DropShot from Aerial_Knight captures the excitement of skydiving and makes it elegant

I’ve always wanted to go skydiving. Aerial_Knight drop shotfrom indie developer Aerial_Knight, lets me live that dream — at least in a safe, virtual way. It also lets me fire bullets from finger guns, use laser skulls, and wear cool sunglasses while falling through the air. So it’s probably better than the real thing.

You play as a character named Smoke Wallace, who was bitten by a dragon and given a finger gun that can actually fire bullets, and then you drop down to Earth and try to take out bad guys with that finger gun or by punching them up close. It’s a first-person game, and the perspective really helps sell the feeling of falling through the sky.

Your goal is to survive each level without taking more than two hits from bad guys or any other hazards like lasers, all while taking out as many enemies as quickly as possible. Your gun has a limited number of bullets, but you can refill your ammo by shooting or flying at the balloons you’ll see as you fall.

Each level is short. I finished most of them in 45 seconds to a minute and a half. Ultimately, you get a letter grade based on how many enemies you eliminate, maxing out at S+++ if you reach a certain goal for each level. Since terrain, obstacles, enemies, and speed promote appearing in the same place in each level, repeating them to try to get that high score turns each level into fast-paced FPS puzzles that you can solve to find the optimal route.

The game exudes style. Smoke Wallace has purple skin due to his dragon bite. He’s wearing sunglasses, and you can choose different modes that give you different powers to find eggs, such as one that briefly lets you fire six finger guns at a time. Every time you kill a bad guy, the game briefly transitions into slow motion. You’ll also face bosses including dragons and flying tanks. And all the while, you’ll enjoy a great heavy metal soundtrack.

I’m done with it Dropshot About two and a half hours later, and I can spend more time grinding out the S+++ results if I want. But I think the short length is in the game’s favor: Dropshot It explores its core mechanics in 50 fantastic levels rather than expanding everything into something that would wear out. Even when I was nearing the end, I was still excited every time I flew through the sky.