In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Yu Suzuki was one of the most important and influential creators in the industry. His streak of success and innovation pretty much ended when Sega pulled out of arcades and console production, but you name it. After vodka, Cling to, Out Run, Virtual races, Virtual fighter, Daytona USA, Virtual policeman, Virtua Striker o Shenmueamong many others, for to recognize his mark in various genres and technical achievements. In recent years and with his studio Ys Net, he tries to provide continuity Shenmue after the third game of 2019.
Waiting for it Shenmue 4When it comes to fruit, a rather small team, it must be said, will not be left without work. It will be launched in 2022 Air Twister for Apple Arcade, which recently had a console and PC version. This is approximately and shooter about racing that logically has similarities to the Sega classics how Tank dragoon in Rezalthough the most appropriate comparison in this case is another Suzuki classic: Space Harrier. Let’s be honest, of all the licenses from the Japanese creator that could get reinvented, this is perhaps the one we’re least interested in, but the choice is due to its touchscreen origins and the need gameplay and very simple controls for short games. Air Twister It’s just what you’d expect from a rail shooter classic, for better or for worse, with a more modern packaging.
Shoot first, ask questions later
This genre, popular for some time, survived with some remasters precisely from Rez in Tank dragoon– or indie titles to name one, air 2017 – and consists of shooting directly at enemies swarming around the screen, or selecting a limited number of targets and then launching guided shots. Each game adapted the formula to 3D with different fantasy or sci-fi settings, but In fact, little has changed about him Space Harrier.
Air Twister so it doesn’t take many detours. It puts us in the shoes of Arch, a princess who seeks to stop the invasion of creatures that threaten her planet. Arch moves through the air and sometimes uses mounts, from swans to fish or winged elephants, in auto-movement phases that throw dozens of enemies of all kinds in our face. Mission: Quickly shoot these creatures, dodge their projectiles and defeat the boss of each phase to continue to the end or where the continuations allow us. A very arcade approach with levels that pass in minutes and an increasing difficulty that will get us into trouble sooner or later.
If you are a fan of this genre, Air Twister It will hook you for a while. It rarely uses obstacles in the stage less than it would like, although the terrifying bosses are varied and it offers a whole series of unlockables or bonuses that make it possible to replay. Does not match the description crook, but the idea is that you don’t complete it in your first playthrough; Instead, you’ll earn stars by defeating enemies in formations, which are required experience unlocking health boosts or other bonuses along a board of squares. In this way, it will gradually become easier for you and you will be able to overcome the phase that caused you the most problems.
This development is designed so that you can play it from the beginning, and in several cases it gives a little insight into what we are up against. pretty short title something common in the genre, unsurprisingly – that it took us less than an hour to play the game from start to finish, although as we say, you rarely manage to achieve this on the first try. There are a large number of elements to customize the main character, from hairstyles, color palettes of costumes, face paints, etc. and weapons that modify gameplay. You can also try to improve high scores, get all the content, participate in their daily or weekly events with more rewards.
If you do not like these additional services, Air Twister offers a series of mini-games or quality challenges the boss of spadessome phases of shooter side and arcade mode with selectable difficulty, among other options. The arcade loop is fine for casual gaming on mobile, but it can be a bit off on home systems.. However, we know what the game is like Rez They are also not distinguished by the number of phases or modes, so the time we spend Air Twister A lot depends on how much we like this gameplay, which requires reflexes and memorization of attack patterns.
In short, it’s a Yu Suzuki project, but it could very well come from a completely anonymous studio. Fun, but no ambition to develop the formula Space Harrier with minimally fresh ideas like them Sin and punishment 2 Or for now Tank dragoon in the mid-90s, which sought to show a more cohesive world and freedom in 360 turns instead of an almost exclusively straight line. How about different paths to style Star Fox Or improve the design and interactivity with the environment to add some spark to the 3D world?
Artistic sharpness
There is something very peculiar Air Twister what we haven’t talked about is his presentation. Of course You can’t deny that it’s attention grabbing. and it ultimately provides a personality that we lack in many games, both blockbusters and clinical indies, although the style chosen by Ys Net is not for everyone. By the way, despite the fact that this is a minor issue, the mobile interface has not been redesigned for the big screen.
If he gameplay Dating back to games from more than 30 years ago, the art direction reminded us of games from the late 90s or early 2000s, obviously with better graphics and details: a surreal fantasy cocktail without the elegance of Roger Dean’s illustrations in bright colors worthy of 128-bit generation. There are landscapes more strange than others, sometimes bordering on tacky and not seeming to have a very clear inspiration, this is a group of creaky patterns that sometimes confront us with insects, giant crabs, clocks or metal dodecahedrons in a desert environment, over the sea., entirely futuristic worlds or landscapes low polyalways raining colored lasers. Sometimes it achieves its goal, and they are fascinating views, but it is not that eternal genius, as Rez which, with a small number of polygons, stands the test of time well.
To round out the audiovisual section, we have Valencia, the composer of Aldous Byron Valencia Clarkson, of whom Suzuki is a self-proclaimed fan. These are themes and songs with the usual similarity of authors such as Queen, Kate Bush or John Lennon. Very personal opinion: the music is good, although it can be repetitive and to continue combining the elements air twister, It’s not the type of soundtrack we’d expect from an arcade of this type – the body needs more electronic music. It’s like playing Space Harrier while you’re listening to a Spotify playlist with a Freddie Mercury compilation in the background, whether you like it or not, It doesn’t even stick with glue.
Conclusions
Air Twister It’s a minor game within Yu Suzuki’s body of work, and its credits confirm that it was created by a very small core of Ys Net. Answering the key question is it fun Yes, within the limitations and repetitiveness of the genre, Arc’s adventure doesn’t make any serious mistakes and is accompanied by a progression that keeps us on the hook a little longer than it takes to beat the main stages. But of course, this isn’t the game that will make Suzuki go down in history, and we hope that sooner rather than later he surprises us with, if not the next chapter in Ryo Hazuki’s journey, then at least a successor Out Run.
We ran this analysis on the PS5 version with code provided by ININ.
