The Digest: Dogfight Sketch is a very simple game with not much to it at all. Players looking for a game they can spend some time with should look away whilst those who want a quick, cheap, 2 player experience should look into Dogfight further.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: November 21, 2010
DEVELOPER: HydraKill
PRICE: 80 MSP
GENRE: Aerial Combat

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

Dogfight Sketch brings aerial based combat onto a 2 player platform. Test your skills against your friends as you try to dodge their bullets and land you own back on the enemy.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Instant and cheap fun provided by the one on one dogfight
• Eye catching graphics provided by a simple doodle design
• Pick up and play controls, simply guide the plane and fire

Dogfight Sketch revolves around, as the title confirms, a one on one aerial Dogfight. Players can take to the skies in order to combat their friends in a local contest. Unfortunately this is the only game mode available making the game incredibly simple and largely unplayable unless you have somebody else willing to sit down and play the game with you.

In this sense simplicity is a bad thing; the game doesn’t include any sort of single player mode, not a campaign mode, skirmish or anything similar which allows players to lose interest very quickly. One on one is fun for maybe a couple of rounds but after that it becomes boring very quickly and I’m sure many people will not want to play for a substantial amount of time. However I do not think this is the main aim of the game, it feels designed to be quickly picked up and played then left again before coming back for another short burst. This is backed up by the low price point of just 80 Microsoft points which allows it to provide a small amount of fun for a small amount of money.

In another sense the simplicity of the game is actual a positive feature, the controls are very simple and geared towards this pick up and play feeling. Users only have to tilt their planes nose up or down and shoot, just guiding where they want the plane to go as it moves in perpetual motion. On one hand the controls help to provide the instant game play but on the other hand it is too simple for most players making the game completely uninteresting.

The simplicity also comes into play regarding the games graphics which actually work quite well. The basic premise for the game sets it in a world of drawn sketches which provides a very basic graphical concept but is pleasing to the eye and fits in with the simple nature of the game.

Conclusion: Dogfight Sketch is great for a rainy day; stuck inside and on a low budget two players can get instant fun for only a small amount of money. However having no option to play on your own is quite shocking and coincides with simple game play to provide very little lasting appeal.

Single Player: N/A | Multi-Player: 2/5

Special thanks to HydraKill for providing us with a copy of the game for review.