Darkened Skye

The Good
The story is not new, but the way it is presented is fairly unique. The history behind the events evolves gradually as the game progresses.

I can't recall any other game that incorporates candy pieces in a similar manner. Similar to runes or reagents in other games, colored Skittles need to be found and used to build the magic spells. Once a spell is "built" with two or more Skittles, it can be selected and cast with Skye's staff. The selection process is a bit awkward, however, for both spells and inventory items.

While the graphics of the worlds Skye visits are only mediocre, the characterization of Skye herself is that of a very attractive young woman with realistic movements and facial expressions. The NPCs and monsters are unique and, well, somewhat weird. Not that they are unpleasant, mind you, just strange and blocky in appearance.

The actress who voiced Skye did an excellent job portraying her emotions and feelings. The other voice actors also played their parts well.

The musical score is original and pleasant and the sound effects true to life. Since there is no option for subtitles, I turned off the music not long after starting the game just to hear the conversations, which most of the time include vital clues. Luckily, the most important things are recorded in Skye's journal, which also includes tips on what to do next.

The Quick Save and Load feature was a lifesaver .. literally.

The Bad
I'm an adventure player and accustomed to using a mouse. Action games are not my "thing", and this is definitely an action game with an adventure-like story. Objectives are not easy to determine and the worlds are poorly laid out - confusing at best.

The action moves using only keyboard keys were hard and frustrating for me. Maybe I need to invest in a push button keypad of some sort! Jumping was difficult especially because Skye bounced, sometimes right off the surface she landed upon. To compound the difficulty, many of the landing spots move or disappear within a few seconds adding the dreaded "timed segment" to the mix. In addition, just as soon as you think you've landed safely, a monster will spring up out of the gloom and knock you off again. Argh!

Monsters just rush towards you and attack .. no time for strategy .. and 99% of them had absolutely no "character" at all. They seemed only to be there as obstacles to getting from one place to another. And, they follow you, so there seems to be no escape! Killing them, even the "bosses", gave me very little satisfaction other than to be glad they were finally gone.

The Bottom Line
Darkened Skye is probably much better played on a console with a pad controller than it was in Windows using a keyboard. It is largely an arcade game with an adventure quest-type story brought to you in cut-scenes as you get farther along.

I can't tell you how many times I quit in frustration only to return to try again. The phrase "Practice makes perfect" comes to mind as I recall my many failed jumping and battle attempts. I'm writing this review after cursing the game one more time, quitting and calling it "stupid" - and I'm not even halfway through!

I cannot recommend this game to adventure players like me .. and can only surmise that it might be okay for action players who are more apt than I am using the controls. It will be a miracle if I ever finish it!