Sky Force Anniversary One more run, always

Grab a friend, plug in a second controller and the battlefield gets twice as loud. Local co-op puts two ships on screen, doubling your firepower against waves of planes, helicopters and ships. It also doubles the decisions: who grabs the stars, who peels off to rescue a civilian, who eats the bullet. There is a neat twist to watch for too. If a friend fell on a level, you can spot the spot where they went down and rescue them for extra stars. Dying, it turns out, is a favour to your co-op partner.

Every run showers you with stars, the currency that turns a flimsy plane into something worth flying. Spend them in the hangar on shields, guns, missiles, lasers, mega bombs and a magnet that pulls stars your way. Each level also sets challenges: kill every enemy, collect every star, rescue every civilian, finish untouched. Clear enough medals and you unlock the next level, then the next difficulty tier, Normal to Hard to Insane. Even a failed run pays out, since you keep the stars you earned up to the moment you died.

The rescues are what make this more than a shooting gallery. Civilians in red suits drift through the battlefield, and picking one up means holding your position while a timer counts down, bullets streaming past. Do you keep killing, or disengage and hover over the person you came to save? Rarer VIPs are worth even more. It is a small mechanic that turns every level into a string of risk-it-or-not calls, and it is the part that gives the score chasing its edge.