Savage Skies

Savage Skies is a 2002 combat flight simulator video game developed by iRock Interactive and published by BAM! Entertainment in North America, Success in Japan and Bigben Interactive in Europe. The game is set in a fictional dark fantasy world and is accompanied by a heavy metal inspired soundtrack.

The game was originally conceived as a licensed tie-in game endorsed by heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne, but licensing difficulties and the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the entertainment industry forced iRock to retool the game and release it without the Osbourne branding.

Gameplay
The player can choose between three factions of mythical creatures. The three factions were created when the King of the Land fell to the necromancer Mortalvis, and the land was divided into three. The first two were owned by subjects of the late king, whilst Mortalvis took the last third.

Once all the monsters are unlocked, they can be used on any campaign level and any multiplayer level. There are additional items that can be unlocked, including cheats, such as vampirism, and in-game movie sequences.

Development
At an earlier stage in its development, Savage Skies had been set for release as Ozzy’s Black Skies, complete with an endorsement from Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne. In the original concept, each of the game's three playable factions would have been led by a different ‘Ozzy character’. The game was also to feature music from Osbourne, including "Crazy Train" and "Paranoid," as well as voice acting from Osbourne and a track recorded specifically for iRock called "Black Skies". However, in late 2001, the tie-in was dropped for reasons including its high financial cost and "misconceptions about the game that made it difficult to secure a publisher" as well as the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks as the developers felt that a combat flight simulator would be in poor taste in the aftermath of the attacks. Its name was subsequently changed to Savage Skies; Osbourne would later include the song "Black Skies" as a bonus track in Japanese and European pressings of the single "Dreamer".

An Xbox version of the game was planned but cancelled. A PC version was also planned when the game still had the Ozzy branding.

Critical reception
Savage Skies received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Gamezone rated Savage Skies at 6.5 out of 10, finding the game concept to be fun with good variation in play style between the three factions. Criticisms included the average graphics, bad sound, and several missions with excessive difficulty.