Sky Force Reloaded

Absolutely loved the first game and looked forward to improvements and quality of life (qol) enhancements this game was to offer. In some respects it moves forward, but in others it's a step back.
First the good stuff...There's more unlockables this time around, and that includes everything from the usual ship upgrades, cards and difficulty medals. Added in are qol additions like a card scanner, technicians which adds a perk to your ship, ship parts scattered about that when completed grants a brand new ship with additional perks, in game goals to shoot for to earn gems to unlock technicians. And every time you earn something, a red exclamation point will hover over the back button letting you know to return to the main menu and see what you got. All of these are welcome additions to make the game a little more accessible to play and not have to rely on blind playing to randomly get that card you've been searching hours for like in the first game. The mission structure, graphics, music are all basically the same again, so its nice to be able to jump in to familiar territory. Levels are designed well, bosses are fun and the environments look good.
Now for the bad...For all the extra perks, ships, collectibles and such comes with a cost. A big one. The games currency is once again stars, and you'll use these for upgrading your ship and the card scanner. In the first game upgrades cost a ton the further you go. This game seems to give more upgrade levels, but the end result seems to be the same as the first game. I've maxed out my main cannon, missiles, health, wing cannons, magnet and shield, but, much like the first game, I still felt a bit underpowered for many of the later hard, insane, and nightmare difficulties, starting around level 9 or so.
Going back to the card reader, it's a fantastic addition, but it's basically a slot machine. A very expensive one. Depending on the probability of the scanner landing on the card icon will cost you as little as 250 stars for a measly 5% chance of finding it, or as high as 3300 stars for only a 60% chance it will land on it. If you miss? Kiss that money goodbye. No do-overs, no bonus spins. And if it does land on it and you go to the level and die, it respawns elsewhere. Ugh.
Moving on to the new ships, they are a disappointment. Playing levels and finally collecting that last part to complete a ship only to see that it's great in one aspect but crippling in another is really irritating. For example, the first extra ship I got had a 10% increase for the main cannon, cool! But another ship I got had a higher chance of spawning cards and a larger magnet...great! But the downside is it has "ridiculously low health" (one hit and you're dead). Health and shields don't help it either. Another ship has a 10% speed increase, but a 50% decrease in health. Uh, what??? I've gotten 4 out of 5 parts for 2 more ships and curious to see if it's the same give-and-take approach, but I'm not getting my hopes up that's for sure.
The cards are also not that great. Sure you'll get a few that are fine, like regenerative health, 10% discount on upgrade prices, card drop rate increase, extra stars, etc. But there's a lot that just aren't all that fascinating. I mean, the cards in this game are supposed to be like the premium high tier go-to items, right? Except the don't really feel like it. How about a 25% discount for upgrades? Or a reduction in damage taken, or an increase in damage given?Or a huge discount and percentage increase on the card radar? It might be in there but I have yet to get it, at almost 20 hours of playtime. Plus a lot of these cards to specifically give what percentage extra you get, so the cards for extra stars and cards drop rate you have no idea what it actually is. 10%? 50%? 2%? Who knows.
Overall though I like the game, and enjoy it for what it is. But it kind of seems like it's trying to work against me a lot of the time and doesn't live up to being like what a proper sequel should be- enhancing the core aspect while improving on the first game's mechanics.

Bruh PLS WE NEED NEW SKY FORCE

An absolutely delighful shmup for me. I also like the Bullet Hell elements, and the games still gives a fair challenge to me to get a good score in Nightmare difficulty despite having full upgrades. And since I have played the game on mobile, I will explain why the PC version is superior.
-Shorter grinding process to collect stars.
-Cheaper and instant upgrades
-Infinte lives to play.
-Faster progression
The only contra I find is the game is better with portrait screen
But still,
if you don't like the F2P elements on mobile, give this one a try (or just buy it for Nintendo Switch).

Sky Force Reloaded was a day one purchase for me, having played the game on a smartphone, I knew what to expect and I had a great time playing this game. For some, the aspect of playing the same level repeatedly in order to level-up your ship may seem a bit tedious, but the levels were really enjoyable to play so I had no problems with this.
The gameplay is great, graphics are nice, and the difficulty progression level worked out good for me. That said, some of the later levels were quite challenging on the hardest difficulty, but over time you get used to it.
Now we just need Sky Force 3.

Best 2-player SHMUP on Steam that we've found so far. High replay value. Smooth challenge ladder.

I started with Sky Force Anniversary on the Switch. A ton of fun. Sky Force Reloaded is even funner, and is filled with fun things to collect, a fantastic upgrade/victory cycle, and some great gameplay. The sound and music is also excellent. One of my favorite sounds ever in video gaming is the sound this game makes when you pick up a floating card. It really motivates you to get through the level so you get to keep the card and open it up and find out what neat new perk you got. Fun stuff. And again, what a fantastic "chime."
This game is a blast solo, but gets even better when played in couch co-op. It is pure teamwork, and I love it. This has quickly become one of my favorite games in a long time. It feels almost like I'm playing Contra or Ikari Warriors or 1942 with a friend again. Pure victory, blast everything in sight, and try to do it without getting hit. As you collect stars and invest in upgrades you'll find yourself becoming more powerful and accomplishing things you thought would be impossible just an hour earlier. It is really fun.

TLDR: Skill-based game. Lots of shooting, and dodging, simultaneously looking for pathing of no bullets and trying to eliminate all threats.
Incredible Shoot Em Up, all the way. Lots of Grind. 3x Difficulties per level. Tons of upgrades to your planes. Unlockable planes with your weapon upgrades applying to all planes.Beautiful level designs. 8x MSAA - Steadily paced level flying. Able to move all the way around the screen to dodge bullets/projectiles/lasers. As you get stronger, so does the enemy.
5 Tiers of upgrade with each weapon mechanic;
Insane difficulty is the best for getting Stars
This is a well-paced, instant Co-Op {local 2-Controller - Press Start] and amazing RPG-Upgrade with the in-game amazing system. Lots to do, - each mission will vary. But you will be playing the same missions over and over, getting different objectives right. It's incredible with one player. All the upgrades made will affect both co-op players positively. Lots of depth. Tons of replay value and great fun due to the instant co-op. Tons of quality. Weapon is upgraded each level as you wipeout the squadrons. If you don't get them all, you lose out. Magnets are upgrades of later - You need to play the first level at least 10 times to make your ship worth something to beat the boss. It's that grind, but it's fine because it's always the same pace. 2-Players = 1/2 the work each. So that's also great.
You upgrade your weapons on top of what you enter the level with every time. Amazing, all the way. Instant controller love;
Important that you pick up all the Weapon Upgrades during the missions too, so that you can fight everything easier than when you started. Some levels won't pan out if you miss even one of those upgrades. Magnets come into play here :) unlock each gadget on the plane and then further upgrade it.
There are 5!!!!!++++ tiers of weapons upgrades!! reasonably well within each other, but as you keep upgrading and playing the levels to perfection, you unlock Hard and Insane after normal, and you will be required to have upgraded your main cannon to a certain point, or you'll witness your weapons not killing them, and it looks like a suicide mission.
You will replay missions over and over as you get better. You find in-game cards which give you like 10 minute boosters to find extra stars - which doubles or triples your in-game earnings and then you get to upgrade or unlock everything a fighter jet should be.
Once you then complete the first 4 tiers of missions which are: untouchable, rescue all pedestrians, clear 70% of the enemies and 100% of the enemies, you get ANOTHER TIER OF MISSIONS!?!?!? How incredible is that?!?
I will be streaming this live tonight to show everyone :D 1mantisphoenix on Youtube: Super fun: