Sky Team

Sky Team, is there a cat flying with us?

That’s pretty much how I could start any of my reviews. Because our beloved feline kid loves to fly over the board and, in fact, under it too….

But back to the point. Sky Team is a cooperative game in which we’ll take on the role of pilots of a silent plane, which will try to land at various airports around the world. During the flight we will have to watch out for its speed, position, flap alignment, landing gear and other planes. On the last stage of our journey we will have to land somehow so it is also worth taking care of our brakes.

We will perform all actions by placing our dice in the cockpit of the plane. Each player has the same number of dice, but our abilities will be completely different depending on the chosen role. Because one person will be the pilot, and the other will be his co-pilot. Although each of us can still take a quick coffee break to gain a little concentration.

To make our flight a success, we must also take care of proper communication, or rather the lack of it. Because we can only discuss our plans at the beginning of the round. After that, there is silence in the ether and we can only look at various gestures, loud sighs and suggestive rolling of the eyes of our partners.

Why is worth going on this flight

SkyTeam flight is very fast. 20 minutes of fun and we can immediately play the next game. The syndrome of the next game is very strongly felt here. Especially when we lose at the very end of the flight. After all, we can’t go to sleep with a failure, right?

Although the actions in this game are simple, I like how many things here interact with each other. Because, for example, by unlocking something we increase the range in which we have to place our dice. The order of all these actions we want to perform also matters and influences the whole course of flight and landing. It also often depends on the requirements of different airports.

The scenarios differ in their level of difficulty and additional dangers that may lurk on us. Sometimes we have to watch out for other planes. Next time we will start leaking fuel, and changing winds will affect the position of our flight. The cool thing is that each airport has unique challenges and difficulty levels. Let me tell you, the red ones can already spice things up, and the black ones with the time game are kind of hardcore. There are 22 missions to choose from, and the original publisher’s website has an additional 7 airfields to print out yourself. Overall the replayability is quite good considering we can swap roles and we get a slightly different feel from the approach to solving these aviation problems.

I also really like the fact that we have to act with each other but can’t communicate that much. I don’t know if maybe some pilot has latched on to the toilet and maybe has the controls hidden there. However, it’s cool how it works between us. It’s almost as if we’re controlling a giant robot in Pacific Rim, and some Kaiju would snatch our headphones away.

I’m also glad that it’s a little different co-op than I usually play. Because this time I swapped dungeons and dragons for planes and airports.

In terms of components and quality, it is very good. This cockpit landing pad for our dice adds to the immersion in the gameplay and makes the whole game even more in fitting with the aviation theme.

Summary

Sky Team is a sensational cooperative game that requires us to work together without talking to each other. Though various meaningful gestures and loud sighs await us during gameplay anyway. Seemingly it’s such a simple placement of dice in the cockpit, but I like how the actions interlock with each other. Because sometimes placing one dice changes the conditions of the flight and makes us have to work a little harder to win. Therefore, each of our flights was accompanied by high emotions and high-fives after a successful landing.

Final verdict: Sky Team is definitely plane fun

[Game provided by Lucky Duck Games Polska]