Air Tornado actually makes an impression popping out of the gate. It’s a bizarre kids’s fever dream involving an alien invasion, floating sky cities, and a Princess that comforts a dying swan. It doesn’t get extra understandable from there.

Having watched the preliminary trailer in some unspecified time in the future years in the past, I felt like Air Tornado was a sport I wanted to expertise. Sadly, it was launched on Apple Arcade. I had let my trial subscription lapse on that service as a result of I merely didn’t use it. I don’t play video games on my telephone. It’s for checking the feedback on my articles and may in any other case be ignored.

Lastly, it has arrived on consoles, which is the place video video games dwell.

Air Tornado (Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X|S, PS4, PS5, Swap, iOS)
Developer: YS Internet
Writer: Inin Video games
Launched: November 10, 2023 (Console)
MSRP: $24.99

Air Tornado is the newest sport from Yu Suzuki and YS Internet. Yu Suzuki is a legendary designer behind loads of well-loved video games like Out Run, Shenmue, and Hold-On. That’s just some. He’s had his fingers in all types of great-tasting pies. Nevertheless, I’m solely a fan of one among these pies, and that’s Out Run. Just about all the remainder of them vary from lukewarm to slight dislike.

I nonetheless respect the heck out of the man. Past merely being a succesful and influential director, designer, and producer, he’s had loads of affect on video video games as an entire. It’s apparent that he’s very obsessed with making video games, although he reportedly doesn’t actually play them.

In line with an interview with Gamespot, he’s hesitant to name Air Tornado a religious successor to one among his most outstanding works, 1985’s House Harrier. So, I’ll do it as a substitute.

Air Tornado is a religious successor to House Harrier.

It’s apparent, so I don’t know why he’s coy about it. To provide some extent of reference, I can solely use House Harrier. To make comparisons, there’s House Harrier. The methods you utilize in House Harrier work right here. There are even direct references to House Harrier within the sport itself. Regardless that House Harrier is a sport I’m lukewarm on (although I by no means performed it with the unique movement cupboard), I nonetheless don’t depend its direct affect as a foul factor.

You play as swan-loving Princess Arch. I’m undecided if that’s alleged to be pronounced just like the construction or the form. Apparently, she’s making an attempt to avoid wasting her planet, however it seems like a number of planets, or possibly they’re dimensional pockets. Invaders have come spilling out to wreck issues. She’s the one competent individual, so she’s obtained to avoid wasting all people.

It’s fairly weird. There are flying fish, Moai statues, and large hostile clocks. To make it even stranger, there may be lore to all of it. There’s even lore about Arch’s favourite dish.

Should you’re unfamiliar with House Harrier, it was an early rail shooter. On your quarters, you bought to spend so much of time wanting on the protagonist’s butt. The degrees have been flat and straight, however they’d loads of fascinating results to them, and the sport made use of the Tremendous Scaler system to provide a way of depth because the sprites got here towards you.

Air Tornado is strictly like that, besides the degrees aren’t straight traces, and the protagonist has a a lot nicer and extra prominently displayed butt. Additionally, there’s a lock-on system the place you fly in entrance of an enemy and might construct up strings of targets.

Whereas the twisting ranges add a pleasant contact to House Harrier’s gameplay, and the fantasy environments are neat to absorb, it actually doesn’t change an entire lot. That is nonetheless lots nearer to House Harrier than it’s to, say, Star Fox. Very hardly ever are you able to make contact with objects within the atmosphere, so the precise movement isn’t utilized for something enjoyable. I’m assuming this has lots to do with its cell origin, however it’s considerably underwhelming.

The core sport is a linear collection of 12 ranges and two bonus rounds. Every stage is capped off with a boss battle, as is custom. There’s loads of selection within the boss battles, even when there isn’t in your commonplace enemies. In any other case, the sport itself is fairly routine.

Nevertheless, that routine gameplay is supported by an intricate unlock system that serves as a type of meta-progression. Whereas taking part in the sport, you acquire stars which you’ll be able to then spend to advance additional within the unlock constructions whereas gaining new weapons and cosmetics. If something, this helps assist the truth that Air Tornado is a fairly brief sport at its core. Having greater than only a excessive rating to chase is at all times a great factor. Getting to decorate up Arch in varied hairstyles and pants is fairly satisfying.

Nevertheless, that’s all there actually is to say about it. I don’t really feel that Air Tornado is mostly a sport that feels essential to play a number of occasions. I completed the principle story on possibly my third or fourth try, after which it simply turns into one thing that you simply do to unlock extra stuff. There are some challenges that remix the sport’s mechanics, a lot of which you truly must unlock.

Talking of not holding as much as repetition is the soundtrack. It’s carried out by Valensia, which Yu Suzuki is a fan of. Other than the truth that the opening to the primary track you hear is extraordinarily evocative of Queen’s Bohemian Rapsody, I actually don’t thoughts the sound. It’s a bit like the results of a torrid love affair between prog rock and a stage musical.

Nevertheless, whereas it’s gratifying on the primary hear and matches the aesthetic fairly nicely, I’m not a fan of being repeatedly crushed over the pinnacle with the identical tracks. It’s made worse by the truth that they’re lyrical songs, which suggests I wind up with brief snippets of phrases caught in my head. It makes me extraordinarily uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable proper now.

Air Tornado is gratifying sufficient. It’s bizarre and stimulating, as any arcade sport ought to be. The issue is, very similar to House Harrier, it’s let down by its simplicity. There’s some assist from the improve meta-game and the added lore, however it’s actually not sufficient to maintain the sport for very lengthy. One thing just like the branching pathways from Star Fox 64 would most likely be helpful to the longevity of the gameplay. That will at the least add some variation to the story mode.

For that matter, the one factor from Air Tornado that may most likely nonetheless keep on with me a month from now’s the swan demise, and that was proven within the first trailer.

General, Air Tornado is a positive arcade title. It’s initially enjoyable to play, and its trippy fantasy visuals do a good job of drawing you in. Nevertheless, when you’ve managed to topple the ultimate boss and are handled to the tip cutscene, there actually isn’t a lot to maintain you taking part in or cement the sport in reminiscence. The primary story mode turns into simply what you grind on to afford higher butt dressings. I believe the fallen swan deserved higher.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}