Get Smashing With Blocky Pop Culture Icons In The Quirky Arcade Game SkyFehl
SkyFehl (Free) by Chris Worman is an addictive arcade game that will keep you playing with the quirky, upbeat humor and characters. If you’re looking for a unique little game to keep you entertained in short bursts of time, then look no further than SkyFehl.
When I’m bored, I always end up playing some kind of game on my iPhone to kill some time. These games aren’t long, epic adventures, such as Oceanhorn, but rather, just little games that are easy to pick-up-and-play, and you can put it down at any time without losing anything. On my search through the App Store this week, I stumbled upon SkyFehl. I’ll admit — it looked weird at first, but I’m really glad I decided to give this game a try.
The visuals in SkyFehl are something else. It’s like a mix of crudely drawn bulky characters and Mario-like backgrounds that are done in a blocky style like Minecraft. It looks a bit boring at first, but the entire screen will change once you start acquiring the various power-ups — you’ll have a “RAVE LOL” color scheme, old-school 8-bit “Indie Garage,” black & white “Senior Demographic,” and even a drug-induced inverted color theme — there’s something for everyone in this game! Of course, these are just the ones I’ve found so far — there’s more to discover.
The music is bizarre and catchy, and quite the thing to listen to as you play. The various power-ups not only change the appearance of the game, but they will change the background music as well. So whenever you grab one, prepare to hear something different. However, all of them are quite delightful to listen to, because it’s part of the game’s charm.
The game itself is a bit unusual. In the rudimentary world, meteors are falling from the sky, and it’s up to you to stop them from destroying the earth. There are currently 15 different pop culture characters that you can play as, such as the Yellow Ranger, Ken from Street Fighter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, and more. Keep in mind that these are imitations of the originals, probably for legal reasons, and they will all have their own unique lines at the start of the game as well as when they die. The character you get to play as will be randomly selected each time, so it will always be a surprise — that’s what life is all about, right?
Now, with the sky raining meteors down to Earth, you’ll need to get rid of them somehow. To move your character left and right, just tap and hold on the side of the screen that you want to move towards. You’ll need to hit the meteors from the sides to destroy them, and you can get anywhere from 10 to 20 points for a successful hit. If they hit the ground, though, you lose three points. And if they hit your head, then it’s game over — you just weren’t “good enough,” according to the game. It starts out pretty slow and simple, but things will become hectic quite fast, as meteors start falling faster and there are multiples coming at once.
As I mentioned earlier, there are the different power-ups that will also fall from the sky. Grabbing these will change the appearance and music of the game, but they don’t do much else. They’re still fun, and add a new twist to each round, and sometimes it can be more challenging, even, because the visuals will make it harder to see the meteors.
For a game so unusual, there is of course Game Center integration for leaderboards and achievements. You can compete with your friends to see who can bodycheck those meteors better and show them who’s boss, and the 29 tough-to-earn achievements will keep you playing over and over again.
I’m really enjoying SkyFehl right now, as it’s the perfect little pick-me-up to enjoy in short bursts. The graphics are crude, the visuals can be quite a trip, the music is entertaining, and the gameplay itself is more difficult than it looks, which is a good thing.
I recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something fun and humorous to play for the week. You can get it on the App Store as a universal app for free.