Hany in the Sky

~ HANY IN THE SKY ~

Face

HuCard

1989

"Innovation is recipe for disaster. Must I cite Star Ocean 2?"

So said Duomazov ally Robanovich during a debate about something or other many years ago. My usually well-informed comrade obviously misspoke, as SO2 is one of the greatest games ever, but had he subbed Hany in the Sky in there for it, he probably would've won his case hands down.

Hany is practically overloaded with "innovative stuff." It's a vertical shooter, but instead of piloting a craft, you control a, uh, whatever the fuck that thing is, and rotate his arms to determine the direction his shots take.

Face's innovative measures didn't stop there. You'll arrive at forks in the road in certain stages, with some paths leading to upgrades and others simply transporting you a ways back. Once you've conquered a given level, you can warp right back to it if you'd like to explore it further in the hopes of finding more good stuff. The locations are typically dark, strange places with weird symbols galore sketched into the terrain and a variety of odd creatures patrolling the grounds.

Your oddball foes can put up a fairly good fight. To aid you in countering their assaults, the game lets you halt the action and access an upgrade/restoration "shop" pretty much whenever you want.

That's all kind of interesting, but it all comes together to form an absolute mess of a shooter. There are reasons most companies don't try crap like this. The rotation system is cumbersome and ends up being a source of extreme annoyance late in the game, when the enemies are fast and robust. And constant pausing (as will be necessary during the final stretch, when you'll need to purchase life replenishers over and over again) only serves to stunt the already unsatisfying action.

The level designs wind up being huge negatives, as they frequently force the player to revisit previously traveled strips in blind hopes of "finding the right path." And Face's good intentions thematically come to naught, as the visuals are drab and dull all too often. There's way too much empty black space here, along with way too many nondescript sprites.

There certainly aren't many other blasters like Hany in the Sky in the PCE library, and while this is something to be grateful for, the game's uniqueness at least makes it somewhat interesting, and there are some folks out there to whom it'll appeal.

Not many, though.