Aerial_Knight's DropShot Review | Style Over Substance

Excuse me, sir? Do you have a permit for those finger guns? When it comes to Aerial_Knight’s DropShot, I not only have a permit, but I’m finger-blasting away at 120 MPH from the sky. While I absolutely love the premise, the execution left a lot to be desired.

You control Smoke Wallace, who, as a kid, was bitten by a radioactive dragon that turned his skin purple and gave him the power to fire bullets from his fingertips. Smoke then gets thrown into intense sky battles, taking down rivals, dragons, and even tanks with parachutes as you try to land in the coolest way possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOVT_R3QXY

Each of the game’s 50 levels starts the same. Smoke jumps off a floating island to race enemies to the ground and/or shoot them out of the sky. Smoke’s finger guns are limited to 10 shots before needing to pop a balloon to reload, and you have to avoid rotating lasers, bullets from your rivals, and even giant rock formations. The first few levels are very fun. Falling and avoiding obstacles is thrilling, especially when you enter slipstreams to speed up Smoke’s descent. By level seven, though, much of the level design becomes repetitive. Obstacles, enemies, and even the soundtrack feel similar to previous runs.

Speaking of levels, there were way too many times when enemies would fall through rocks and become unhittable, even with the added coins to rack up points in each run, the satisfaction of taking down all foes in a level becomes quite difficult due to this. Falling straight down also doesn’t allow for quick lateral maneuverability, which feels stiff and often results in smacking into a rock or laser. Losing track of where you are in your fall while looking around to target power-ups or enemies feels counterintuitive, yet some levels require it in order to attack, leading to several rage-inducing moments.

Breakdown 

Game Name: Aerial_Knight’s DropShot

Developer: Aerial_Knight

Publisher: Aerial_Knight

Platforms: PC via Steam and Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Game Length: 1-2 Hours (Depending on player skill)

Accessibility Options: N/A

Final Thoughts

Despite the shortcomings, the vibes of DropShot are immaculate and exactly what I want more games to have: a fun, original idea that reminds us why we love video games. The execution, however, caused the feeling of frustration instead of joy more often than not.

Key provided by developer. Reviewed on PlayStation 5