Making a decision on whether to recommend this game or not has been a long back and forth for me. I had a good amount of fun with the game but with the issues I have with the game, I just can not recommend it.

This game has been updated to a newer version since the review. While I still do not recommend the game, some statements here may be out of date. I have checked v1.01 but I'm not going to update this review anytime soon.

This game's release was preceeded by plagiarism claims regarding the game's used sprites and art: https://twitter.com/KiwiSTG/status/1304355499312214016
The claim is that several enemies, bullet sprites and stage backgrounds were plagiarised from Cave shmups and that the overlay was plagiarised from Crimzon Clover World Ignition. This had caused the release to be delayed so that the dev could rework some of the assets in question.

Unfortunately, two additional factors would make people even more suspicious: the dev's aggressive response to the allegation and the fact that the game was originally already released in 2015 as Operation Dracula for iOS (the store page does not mention that at this point for some reason).

I think the unfortunate part of this debate is that it focused too much on the question whether it's legal or not when it is fair to assume that the majority of participants in it are no legal experts. The question should have been whether the practice of doing so is scummy or not which is subjective and the reason why I am bringing it up.

The dev states in the game's website https://rangokskies.samuraigamesgd.com/ that the assets were since changed "[...] in order to clear the game's name from such claims, and to prove that Rangok Skies is an original work rather than an inappropriate reproduction of other games." and I would agree that the game is very much its own in terms of gameplay.

If you still have an issue with this, you may not want to support the game. For those that don't have an issue with it, I would recommend looking into it further as I did enjoy my experience with it regardless.

The game allows you to choose between three characters and an unlockable character. Each has its own shot type and unique special which recharges over time while the bombs appear to function the same for each character. You can either hold your shot for a slower focus shot or tap (use the auto fire button) to move faster and shoot less bullets.

The game's skippable tutorial at the start explains the above but omits the following very important mechanic. Initiating your focus shot will make the ship release a burst that turns any enemy bullets into items. This is important as it's good for score and survival. There is a cooldown for the burst. If your hitbox is blinking, you can use it.

The maximum amount of lives you can have is 4 and you gain an extend every 500.000pts. If you already have 4 lives and reach the next threshold, you gain 150.000pts. The maximum amount of bombs you can have is 3. You gain a bomb by collecting bomb items. After dying, your bomb count is set to 1.

In addition to lives, you have HP. The first three characters have 3 HP and the Samurai has 2. HP can be restored with health items.

Bosses only have one phase and cycle through a variety of patterns. One exception is the first boss, though it only adds one more pattern to the pool. Since bosses have a lot of health, you will always loop at least once.

Enemies will drop items (power-up, score bonus, health or bomb). As far as I could tell the type of item an enemy drops is random, except for a few enemies that appear to have fixed item drops (like orange tanks on the left side always dropping bombs). During boss fights items will fall from the top of the screen. Those also appear random, including the position which makes it easy to miss them as they do fall fast.

There is no practice mode. A run of the game doesn't take too long but you will not have the opportunity to practice the last stages over and over right away.

At this time, I don't have Insane mode unlocked as I'm missing the achievement for not missing any enemies. You need to get all trophies.

The game is short and concise. A run takes 17 to 22 minutes and apart from the stage 1 boss, there aren't any parts that are boring.

I like the way lives work. You can only have up to 4 lives but you have many opportunities to get another life again. A clear would usually get you at least ~4 million points which is a good amount of potential extends.

The focus shot burst is your greatest device for scoring higher. It allows you to milk bosses as well and it will be up to you to decide whether you want to dump all your resources on the difficult patterns or go for score instead. You also want to delay some enemy kills, so the mechanic adds a lot of score potential.

While there are some patterns I dislike, many are certainly no pushovers, especially during boss fights.

I do not like the random element in the item drops from enemies and during bosses.

The soundtrack isn't very pleasant to listen to. It's not bad but it's basically blasting with max energy throughout 99% of a run. I found myself turning down the volume immediately to listen to other music or videos in the background.

I currently find the stage 3 and stage 4 boss to be rather bs, especially the stage 3 boss. Some of their patterns are just gross to me at this moment. I'm fine with the stage 5 boss. While it has some of the types of patterns of previous bosses that I dislike, I think they're more reasonable and fit the final boss well enough. Nevertheless, I find the bosses and random items (plus location) to be a bad combination. While the game does provide you with more than enough resources for a 1cc, it certainly does not feel fair when going for a no hit run (yeah, there is an achievement for that).

