Air Twister Review | TheXboxHub

If there was such a thing as a gaming Walk of Fame, then Yu Suzuki would be one of the first to get a star. Walk into an arcade in the ‘80s and there’s a near-certainty that you would have played one of his games. Hang-on, Space Harrier, Out Run and Afterburner were all his, which is a ridiculous gaming streak when you think about it. He then went on to produce the hallowed Shenmue series on Dreamcast, solidifying him as a true gaming legend. 

Yu Suzuki is into his 60s now, but there’s no sign of him stopping. He’s collaborated with shoot ’em up specialists Inin Games to produce a new arcade game that builds on one of his previous titles. Air Twister is a spiritual successor to Space Harrier, even though Yu Suzuki has pooh-poohed any comparisons to the older game. He can pooh-pooh all he wants though: this is Space Harrier through and through.

But while Space Harrier was odd, I don’t remember it being this willfully bonkers. Yu, we agree with you on that point. Air Twister feels like a rollercoaster through a nine-year old child’s doodle book. You take the role of Princess Arch, who has a revolving door of steeds, including flying chameleons, trout, elephants and a swan. Levels are called fantastic things like ‘Dimple’, as you careen around flying mushrooms, giant rosebeds and the ribcages of monsters.

And then there’s the soundtrack. Yu Suzuki has employed one of his favourite artists, the Dutch band Valensia, to supply all of the game’s music. Valensia have a very narrow band of influences, it seems, as their songs all sound like Queen circa 1974-1975. One song sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody, another sounds like Killer Queen. Indeed, they’re all reminiscent of each other, to the degree that you can feel like you’re hearing the same track over and over again. 

The soundtrack to Air Twister has been getting a lot of flak because rock-opera might not be anyone’s first choice when it comes to hardcore shooters. But we’d like to argue its case. The world of Air Twister is overblown and bordering on ridiculous, and the soundtrack is coming from a similar place. It gives everything a campy, self-aware feel, and we loved it, darling. 

The controls for Air Twister couldn’t be simpler, which is likely due to its origins as an Apple Arcade title. Princess Arch can be moved around the screen with the analogue stick, at which point she auto-locks onto any enemies directly in front of her. A tap of the fire-button will send a locked-on missile towards that enemy, killing them in one shot (bosses less so). 

There aren’t any other buttons. There’s no secondary fire, no smart bomb, no machine gun to go with the homing weapons. More complexity and intricacy does come from the game’s Adventure Map (something we’ll cover in a moment), but even then it’s only a very thin veneer on top. Which leaves Air Twister in a place of being easy to learn, fun to use, but ultimately too shallow to entertain for long stretches. Which is clearly not where Yu Suzuki and developers YS NET want it to be. 

Don’t get us wrong, there’s a satisfaction in lighting up the screen with lock-on markers and then unleashing a full volley of missiles. The combos trigger and a star gets added to your total for clearing a ‘group’ of enemies. It can devolve a little into circular or figure-eight movements around the screen, but the act of killing is handled with aplomb in Air Twister. 

Still, there are issues, some a hangover from Space Harrier. Often the enemies move so fast that we felt like we should have anticipated them in some form. If they come in from the left, we should have been on the left, immediately locking onto them. But that puts the onus too much on memory and knowledge of their positions for our liking. We’d have liked to anticipate more. 

The missiles from the enemies are a problem too, as most of the time they’re oval, pill-like projectiles that swirl about before arcing towards you. They’re just too unpredictable, too hard-to-read in the environment. We would have dodged them if we had a better sense of where they were heading. It adds some randomness to proceedings when we fancied a bit more certainty. There’s also an oddness where the haptics on the controller shake when I’m doing damage, rather than when enemies hit me. It feels the wrong way round and constantly confused me. 

Regardless of the issues, Air Twister is a master of momentum. Thanks to the soaring music; the WTF-ness of the boss, level and enemy design; and the relentless gameplay, Air Twister can be incredibly hard to put down. Our first two playthroughs were the happiest, as we unlocked the secrets of the fantastic bosses (a scorpion! A clock!) and pushed further than we did before. Bombastic is probably the right word. Air Twister is constantly concerned about creating spectacular moments, game development costs be damned. 

Second on Air Twister’s list of wants is to keep the player playing. Attached to Air Twister is a frankly ridiculous number of additional modes, events, challenges and weirdo minigames. These each unlock a Narnia-sized wardrobe of cosmetics for Princess Arch. You’re going to be staring at her bum a lot in Air Twister, so it’s your opportunity to at least dress it in the manner you fancy. 

We found most of these games to be throwaway, but even window-shopping through them (collecting their associated achievements and challenges) will take you the best part of a couple of hours. There’s even a brain-training-like minigame called Tap Breaker where you get to count up from 1 by shooting blocks on the screen. Japanese design often gets typecast for being odd to western eyes, and this is a pretty decent example of why. 

Most impressive, though, is the Adventure Map, which is a skill tree that would make most Final Fantasies whimper in shame. It’s gargantuan, a truly sprawling series of unlocks that includes health improvements, new guns, accessories, cosmetics and more. After each playthrough, you will tend to have enough stars to unlock thirty-odd nodes, so it’s always a satisfying experience. Suddenly, you are much better placed for the next run, giving Air Twister the vague outline of a roguelike. 

But there’s a problem. Air Twister isn’t all that fun to play beyond the third or fourth playthrough. There’s no variation in the levels or their ordering. While the unlocks will toss in the odd time-stop or new gun, they don’t alter the experience enough. The Adventure Map begins to look like an absolutely stunning, truly brilliant meta system for a different game. Air Twister would have been better as a quickfire arcade game. As a career game that demands dozens of playthroughs, it’s creaky. 

Still, Yu Suzuki hasn’t lost his touch. Air Twister is clearly Space Harrier, but with a very modern taste for spectacle. For one or two playthroughs it’s a shoot ’em up Fantasia, just as much a treat for the ears as the eyes. The thing is, Air Twister wants to be more than that. It wants to be your go-to shooter for much longer, with more modes and skill trees than it could possibly need. Air Twister isn’t varied or interesting enough to support that many playthroughs, so keep that in mind before you spend your £19.99. Its glamour fades quickly.

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