Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, Tappy Sky is free and it has over 80 different pilots to unlock, tons of plane upgrades and two game modes. The Minecraft-style graphics look good and when you combine the pace of play with the volume of alien ships to destroy, Tappy Sky is a difficult nut to crack.
While it's a challenging Windows 10 game to master, the controls are user-friendly and overall Tappy Sky is a fun time waster of a game.
Getting started with Tappy Sky
Tappy Sky offers a robust primary menu with options to access the game's settings, view your prestige ranking and achievements, upgrade your plane, choose or unlock pilots and jump into gameplay. Settings include options to adjust the frames per second (FPS) rate, mute the sound, access the help section and view the developer credits.
This Windows 10 game has 80 pilots to unlock that include Wolverine, the Joker, Elvis, and Charlie Chaplin. To unlock a pilot, you must purchase a recruitment ticket with keys earned during gameplay. Two ticket styles are available, common and special, that randomly unlock the pilots.
Tappy Sky offers two game modes. The first is a level based game that has you fighting your way through waves of enemy ships to face off against a powerful alien boss. The further you advance, the more intense the alien assault becomes. There is also an endless game mode in which you battle alien forces to see how long you can survive. The longer you survive, the more powerful the alien presence becomes.
Gameplay is simple. The plane's forward progress and weapons fire are automatic. You control the plane's elevation by tapping on the screen. From a non-touch device, you control elevation by mouse clicks. You must weave your way through the alien armada, blasting them to smithereens and dodging enemy missiles. You can bounce your plane off the top of the screen, but skipping across the ground can be damaging. Ship health and shield levels are displayed across the top of the screen, along with the strength of the enemy wave (or boss).
To help you survive the alien battle, powerups appear at random to give your plane a little more zip in firepower, defensive strength or maneuverability. These powerups can be hard to locate as they often blend in with the pixelated destruction of enemy ships. My personal favorite is the death ray that obliterates everything that flies in its path.
As you destroy enemy ships and bosses and complete levels you earn cash rewards. Cash can be used to upgrade your plane. Upgrades include improvements to your plane's armor, shields, shot damage, flight controls, shot rate, and more.
If you are short on cash, Tappy Sky has a mining feature that allows you to earn a little extra cash. A progress meter is displayed at the bottom of the mining display and you must tap the screen to move the green bar where it matches a box that drifts along the progress meter. When the two match, you earn cash. If you tap too quickly, the bar passes the box and your mining operation overheats, delaying your chances at earning cash. Mining operations can also be upgraded to improve cash output.
Along with the primary mission of destroying as many alien ships as possible, Tappy Sky has several side missions to tackle. These performance-based objectives include mining a certain amount of cash and destroying a certain number of aliens. When you successfully complete a mission, you earn bonus rewards.
Tappy Sky turns out to be a fun time waster
Tappy Sky blends the simple-to-use controls, sharp looking graphics, and intense gameplay to create a fun Windows 10 game. While the game takes care of your forward progress and weapons fire, you still need to stay on your toes to avoid crashing into the ground or flying head on into a missile.
There is a Prestige Mode available, but the game is a little vague on the details. I'm guessing that it relates to your achievement progress, but the help section or Store description fails to mention it. That may be the only nit I can find with Tappy Sky.
The free game runs smoothly and is fun to play, but the help section needs to cover more territory. It covers the mechanics of play nicely but needs to handle the finer details better, such as Prestige Mode, the powerups and how to unlock a pilot. I don't think this is a deal breaker, but gives the game a bit of mystery.
Overall, Tappy Sky turns out to be a fun game for Windows 10. If you have tried Tappy Sky, let us know what you think in the comments. Also, you can head over to this Forums discussion and chat it up with the developer.
