If you’re of a certain age, when you hear the words Yu Suzuki and Rails Shooter, excitement is palpable.

Sure, he may be more widely regarded for Shenmue in more recent years – rightfully so – but back in the early days of SEGA he was at the heart of classics such as After Burner, Out Run, and the game that inspires his latest effort, Space Harrier.

These 80s gems are still universally loved and appreciated to this day and really helped deliver that arcade esque feel of the Genesis right in your living room. Heading SEGA’s AM2 team during the golden age of gaming they delivered, it’s no surprise Yu Suzuki is considered a legend of the industry and why his latest, Air Twister, deserves your attention.

It’s certainly gone a bit under the radar – to be fair, 2023 has been stacked for games releases – but what you’ll find here is a game that pays homage to the classics of yesteryear, maintains and upholds the arcade feel that’s been sorely missing in recent years, and has a good enough hook that you’ll want to keep coming back for more.

On the surface, Air Twister seems a more reseved, humble game than a Space Harrier. The UI doesn’t seem as striking, much in the same way as its key art or store page don’t really grab your attention. You don’t immediately get that arcade connection either, with this feeling more of an indie-leaning title.

But once you break in and get through the surface level of the game its real qualities shine through. The replayability was the biggest for me as I got more and more into it as I played. The level variety is just, the enemy variation is noticeable enough and the difficulty gradually amps up at a steady pace.

And while you do have free-shooting ala Space Harrier, there’s an auto-targetting system ala Rez that makes it easier to take out the multiple groups as they emerge on your screen, from left, right, up, down, and even coming at you from behind. The game offers this fully three dimensional effect that keeps you on the move and necessitates eyes all over the screen from the hail of projectiles coming at you from all angles.

You’ll get a decent chunk of hearts and a generous selection of continues to help as you plough through the levels, and you’ll find yourself wanting to reach the bosses to see what kind of new-fangled challenge you’ll be up against next. Fortunately, daily, weekly and timed challenges are also available to unlock in order to gather new equipment and cosmetics.

There’s even a challenge grid you can spend the stars you earn during the game on additional items as well as permanent upgrades such as an increase in targeted units and the ability to slow down time. As such, the more you play and the more you unlock on the grid, the better your chances of beating the game and improving your score.

And yet, I haven’t talked about the game’s most clear winning feature – the music. This is one of the most outlandish scores I’ve heard in an age, at times reminding me of Queen – particularly the title track which is a dead ringer for Bohemiam Rhapsody at points – but there’s a further karaoke quality to it than just speaks to Japanese and even Western culture. It’s big scale, grandiose, often obnoxious but also a source of entertainment and inspiration. It’s something to hear, that’s for sure.

Air Twister isn’t a perfect game, it can feel a bit samey at points even when you try to alternate your play styles by checking out different mini games and it’s substance is pretty clear and basic for all to see. But given a chance, you can really lose some time to this one. And you won’t regret doing it.

Verdict

Air Twister pays respect to its forebears while launching ahead with a moden arcade recreation that’s very indie leaning. For better or worse, that helps the game stand apart and be fun to play between its unusual musical score and engaging gameplay, though its limitations do become pretty clear to see early on.

Pros

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Air Twister is out now on PC, Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation

Code Kindly Provided by PR Hound for review purposes

Played on Xbox