Sky Blazer

So like, this gives me the impression that I'm going to set the sky on fire. That's pretty badass. I mean, I knew that, in reality, that wasn't going to be the case. But think about a game where you're like a skywriter but with fire... maybe like tron lightcycles but with fireplanes. Yes.

I played Sky Blazer for as long as it took to listen to LCD Soundsystem’s “Drunk Girls” (great song). Well, maybe a bit longer. Maybe 5 minutes. But you know what? Sky Blazer is kind of awesome. It’s got beat’em up elements in a Mega Man style form where you trek through levels, jump, climb, and punchkick a things.

Also, aren’t you glad we don’t have to deal with games with passwords anymore? I am, because fuck that.

But hey, here’s a thing that’s neat. So I’m listening to LCD Soundsystem’s “Drunk Girls” (still pretty great), and I’m reminded of basically how for my entire youth I set the sound-scape for games. Like, if I think about Super Mario Kart, I think about The Cranberries’ No Need to Argue. This is because I listened to that album a ton while I played that game. If I think about Mario Kart 64, I can hear Silverchair’s Frogstomp. I had a friend who once started up with World of Warcraft again because he was listening to Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm and it reminded him of the Barrens (because when he played before, he used to listen to that album a lot).

You and me both, man.

I don’t listen to albums while I game so much anymore. Games have more and more spoken dialogue. Some games have audio cues that more or less require that I be able to hear what’s going on. I actually sort of miss this. I think it’s why I like games like Audiosurf so much. Sure, some games on the Xbox (does this even happen on the 360 anymore?) allow you to make your own playlists for music while you play. Built to Spill songs remind me of Sega GT 2002. Oh man… and Bushido Blade for the Playstation is totally linked (for me, anyway) to Radiohead’s Ok Computer which is pretty neat.

Anyway, sometimes I miss those days. I find myself playing games like Mass Effect 2 and being annoyed when a city transit bus drives by my windows and drowns out a dialogue between me and that slutty (liberated) ships yeoman. I’d never put an album on over that game, but the game is also like 40 hours long. I don’t always feel like listening to sci-fi tones. I know I can read the subtitles, but it feels like I’m not doing it right.

Sometimes you take a screenshot and you're like "this is a pretty shitty screenshot that doesn't really capture the action" but you're also not about to start the game up again and take more screenshots. My life is a rich tapestry, you guys.

So anyway… I’m just saying that Skyblazer is ok. It’s better than I thought it would be. I probably would have loved this game when I was kid. I’m a sucker for a good platformer. But I’m also a sucker for “Drunk Girls” (It’s got such a great video). Go play it, and put on a good album while you’re at it.