GENRE
	Action-Adventure
	DEVELOPER
	Boston Animation
	PUBLISHER
	Simon and Schuster Interactive
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
	BUY NOW AT

In the land of Lynora, Skye works as a shepherd, but doesn't believe that she’s been living life to its fullest. She hasn't gone on a lot of adventures or quests or anything that would seem exciting to her. That is, until she is chosen to wield a magical force of Skittles to battle the evil that resides in her world.

Skittles? As in “Taste the Rainbow"? Yes, those Skittles. Darkened Skye is based around the series of television advertisements that were set in a whimsical fantasy world. Personally, I love those commercials—they’re probably my favorite, which is why I have to say that I enjoyed playing Darkened Skye. While the graphics don't offer anything spectacular and the play mechanics don't really offer anything you haven't seen before, the overall design and feel of the game makes it worth the price.

visuals

Graphically, the game doesn't raise any eyebrows, except for maybe the few CGI cut-scenes. There are quite a few slapdash animations and other environmental issues such as mediocre water effects and the like. However, the character and environment design is what keeps the game afloat graphically. The game actually looks as if it were a part of the fantasy world seen in the Skittles TV commercials.

The character designs are original and sometimes comical, but most of the time they look like something out of Jim Henson's Creature Shop. You can definitely tell that the main focus of the game was the creativity. Sorry Lara Croft, but Skye definitely holds the title of best female lead character in my book.

audio

Probably the game's weakest point is the music/sound effects featured throughout the game. They are not necessarily bad, they're just average. The soundtrack fits the mood of each environment, but is instantly forgettable. Sound effects aren't any better, but are effective at scaring you when called upon to startle you a bit.

All that aside, the voice acting is really something else entirely. The script is absolutely hilarious and keeps the whole Skittles plot line more tongue-in-cheek rather than deeply serious. Skye and her demon buddy, Draak, share smart aleck quips from time to time. What's best is that Skye is voiced by Linda Larkin (Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin anyone?), which adds a sense of professional acting to the mix. While the actual voice acting isn't the best available, you can definitely tell that they had a lot of fun recording for the game. This is, after all, the most important thing, right?

gameplay

Some people have compared Darkened Skye to Tomb Raider. For the love of me, I can't imagine why; the two of them play differently in almost every possible sense. While Skye cannot crawl, climb up ledges, or do a running jump/leap followed by a toe tuck and a 720-degree twist, I still consider this game to outdo the last two, possibly even the last three Tomb Raider titles. But I digress.

To go through each of the game's five worlds, players must take Skye through each area and fight off monsters with her weapons of destruction and magical Skittles devastation. During all that, Skye must face some challenging platform jumping, button pushing, and NPC interaction. All this without being able to swim (self-admittedly).

multiplayer

N/A

overall

What's great about Darkened Skye is that it's self-aware and doesn't try to be anything more than what it really is. The humor is excellent and doesn't really let you down. It is extremely hard to cover a marketing campaign as big as this one, but Boston Animation, with the help of Simon and Schuster's secret coverage, really did a good job. If you like fantasy worlds, the Skittles commercials, or witty, tongue-in-cheek games, this one is recommended for you.

7.8/10