QCF: Air Twister

magine if Space Harrier was revamped into an absurdly stylized Rock Opera that cranked the dial on the Surrealistic fantasy themes to psychedelic levels of absurdity over its Sci-Fi roots for current gaming platforms. Well, don't strain yourself too hard because YS Net, the studio started by legendary developer Yu Suzuki, has taken all the guesswork out of the matter with their latest release, Air Twister. Where Team Reptile's Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was a modernized Love Letter to an iconic SEGA property, Air Twister is being presented as the quintessential sequel to the Arcade Classic in nearly everything but name, and the next big release from Yu Suzuki following the studio's crowdfunded debut with Shenmue III. Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive in the summer of 2022, the mobile exclusive has now been greenlit as a multiplatform release for digital storefronts on both Console and PC.

The twists (shitty pun intended) don't stop there, as Air Twister offers various flourishes on the shooter's foundation that set it apart from its source material—honestly, to a degree where it more often resembles a Hidden Caravan Level Mode from Panzer Dragoon than anything related to Space Harrier. Despite the inconsistent traces of Harrier DNA though, Air Twister still manages to deliver that trademark Popcorn Shooting frenzy that Suzuki had earned his pedigree on, albeit in a somewhat stunted execution that just manages to breathe a scant new gasp of life into the Arcade classic.

Air Twister is…well, intriguing, to say the very least.

So, where to start? I guess I just can't shake the impression of how much of a time capsule this title is just mere minutes past the Title screen. Much in the same vain that Shenmue III's game design felt firmly rooted in the aughts the series’ first began, Air Twister also gives off that "Encino Man" vibe of being this displaced game from years ago now trying to make it in the world of HDR-boosted resolutions and haptic feedback enhanced control. At its base, it's still an On-Rails-Ass On-Rails Gallery Shooter from the Third-Person Perspective of a heroine named Arch who soars into action, defending her "Lisa Frank meets Designer Drugs" world against enemies ripped directly out of Space Harrier. On paper, that sounds like a blast; however, the reality is that Air Twister is gassed up with way more style than substance.

What makes contemporary icons like REZ, Starfox, and Panzer Dragoon so memorable is that under all of the fast-moving spectacle, there's still a carefully constructed pacing to help better immerse the player into the action on screen. When done successfully, the limitation of being tethered to this invisible force that's propelling you forward gradually dissipates, with your attention squared centrally on gunning down bogeys and steering through environmental obstacles until you reach your destination, establishing a one-to-one connection where players feel like they're fully in control.

Air Twister doesn't do that, though—quite the opposite. Unfortunately, most of the action honestly plays out like a heavily choreographed amusement park ride where players are cast into the role of a tourist far more often than the actual driver.

I get that sounds like a loaded sentence but bear with me for a second.

Some of the enemies like the "Binz Beans" have been ripped straight out of Space Harrier.

Even though Harry didn't have a fancy evasive roll or melee attack, the Jet-thrusting Boy-Wonder still had a sense of weight to his control—a feeling of inertia that was intuitive to pick up on and where maneuverability was easy to learn yet hard to master. The careful attention to player heft coupled with the elegant level design that purposely paced your arsenal of gunfire and guile through an uphill difficulty curve of steadily challenging stages is what makes Space Harrier tick—it's why the game was marketed as the "Body Sensation" Arcade game in Japan for crying out loud!

Air Twister doesn't have ANY of that; the Ponytailed Protagonist is a little more than a floaty-moving extension of the crosshair reticle on screen, and it won't be long before each stage plays out like an obnoxious roller-coaster-driven gallery shooter. Poor scrolling design aside, the other big disconnect in the action comes from the flimsy gunplay. The Spandexed Archer has a techy Bow that's capable of firing either rapid-fire or Lock-on homing energy bolts against enemy squadrons. Still, nearly every encounter is done through fast-moving formation strikes where the only effective counter to shooting them down simply IS the lock-on tactic. Still, the case for "effective" is arguable, as most of your foes will speed off the screen without firing a single attack. That's right—most of the opposition is nothing more than moving targets, and even when they do start blasting at you, they don't really stick around long enough to be a real threat that's worth gunning down beyond a point score. There's no rhythm like Rez or Child of Eden, or aerial standoffs like Starfox and Panzer Dragoon—just an uninspired exercise of sliding and shooting. To be fair, the difficulty steadily picks up past Stage 5 as Air Twister escalates its action with twitchier enemy fire and beefier foes who'll aggressively invade your air space until they're taken down, but that's when the other flaws begin to show.

