SkyDrift Infinity (Nintendo Switch) – The test

After playing around with Mario Kart and all the experiences close to it on Switch, maybe you feel the need to skim through new things. After cars, karts or anti-gravity, maybe it's time to just get into a cockpit and take flight in plane races. This is what the THQ Nordics studio offers with SkyDrift Infinity. Installed behind the controls of our devices and after having flown through the few races of the game, it is time for us to come back to earth to tell you about this experience.

SkyDrift Infinity is available for fifteen euros on theeShop.

An aerial experience far from endless

Take Diddy Kong Racing, keep the planes, make it more realistic and less cute and then you get something akin to SkyDrift Infinity. The second term of the title serves to embellish a game that already exists elsewhere and thus includes all the updates and all the bonuses released. We can say that the Infinity here is a synonym for Deluxe. We thus have a racing game whose single player is divided into 3 main game modes: Powerful, Speed ​​and Survival. Unlike the first game that we mentioned at the very beginning, SkyDrift Infinity is a very arcade-style racing game experience. So, don't look for a single player/story mode since we're getting straight to the point here by just plane racing. That being said, the racing experience will not be completely the same depending on the plane chosen but especially on the game mode chosen.

When it comes to planes, they all have different stats influencing their handling and performance on the racetrack. It is better to try each device in order to familiarize yourself with it and then choose the one that seems best suited to each circuit and game mode. In racing, we have a key to move forward, another to slow down, we have a consuming acceleration key. energy accumulated during the race, a bonus button to use which we will come back to, another button to observe its rear, our left stick allows you to move the plane in different directions then the right stick allows you to control the wings in order to turn them and have a better angle when turning. These are the basics of game control.

As for the game modes, let's detail them in the order listed above. In Powerful mode, let's take the example of Diddy Kong but on a realistic setting and we have described everything. It's a plane race with bonuses to collect on the circuit and use to your advantage to reach 1st place at the end of the allotted laps. In Speed ​​mode, let's remove the power-ups and put speed boost rings on the track. Control of your device and speed are essential in this mode. As for Survival mode, it is a race in which time is very limited and you must above all destroy your opponents with bonuses in order to be the last survivor within the allotted time. A much more aggressive game mode if you need to let off some steam after a few races.

We also have Deathmatch battle modes for those who just want to get in the face. In single player, the game presents several cups with several circuits themselves offered in several game modes. A cup can offer a circuit A in Powerful mode followed by a circuit B in Survival mode for example. The idea is not bad in itself to offer something other than classic cups like any other racing game and try to bring variety. We can also strongly affirm that it is this search for variety which motivated this attempt by the developers. In fact, we are only entitled to a selection of 6 circuits throughout the game playable in the different modes. A terribly meager number of circuits and the developers use their different game modes to give an illusion of variety. Needless to say, it doesn't work very well when the number of circuits is so meager and ridiculous.

It’s a shame especially since we have the Infinity version, therefore “Deluxe” with all the additions! This is all the more regrettable since the gameplay and game mode variations are good. The handling is good, it will just potentially take a little time to adapt to the movement and wing control manipulations in order to grasp the subtleties to be applied differently in the different game modes. We have a good feeling of speed and impact of blows. The experience would have been much more relevant with more circuits and content since the number of planes can also be counted easily on the fingers. They are much more numerous than the circuits fortunately but we are far from the exorbitant number of vehicles and circuits offered by many other racing games.

All this means that SkyDrift Infinity's only argument in the genre is ultimately almost due to the fact that we play planes, which is cool but insufficient. The lifespan is also broken down on the ground in solo and you will have to be content to replay the same circuits while potentially trying to achieve the best times. The game offers local split-screen multiplayer for up to 4 players with other game options, if you manage to get some friends together as well as their interest in the title which is much less attractive at first glance than a good Mario Kart. There is also online multiplayer which allows you to regain interest and extend this minimal lifespan a little further, but let's dare say that you will now have to invoke the deities to find people with whom to play on Nintendo Switch and in an environment quality online. Again, if you have friends who bought the game on Nintendo Switch, then maybe the game is worth the money.

On a technical level, the port on Nintendo comes out with honors, the game in its realistic style is rather pleasant to the eye on TV as on portable. Far from being perfect for those with a keen eye, but as far as we're concerned, we found the title rather beautiful. In addition, an important thing for a racing game: the framerate. At this level, the studio makes concessions and some fairly ugly effects to keep a framerate at 60 FPS even on a portable device even if it means having more blur. A framerate that is maintained at 2 players in split screen then the studio rightly prefers the past at 30 FPS when we have more players.

Furthermore, the option remains quite strange given its non-existent contribution but we have a “Quality” and “Performance” option so that the game adapts its framerate and its finesse according to the option chosen by the players. We are talking about non-existent contribution since we struggle to see the graphic improvements of the “Quality” mode with its framerate increasing to 30 FPS. You might as well play in “Performance” if you want to have the same quality at 60 FPS. Let's end with the sound ambiance of the game which will not leave an impression although the themes simply accompany the game well. But let's be honest, we no longer have any memory of them outside of the game and we remember more of the noise plane explosion.

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