Fans of classic shooters like 1942 and Raiden are in for a real treat. Sky Force from Infinite Dreams offers classic gameplay elements wrapped up in a gorgeous design including textured 3D elements, gorgeous explosions and an advanced particle system – truly one of the most attractive games we’ve tested on any mobile device (and what’s more, it runs on all of them!).

Sky Force’s gameplay will be immediately familiar to anyone who played arcade or console games a decade ago: the landscape scrolls away beneath you, giving the impression of flying at high speed while you take charge of your ship, barrelling from side to side and nipping forward and backwards, all the time facing an onslaught of hundreds of enemy vehicles, ships and gun emplacements all with a single target: you. This is a tried and tested scenario which allows for development of your own game style.

The game’s sound effects and music are a little on the basic side, but respectable enough that they’re not a drawback from the main feature: the graphics. Every device we tested this game on responded well to the graphically intense design and Infinite Dreams’ benchmarking tool, which tests the capabilities of your phone, Palm or Pocket PC before play, is a good addition that helps ensure that the game’s graphics are tailored to your device’s capabilities. This is a feature that other mobile developers would do well to implement.

While the Palm and Pocket PC versions both feature excellent stylus-based control, handling the game is easy on all platforms, especially if you make use of the awesome ‘autofire’ option… whatever anyone says, it’s not cheating!

Sky Force offers a high level of enjoyment on a wide range of devices and doesn’t compromise on graphical quality just because it’s running on a small screen. In all, it’s a fun and well designed game which we highly recommend.