as well keeping the objectives varied and diverse.
The missions are set in various locations around the world such as Rio, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Antarctica. There are eight unique locations that are obviously not accurate but are just mere representatives of how they are in the real world for example an icy tundra or an urban area. Since this is a Nintendo Switch release, the ground details are not that good however the fighter jets and other animations look really good in the game. You rarely fly closer to the ground to notice this but if you are someone who loves flying low, you should be ready for this. Overall, the visuals of Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 do justice to the system and the game.
Before I dig into the gameplay of Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2, do note that I switched to the controller setting 1B. There is no option for custom controls on the Nintendo Switch, but you can choose from four preset settings to go for the option that suits your gameplay style. You have all of the basic options that you find in any dogfighter along with the option of performing 4 evasive maneuvers easily. You can control the pitch, yaw, and speed, use Boost, switch between weapons, fire gun and roll left or right, and all that. The directional keys are dedicated to the four evasive maneuvers that you can perform during combat for ease of execution. If your jet is going down, you can also eject from the plane to save your life which is a cool feature in the game.
The controls do feel that they are responsive however it is important that you choose the setting that suits your gameplay because it is vital for enjoying Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2. During my initial hours, I was using the setting 1A which had the roll on the right joystick, and I was not enjoying the game because most of the jetfighter titles I’ve played have the roll on the left joystick. Once I had this taken care of, I actually started to enjoy my time with the game. Every plane in the game feels unique as some of them are more suited for dogfights while some of them are more suited for ground combat.
There are no officially licensed fighter jets in Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 however each plane in the game is based off a real fighter jet and their stats pretty much match them as well for example you have Sukhoi-based aerial combat fighters which excel in dogfights and then you have an A10 Warthog-inspired ground combat plane along with many others in the game. As you complete missions and reach Ace Point goals, you unlock new fighter jets, skins, and more customization options for your fighters. The gameplay is a mix between simulation and arcade, but I will say that it is more oriented towards arcade rather than simulation.
The fighters respond well to controller inputs, and this is visible during intense dogfights. Another thing I noticed is that the AI is really smart in the game. Both your squadmates and the enemy AI behave really well in the game. If you issue attack commands to your squad, they will actively seek and destroy enemies while enemy fighter jets will actively try to dodge your missiles and look for chances to get a lock on you as well. I did not remember any point in the game when the enemy AI was just flying around aimlessly and doing nothing. At harder difficulties, it really becomes a nightmare.
You can issue both attack and defend commands to your squad and they will actively perform their duty. While in defense, they will stay near you, and if anyone gets a lock on you, your squadmates will hunt them down. If you have missiles on your tail, you can dodge them using the evasive maneuvers or even use flares or turn off your radar to dodge them. All of this combines together to deliver a package that feels whole. I was looking for a decent jetfighter game for the Nintendo Switch for a long time and I think that Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 is currently enough to quench my dogfighting thirst on the go.
Final Verdict:
With so few options on the Nintendo Switch when it comes to fighter jet games, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 is one title that will surely please fans of aerial combat. The controls are slick and there is plenty of action going on through each of the missions. Couple that with online multiplayer modes and Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 is one solid dogfighter for the Nintendo Switch. Just make sure that you switch to custom controls as the default controls might not be for everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the title and one thing I miss is the real-licensed planes in the game but then again, we are gradually getting there. If you wanted a good dogfighting game filled with action and plenty of different modes to play, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 2 is the perfect title for you.
Final Score: 8.5/10
