I sure hope you're ready to fly, because Sony will be bringing two more PlayStation 2 classics to their PlayStation Plus subscription service. Next week will bring two very different aerial combat games – SkyGunner and Mister Mosquito. That's exciting news, but are either of these games worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Edge, Game Informer and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back when these games first came out. Get ready to take to the sky and suck some blood in this brand-new episode of PlayStation Plus Review Crew!


Once the exclusive domain of computers, aerial combat games started to take off on consoles as the hardware allowed for better 3D effects and more realistic dogfights. This led to some genuinely amazing shootouts in space, along with the more grounded Ace Combat series from Namco. Those games are great, but what if you're looking for an aerial combat game with a slightly broader appeal? Perhaps something with more colorful graphics and cutesy characters? If that's the thing keeping you away from the genre, then SkyGunner is for you. It's an exciting 3D shooter that is set in a more fantastical world, complete with over-the-top characters and cool airplane designs. But long-time fans of Review Crew will already know what the critics think of cutesy games, so will SkyGunner be an exception?

As is so often the case, the answer to that question depends entirely on who you ask. Electronic Gaming Monthly, for example, gave it an average score of 8.3 out of 10, earning their silver award. I think that Milkman summed it up perfectly: “If you've ever wondered what it would feel like to be Snoopy and chase the Red Baron out of the sky, SkyGunner will put that curiosity to rest. Boasting some of the most inspired aesthetics since Panzer Dragoon, SkyGunner conjures a sense of flight and freedom so convincing, you'll want to nose-dive out of the sun and into the enemy's blind spot just because you can.” Jonathan also liked the game, arguing that “it's the closest to a 2D shooter turned 3D, and that rocks. The game has you gunning down formations of tiny solo fighters and huge flying fortresses alike. SkyGunner's got an inexcusable slowdown problem, but is otherwise good, clean fun.”

While EGM may have liked SkyGunner, it's unfortunately all downhill from here. You saw the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine give the game a much lower 3.5 out of 5, which is more or less the same score PSM gave it in their 61st issue. Giving it a 7 out of 10, David Smith argued that “at times, the life and dynamism of SkyGunner's aerial battles prove to be downright breathtaking. Squadrons of fighters swirl about gigantic flying battleships that spray fire in every direction, and yet the target-focused camera keeps things reasonably clear and easy to follow. The downside is when the engine undergoes a near-collapse and drops down to five frames per second. This isn't a frequent occurrence, but it's more frequent than it ought to be. The 30 frames per second mode tidies this up, but it also spoils some of the fun of when the game runs smoothy. Be aware that SkyGunner has problems, but give it a try and see if it grabs the shooter fan in you.”

As we continue our descent down the ratings scale, we see Game Informer going a bit lower, giving the game an average of 6.5 out of 10. However, the lowest score comes from Edge, who went even lower, giving SkyGunner a 6. “What should have been a spectacular shoot ‘em up played straight gets badly wounded by occasional attacks of irredeemable slowdown. This isn't how a game based on instinct should work. Players should never find themselves caught in 30 seconds of freeze-frame, especially when said moments halve the screen resolution and reduce the image quality to N64 levels. If you can forgive that, you'll find SkyGunner works well, because it's slick, satisfying and as shallow as a game based around score attack modes needs to be. It's not as thrilling as it sounds, or indeed as it ought to be, but, shocking stop-motion aside, it's an interesting attempt at Galaga 3D.”

This is one of those situations where everybody agrees on what the problem is. In this case, it's the performance and the PlayStation 2 not being able to keep up with the action. The difference in scores comes down to how much they were able to overlook this lingering problem. Let's hope some of the performance issues are cleaned up on PS+.

Mister Mosquito is one of those weird little Japanese oddities that in previous years would have stayed in Japan. But not in 2002. With the PlayStation 2 flying off of store shelves, Eidos bet big that some of these quirky titles might be weird enough to get some free magazine exposure and earn something of a cult following. This led to the release of Mister Mosquito, a charming game where you fly around and suck blood without being swatted away. Although this is a fairly straight-forward premise that doesn't seem that hard to get behind (especially compared to some of the weird titles that come out these days), this was deemed by critics and consumers to be one of the weirdest games of all time. Weird? Sure. But did the critics like it? That's the real question.

Let's go ahead and start with the lowest score, which once again comes from Edge. Giving it a 5 out of 10, Edge sums up Mister Mosquito this way: “The thing that really breaks [Mister Mosquito] – or at least stops it from being the success an idea like this warrants – is the right-angled difficulty curve. There are 12 levels, and one to ten are far too simple. Then level 11 hits, the father starts throwing Hadoken-style fireballs, and your mosquito's aflame within seconds. Fine, but there's no instant restart, and the PS2's cancerous loading times eat away at the game so much that finding the enthusiasm to conquer this single challenging moment is difficult. That's a shame, because [Mister Mosquito's] blood-pumping uniqueness means it's bound to attract some bug-eyed gamers. They'll bite down on the rich vein of originality, but they'll probably leave unsatisfied.”

It's worth mentioning that fellow UK magazine Computer & Video Games liked the game a little more, giving it a 6 out of 10. Electronic Gaming Monthly, on the other hand, went a half-a-point higher. “It's true, Mister Mosquito is an ugly little fella – the blocky, drab graphics look more like one of the weakest PS2 launch games than most newer titles. But consider this: How many games involve you stalking an innocent Japanese family, all from the point of view of a nasty lil' insect? That's what makes this Mister Mosquito worthwhile ... for some of us, anyway: The sheer novelty and, well, just the weirdness of it all. And make no mistake, this game taps that bizarro vein and sucks it dry, with funny voice acting and quirky characters. Mister Mosquito is definitely flawed, but if you were curious enough to read this whole review, chances are the concept alone is worth a bite.”

Now, aside from Entertainment Weekly (which gave the game a B), pretty much every other critic was in the 70% range. For example, GamePro went with a 3.5 out of 5, while PSM went with a 7 out of 10. That's the exact same score you saw over at Game Informer, who concluded that “there's gold in them there hills, so dive in! Japanophiles will undoubtedly love this game, but the rest will need a little more convincing before buying Mister Mosquito. The gameplay is being a mosquito doesn't surprise or challenge, but there is something to be said for this title due to its pure outrageousness. After all, even a mosquito bite sticks around for a while, and I think you'll want to satiate your itchy curiosity. However, as the game says: Get your fill, but don't get too bloated.”

It will be interesting to revisit Mister Mosquito two decades later, especially considering that the reviews at the time were already complaining about the outdated graphics. This is one of those good ideas that doesn't fully come together, but is still worth playing anyway.