SkyGunner

Infobox VG| title = SkyGunner


developer = PixelArts
publisher = Atlus
designer =
engine =
released = June 25 2002
genre = Flight Combat
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Everyone
platforms = PlayStation 2
media = DVD
requirements =
input =

"SkyGunner" is a 3D shooting video game developed by PixelArts and released in 2001 in Japan for the PlayStation 2 by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released to the North American market on June 25, 2002 by Atlus USA.

The game is set in the steampunk genre. The type of gameplay is flight combat.

Characters

Ciel

Ciel is one of the three main playable characters, possessing the Avenir, a plane designed by Artisan. He could be considered the leader of the trio, seeing as he is the one in the lead whenever the three are in formation normally. He has an optimistic personality, but can get excited sometimes.

Avenir

Avenir possesses the same loadout as Femme's, with Fireworks, Cross, and Dog missiles, and the ability to acquire 3 lock ons. It's special is actually 2 specials, the Air Brakes and Heavy Fire. Air Brakes momentarily stop his plane, but they're mainly only used to get to his second special, which is Heavy Fire. By firing the normal cannons, he launches a huge volley of powerful, accurate shots from his cannons, at the expense of both lots of money and lots of heat. The strength of the cannon more than makes up for it though, being able to take out the medium size airships in a single volley if they're hit in their weak areas.

Its ingame stats are as follows:
Durability: B
Balance Recovery: B
Maneuverability: B

Other

In mission 3, he is spotted by Rival as he takes out some of Ventre's troops. Rival takes a bit of a shine to his skill and decides to engage Ciel in a dogfight. Depending on how the player does during the dogfight, the cutscene at the end of the mission varies slightly, although Ciel's engine still begins malfunctioning, forcing him to emergency land. Rival again returns for a dogfight during mission 5, impeding Ciel's assault on Ventre's flagship's metal buckles. Once again, the mission is altered depending on how well the player does in the fight, with the entire buckle segment skipped if they fail to defeat Rival.

Femme

Femme is one of the three main playable characters, possessing Branché, a plane designed by Horloger. She is also the only pilot who has more than one outfit while piloting. In addition to her normal brown outfit, she has a red dress in mission 1 (because of her suddenly having to launch from the Merveilleux to assist in its defense from Ventre), and a black dress in Mission 3 (due to needing to quickly engage Ventre's forces to prevent the theft of a telescope, which cut short her dinner). She has a rather calm personality, staying collected and focused even while in thick combat with Ventre's multitudes of weapons and troops.

Branché

Branché is fast, tough, and mobile, easy to fly and easy to destroy Ventre's forces with. It supports the same loadout as Ciel's, with Fireworks, Cross, and Dog missiles, and can get up to 3 locks before firing. All in all, it is a solid choice to play as, with strong balanced stats, and a useful special in the form of Active Turn, which for a small amount of heat allows the player to instantly face the targeted enemy, which makes long strafing runs and dogfighting easy. It's also the only plane which has its gunner standing up instead of seated, but this is purely cosmetic and doesn't affect gameplay. Femme and Branché is the easiest pair to pilot in the game.

Its stats ingame are as follows:
Durability: A
Balance Recovery: A
Maneuverability: A

Other

In mission 1, she can get shot down as she leaves the Merveilleux, if you are playing as Ciel and fail to destroy the large airship right outside it. She is unharmed, but is unable to participate in the rest of the mission due to damage to her plane.

Copain

Copain is the last of the three main playable characters, unlocked after beating Femme's storyline. He possesses Chevalier, designed by Associé. Copain is the "wild" one of the bunch, quick to get excited and always ready for a scrap.

Chevalier

Chevalier is one of the more odd planes in the lineup, having heavy firepower but low stability and possessing its own unique weapon along with an extremely powerful special attack and the ability to lock on 4 times instead of only 3. It sports the normal Fireworks and Dog missiles, but in place of the Cross missiles are powerful Pumpkin bombs. These, when scoring a direct hit on an enemy, are one of the most devastating attacks in the game, but are not very accurate and therefore are mostly useful against almost immobile targets. Chevalier's special maneuver is causes it to rapidly spin and make a vortex of wind, doing massive damage on a direct hit, and still being able to heavily damage or destroy smaller fighters caught in the wind. Copain and Chevalier is the toughest pair to pilot in the game.

Its ingame stats are as follows:
Durability: B
Balance Recovery: C
Maneuverability: B

Rival

Rival is unlocked via beating Ciel's campaign having won both dogfights against Rival. He flies Fantôme, created by Artisan. A calm and collected gunner, he is mysterious and unknown, having little explained even in his storyline.What is only known is that he owns a large mansion-contrast to Ciel,who lives in a garage of some sort-and doesn't live in Rive.He also has had a history of ganging up with Ventre in order to steal the precious artifacts of Rive and probablysold them off to other countries,so that's presumably why he has thatlarge mansion.He is the only character that wears eyeglasses in combat,whereas never revealing his eye color.

Fantôme

His plane is extremely fast and mobile, even appearing to possess a sort of rocket or jet boost system while he is boosting. However, as a trade off, it can take almost no damage before going into a spin, and it has horrid heat dispersion. Its primary gun is unique also, being an extremely accurate and rapid Gatling gun of sorts, able to take down larger targets easily with sustained firing on a weak spot. It also, like Copain, possesses a unique sub-weapon in its loadout. At the expense of Cross missiles, the Fantôme carries Bat missiles into combat, along with the standard Fireworks and Dog missiles, and can get 4 lock ons at once. The Bat missiles can home in on enemy targets, but unless the target is incapacitated somehow first, such as slowing down or getting hit with a Dog missile, they will most likely self destruct before being able to hit. Its special is almost a carbon copy of Ciel's, via first Air Braking then Heavy Fire. However, the Fantôme's Heavy Fire is different from Ciel's in that it disperses, hitting a large area in front of Rival for less damage each strike. It still maintains the incredible heat gain and money loss though. As one could guess, this is no plane for beginners, being best used by a veteran of the game.

Its ingame stats are as follows:
Durability: C
Balance Recovery: E
Maneuverability: A

Other

If you lose the first duel against Ciel while playing as Rival, in the remaining 2 campaign missions, your plane will look different. The Fantome's machine gun bullets will scatter like a shotgun blast and increase your gunsight.

Notes

*If the game is beaten with Ciel, Copain, and Femme (all being ranked 1st), you will unlock Hardi, Rive's police chief.
*The game is considered to take place during the Industrial Revolution in Europe .
*Rive is an actual place in Italy.
*The characters names, along with many other objects and machines when translated, describe their characteristics or roles in game. For instance, Ciel's name means "sky", for the fact that Ciel loves airplanes, Copain's name means "buddy", to the fact that he's Ciel's friend, Femme's name means "woman", because she's a woman, ventre means "stomach", as to his obesity, and poulet means "chicken", referring to Ventre's henchmen's frail bodies as well as the cowardice they display in battle when outnumbered or weakened. The "Merveilleux" when translated means "magnificent" a reference to the grandeur of the aforementioned ship.
*A Japanese voice option is included so you can listen to the original voice overs.

References

* [http://www.atlus.com/sg/ Official Webpage]
* [http://ps2.gamezone.com/gamesell/p19963.htm Description and screenshots]
* [http://www.playstation.jp/scej/title/skygunner/ Official Japanese Webpage]