Despite levels being in a wholly three-dimensional area, the liminal space between you and your airborne baddies is just too ambiguous to judge correctly as to when to zap them and when to dodge, and even then, the trajectory of the pill-shaped bullets hurling at you always seem to curve across the screen like a pitch from Sandy Koufax. Safe spaces can become target ranges in seconds, and there's no real way to defend against this hindrance beyond diligent movement that's driven by floaty physics that'll have you moving with the grace of a lead-lined helium balloon. There is ONE mechanic I should mention that helps alleviate some of the limited movement, and that's the Bullet Time power-up you can buy in the "Adventure Map" Mode (more on that in a bit.) Activating this skill will slow everything in the level but bring you down to a crawl, giving you ample reaction time to evade or lob some counterfire without the risk of being the proverbial "fish in a barrel" for about 20 seconds or so. Despite being granted the speed of lightning within a world of molasses, the end-game stages will still pack enough artillery to suffocate the screen with bullets, reducing the area into a slug-infested mess that's too claustrophobic to evade with the time-slowing mechanic effectively. Circling back to that "Adventure Map" I mentioned earlier, every kill you net in the Main Story Mode scores you a Star, and these Stars are used to purchase milestones in what's ostensibly a skill tree gating minimal gameplay upgrades like that one skill and extra health—the rest being a crap load of Easter egg content. Aside from that, your only other fundamental skills are moving and shooting, which circles back to criticism over just how little you actually "play" Air Twister.

Still, when it feels like you ARE playing Air Twister, the moments of white-knuckle bullet exchanges really stand out, but nowhere near as much as the presentation—this game is just LOUD with its style.

The Art Direction of Air Twister is memorable, if anything else, chock-full of vibrant details that work overtime to give the world a sense of life in spite of the "Uncanny Valley" vibe its Mid 90's Promotional 3D Graphic Render design otherwise evinces. Given the concept design of its aesthetic, though, I can't imagine any other art style that could convincingly do its atmosphere justice other than a super refined brushstroke of an indisputably vintage look. Honestly, a lot of the culture shock from the visuals is assuaged by the stellar optimization of the game engine—there isn't a single frame dip or screen tear to be found as the action all plays out at a consistent 60 frames per second.

When it comes to the presentation of Air Twister, though, what really stands out above all else is the music, which, holy, Freddie Mercury is it certainly something.

Springing for a composer who dates back just as far as Space Harrier, Yu Suzuki went for obscure Dutch sensation Valensia for the soundtrack of Air Twister, who's soundfont I can only describe as "What if Queen and Dream Theater had a dumpster baby" and yes, it really is as wild as that sounds. What's so nutty about the soundtrack is just how much of it is wholly original work composed exclusively for the game; mind you, the tracklist also features a slew of "Greatest Hits" from the band, including their mega chart-buster single, Gaia. I don't know if I would add Valensia to my Spotify, but his work certainly does harmonize well with the direction of Air Twister, and significantly adds to the overall sense of pageantry that the title imparts so memorably upon.

At the end of it, though, that's what Air Twister really is—a surface-level arrangement of familiar gameplay mechanics that's hastily wrapped up in this bespoke package with flashy wrapping paper. Sure, if you give the traditional memo-heavy mechanics the college try, there's some genuine fun to be had, but it's all kind of fleeting in the space of so many other titles like it. At the core of Air Twister, all I'm left thinking about is the strange-ass shit in between, like how I made a winged elephant poof out of a giant lamp to help me fight an even bigger grandfather clock.

The second big release from Ys Net can be found on every major digital storefront for $24.99 space bucks. While that may sound like a hard sale to some, you could certainly do worse this year—so hey, take that as you will because there's definitely some enjoyment to be had from Yu Suzuki's latest work. Just be sure to temper your expectations before going to checkout.