Upon initially investigating the Thorium Wars sequel, I found myself quite excited by what was on display in the eShop teasers. It appeared to take inspiration from both Rogue Squadron and Star Fox; two series I have much adoration for. Unfortunately, after taking it for a spin it doesn’t even come close to matching its source inspiration.

There’s something so incredibly bland about the entire presentation and execution of Thorium Wars: Attack of the Skyfighter. The menus are simplistic and without flair, the pre-mission briefings are vague and devoid of personality, and even the music in each level sounds like something you’d get on a menu screen while waiting for the game to load. Despite the impressive graphics and serviceable gameplay, the levels all feel like they have this eerie emptiness. The enemies are mostly silent, there’s very little scenery to spruce up the barren landscapes, and outside of your direct actions, there’s nothing else going on in any of the levels. You’re supposedly fighting this enormous Thorian threat, but there’s so little to show for it, sometimes you’ll wonder if you’re just being led on.

Though the levels are generally diverse, the objectives in each level are as bland as the rest of the game. In all cases you’ll have to kill some set number of enemies and/or destroy some enemy thing. While there are three unique ships with different shield, attack power, and speed, they aren’t diverse enough to alter the experience in a tangible way.

Generally speaking, all three vessels are enjoyable to pilot and shooting down enemies consistently feels good. Turning is problematic though, as there’s no quick shortcut to have the game execute a 180 degree spin to quickly head in the other direction. This makes the dogfights with enemy ships fairly uneventful and longwinded. It also makes taking down stationary targets painfully slow because you will constantly have to backtrack to get ample shooting time to eventually take them down.

With only eight missions in the game, one of which is a tutorial, there’s not much meat on this sequel’s bones. I managed to get through the whole thing in around two hours, though the plodding missions make it feel like it takes so much longer.

I came into my experience with Thorium Wars: Attack of the Skyfighter hopeful, but it’s clear that it needed a little bit more time in development to polish things up and improve upon the barebones presentation found in the finished product. With a bit more effort paid to just the game’s presentation, it would’ve been hugely improved, but control conveniences such as the quick turnaround could’ve completely changed the level pacing and vastly improved the dogfighting

Thorium Wars: Attack of the Skyfighter isn’t a horrible game, but the bland presentation and brevity of the experience makes it a tough recommendation. If you really want to get your space pilot fix, I suggest taking Star Fox 64 3D for a spin.