By Peter Ward
Award-winning game designer Yu Suzuki brings his imagination to life in this all-new 3D fantasy rail shooter Celebrated Japanese game developer Yu Suzuki has joined forces with ININ to launch a captivating new fantasy rail shooter, Air Twister! The game is now available digitally on all consoles and PCs, with physical editions for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch available through Amazon and various retailers! Reminiscent of SEGA-Suzuki classics like Space Harrier, After Burner, and Out Run, Air Twister brings a refreshing and unique 3D twist to the arcade shooter genre. Following in its arcade predecessors’ footsteps, Yu Suzuki designed Air Twister with multiple difficulty levels, challenging players to rely on their skills and speed to get through challenging stages! Set off on an epic journey with Princess Arch as she fights to save her planet from destruction! Armed with arrows that trace graceful arcs of light, she confronts invaders in her path. With more than 20 unique enemies to defeat and gorgeous stages to explore, Air Twister promises an unforgettable gaming experience.
Glide through the skies, across seas, and destroyed lands to fight against invaders and take back your world!
Review
I have been a big fan of Yu Suzuki games since my childhood. I remember spending my pocket money in the Arcade playing classics such as Outrun and Space Harrier. But the game that caught the eye back then was a game called Space Harrier one of my favourite shooters I have ever played. I played it in the arcade along with home versions from the Spectrum to the 32x version. The game was so beautiful especially in the arcades. This in my opinion is an unofficial 3rd Space Harrier game which has a sprinkle of Panzer Dragoon added to it. When I first started playing, I was loving the experience but the only thing I would say is I thought I’m getting quite far into this game on my first few attempts so would there be any replayability. And the answer is yes every time you play you get a bit further into the game and when you kill enemies you collect stars which after when you have played the game once can spend on an adventure map boasting extra energy and new weapons and skins etc. There are so many outfits and weapons items to purchase which get with stars and from rewards and daily awards. The more times you play the more different levels open extending the replayability. I have to say the later levels of the game especially level 11 have very familiar enemies from Space Harrier. I love all aspects of this game from the main parts of the levels and the beautiful, varied level themes and designs and love the different animals (Panzer Dragoon like) you fly when you fight the big end bosses. One thing I have not mentioned is the music. It is nice but very similar to a famous band which if they get wind of this would not be surprised if they ask for the music to be changed.
But overall, this is one of my favourite games of this year and since getting this Friday cant stop playing even though I have finished the main game but all the different modes will keep you coming back. Air Twister offers an array of exciting game modes that cater to different preferences and challenges, each promising a unique gameplay experience.
Stardust
Can you defeat the incoming waves of enemies within the time limit? The faster you shoot them down, the faster they appear. Vanquish the outpour of enemies, one by one! Fluffy In this silly topsy-turvy mode, your perspective changes from a 3D view to a classic 2D side scroller! Give it your all to not touch any enemies or obstacles while zipping through the levels on your loyal winged elephant. Choose between two submodes! Get rich or die trying in Score Attack Fluffy, or grab as many stars as you can in Get Stars Fluffy while soaring like fluff in the wind!
Turbo Mode
Double the speed. Double the challenge! Turbo Mode is a high-difficulty mode with everything at 2x speed. Ditch the dumb luck and use pure skill to streak through the stages and vanquish incoming enemies to become the Turbo Queen (extraordinarily nice, right?!)
Tap Breaker A simple minigame in which you must break cubes by tapping them numerically. The faster you do it, the higher your score. Sounds simple enough, right? But how focused can you be when the ever-increasing number of cubes start spinning around in different directions?
Extra Stage
Dash through a seemingly never-ending mysterious tunnel and defeat the oncoming raids of enemies! This stage is twice as long as normal stages, so let your rail shooter skills shine and try to reach the end of the tunnel safely. Arcade Mode This mode puts you in a no-holds-barred old-school arcade experience with no useful items, a high default difficulty setting and quick bursts of intense shooting action. In this hardcore version of Air Twister, beat the game with one life and one life only. Starting Hearts change with difficulty level.
Boss Rush
“Boss Rush” delivers a high dose of adrenaline as you will face every single one of the game’s ten boss monsters in quick succession. The faster you take them down, the higher your ranking in the high-score table!
I hope Yu brings out a direct sequel to Outrun next shut up and take my money.
