Review of Air Twister, the spiritual sequel to Yu Suzuki’s Space Harrier

SEGA’s arcade classics require little introduction, and Space Harrier, albeit with its obvious limitations, undoubtedly represented a revolution in the shooter arena. The fruit of visionary genius (in this case definitely) Yu SuzukiThe game has commanded us to take a huge cannon that runs very fast, tirelessly, allowing it to fly alongside and thus face hordes of alien spacecraft.

A sense of extreme speed, frenetic gameplay, and an unforgettable soundtrack have all contributed to making this game a great classic, and it’s also inspired other “depth” shooters over the years, if we want to describe them.

Almost forty years later, Suzuki has decided to revisit Space Harrier by creating a spiritual sequel exclusively for Apple Arcade. How did it go? We tell you this in the topic Air Twister review.

Setting: an evocative and psychedelic world

The intro sequence of Air Twister shows a kind of archipelago suspended in the air, suddenly attacked with great ferocity by a swarm of alien spacecraft. A team of soldiers who ride huge swans but are quickly defeated and fall one after another comes to the rescue. Finally warrior princess ArchAfter observing the massacre carried out by the invaders, he decides to face the enemy army alone.

While the references to Panzer Dragoon are obvious as the protagonist has increasingly bizarre mounts, his mission sets out to jump on the back of a swan, then a kind of dragon, a winged carp, and an elephant. To mention a few friends involved in the Air Twister campaign, the game’s appearance actually shows the Arch hanging in space, just like the Space Harrier character, passing by particularly thought-provoking scenarios but also the twist that appears as a result of a snack based on hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Gameplay: dated touch approach

Unfortunately, side gameplayA big disappointment comes: Ys Net developers’ approach to touch controls seems incomprehensibly dated, and therefore the hero’s movement is a “tap and go” and at the same time “tap and shoot” seems awkward and cumbersome and also incomplete. the precision necessary to avoid the inevitable shells that enemy units will fire at us.

The Arch is equipped with a special crossbow that can lock onto targets and drop deadly explosions that reach them automatically, but drawing these blocks on the screen is, as noted, tantamount to moving the character. Given that it’s not always easy to block opponents’ shots as with the original Space Harrier, this type of adjustment often results in a loss of energy or to play unfairly.

Unfortunately, Suzuki and its collaborators tried their hand at the development of Air Twister and mobile games touch controls, because it would frankly surprise us to deliberately imagine such an approach. A classic virtual analog stick on the left side of the screen and a pointer to move with the right thumb would be a much better solution.

It’s a real shame that the game turned out to be definitely less fun than expected in practice, and even more so, given the twelve levels of a campaign dedicated to the weirdest visual tricks. big bosses Which we can deal with at the end of each stage and which certainly contributes to raising the “madness” level of the product.

Build: arcade or roguelike?

It takes about half an hour to successfully complete the Air Twister campaign, so Suzuki and his team felt it appropriate to take an arcade approach with some dirt. rogue to ensure that users run out of experience in such a short time and then lose interest in it. In a nutshell, this means you have to start all over again when the game is over, but you can use the stars collected along the way to unlock permanent upgrades that will make subsequent attempts easier.

Not only that: map upgradesif we want to call it that way, it also includes unlocking cosmetic items to customize the look of the Arch, extra mode and additional hearts to increase the health bar, which can make the difference between victory and defeat during the game, because from one level to the next it is only minimally restored, as in some kind of survival mode. However, this is a good idea to enhance the experience and keep participation alive.

Technical realization: what a journey!

As mentioned, the technical and artistic sector of Air Twister is the result of multiple psychedelic journeys. strange elements You can find among scenarios, mounts and bosses, all of which are particularly inspired. Less bright are the changing alien capsules, giant insects, dragons of various sizes, birds, etc.

The final result undoubtedly offers some very evocative looks, but the actual quality of the assets leaves much to be desired, and there are no settings that let you scale the graphics to prevent the device from overheating (we’re still experiencing a very hot summer). L’optimization Obviously it runs automatically, but on the iPhone 12 Pro the game seems to be running at its maximum capacity for resolution, effects and framerate.

As for audio, speech is a little more complicated. The original Space Harrier could rely on quite lively electronic tracks, contributing to inclusion in the game, but for Air Twister it’s a substitute instead. movie soundtrack In the style of rock opera signed by the Dutch artist Valencia.

To describe it as derivative from Queen’s songs is obviously a euphemism and we don’t think it’s appropriate to accompany this kind of experience, but we think even the choice is the way it is. music With this sniper, you are part of Yu Suzuki’s diabolical plan, who seems more intent than anything else to surprise his historical fans: mission accomplished.