[h1] Introduction [/h1] Making a decision on whether to recommend this game or not has been a long back and forth for me. I had a good amount of fun with the game but with the issues I have with the game, I just can not recommend it. [h1] Version notice [/h1] This game has been updated to a newer version since the review. While I still do not recommend the game, some statements here may be out of date. I have checked v1.01 but I'm not going to update this review anytime soon. [h1] Art [/h1] This game's release was preceeded by plagiarism claims regarding the game's used sprites and art: https://twitter.com/KiwiSTG/status/1304355499312214016 The claim is that several enemies, bullet sprites and stage backgrounds were plagiarised from Cave shmups and that the overlay was plagiarised from Crimzon Clover World Ignition. This had caused the release to be delayed so that the dev could rework some of the assets in question. Unfortunately, two additional factors would make people even more suspicious: the dev's aggressive response to the allegation and the fact that the game was originally already released in 2015 as Operation Dracula for iOS (the store page does not mention that at this point for some reason). I think the unfortunate part of this debate is that it focused too much on the question whether it's legal or not when it is fair to assume that the majority of participants in it are no legal experts. The question should have been whether the practice of doing so is scummy or not which is subjective and the reason why I am bringing it up. The dev states in the game's website https://rangokskies.samuraigamesgd.com/ that the assets were since changed "[...] in order to clear the game's name from such claims, and to prove that Rangok Skies is an original work rather than an inappropriate reproduction of other games." and I would agree that the game is very much its own in terms of gameplay. If you still have an issue with this, you may not want to support the game. For those that don't have an issue with it, I would recommend looking into it further as I did enjoy my experience with it regardless. [h1] Gameplay mechanics [/h1] The game allows you to choose between three characters and an unlockable character. Each has its own shot type and unique special which recharges over time while the bombs appear to function the same for each character. You can either hold your shot for a slower focus shot or tap (use the auto fire button) to move faster and shoot less bullets. The game's skippable tutorial at the start explains the above but omits the following very important mechanic. Initiating your focus shot will make the ship release a burst that turns any enemy bullets into items. This is important as it's good for score and survival. There is a cooldown for the burst. If your hitbox is blinking, you can use it. The maximum amount of lives you can have is 4 and you gain an extend every 500.000pts. If you already have 4 lives and reach the next threshold, you gain 150.000pts. The maximum amount of bombs you can have is 3. You gain a bomb by collecting bomb items. After dying, your bomb count is set to 1. In addition to lives, you have HP. The first three characters have 3 HP and the Samurai has 2. HP can be restored with health items. Bosses only have one phase and cycle through a variety of patterns. One exception is the first boss, though it only adds one more pattern to the pool. Since bosses have a lot of health, you will always loop at least once. Enemies will drop items (power-up, score bonus, health or bomb). As far as I could tell the type of item an enemy drops is random, except for a few enemies that appear to have fixed item drops (like orange tanks on the left side always dropping bombs). During boss fights items will fall from the top of the screen. Those also appear random, including the position which makes it easy to miss them as they do fall fast. There is no practice mode. A run of the game doesn't take too long but you will not have the opportunity to practice the last stages over and over right away. At this time, I don't have Insane mode unlocked as I'm missing the achievement for not missing any enemies. You need to get all trophies. [h1] Aspects I like [/h1] The game is short and concise. A run takes 17 to 22 minutes and apart from the stage 1 boss, there aren't any parts that are boring. I like the way lives work. You can only have up to 4 lives but you have many opportunities to get another life again. A clear would usually get you at least ~4 million points which is a good amount of potential extends. The focus shot burst is your greatest device for scoring higher. It allows you to milk bosses as well and it will be up to you to decide whether you want to dump all your resources on the difficult patterns or go for score instead. You also want to delay some enemy kills, so the mechanic adds a lot of score potential. While there are some patterns I dislike, many are certainly no pushovers, especially during boss fights. [h1] Aspects I dislike [/h1] I do not like the random element in the item drops from enemies and during bosses. The soundtrack isn't very pleasant to listen to. It's not bad but it's basically blasting with max energy throughout 99% of a run. I found myself turning down the volume immediately to listen to other music or videos in the background. I currently find the stage 3 and stage 4 boss to be rather bs, especially the stage 3 boss. Some of their patterns are just gross to me at this moment. I'm fine with the stage 5 boss. While it has some of the types of patterns of previous bosses that I dislike, I think they're more reasonable and fit the final boss well enough. Nevertheless, I find the bosses and random items (plus location) to be a bad combination. While the game does provide you with more than enough resources for a 1cc, it certainly does not feel fair when going for a no hit run (yeah, there is an achievement for that).