Yars Rising is an motion platformer for the Nintendo Swap. It comes from these artful people at WayForward, famend for the terrific Shantae collection, amongst others. Yars Rising provides one other feather to the group’s cap, taking a basic Atari shooter and reimagining it for a brand new style and viewers. And it completely works.
We observe the adventures of Emi, a younger girl (don’t name her a baby!) who works within the workplace of the mega company often called QoTech. Naturally, the corporate seems to be evil, and Emi, a talented pc hacker, should escape the constructing. As she makes an attempt to flee a lockdown, issues turn into more and more harmful. It’s now as much as Emi to not solely save herself, however the complete world.
Gameplay is split into two components. The principle mechanic is the platforming facet of issues, which includes working, leaping, taking pictures, and varied different movesets. It very a lot has a Metroid really feel to it, with maze-like hallways to traverse as a map unfolds round you. The platforming is satisfying, with the standard lasers, transferring platforms, enemies to keep away from or defeat, and boss fights. I additionally loved unlocking extra energy ups for Emi, like wall leaping and power zapping. There’s sufficient selection to maintain you hooked, and the beneficiant save factors imply there’s little have to backtrack or repeat sections.
In truth, the general problem is balanced fairly effectively. Emi sports activities a well being bar, starting at 100% and transferring in the direction of 0% as she succumbs to assaults. Some enemies drop power refills on defeat, serving to Emi regain misplaced well being. Unlockable badges enable Emi to extend her complete well being, amongst different issues, enhancing the skills in tandem with new and extra formidable enemies. This pacing works effectively.
Including to this badge system is a enjoyable strategy to equip them. As an alternative of solely having the ability to equip, say, three at a time, there’s a novel Tetris-like system that permits you to assign as many as you may match right into a particular area. Badges come within the type of blocky shapes, and, in the event you can match these shapes into an Atari-like alien image, these badges are usable. At first, there’s loads of area after all, however when you unlock an entire bunch of enhancements, it’s an satisfying strategy to rearrange and equip your faves.
Again to the gameplay, the second half is a minigame based mostly on the unique Atari title, Yars Revenge. In the event you’re not conversant in this 1981 recreation (and I wasn’t), it includes an area bug—managed by you—that should penetrate varied shields to unleash a particular bullet and take out an enemy ship. There are a lot of variations of how this performs out, together with enemies chasing you, particular shields that want destroying first, or Galaga-like streams of enemies to shoot.
The intelligent hook right here is that these microgames are periodically unleashed as a part of Emi’s hacking makes an attempt whereas fleeing the constructing. Locked door? Higher play a minigame. Time to improve? One other minigame! Bonus hidden room with optionally available collectible? You’d higher imagine it’s time for one more minigame.
These quick “hacker” minigames break up the platforming properly. They’re additionally fairly difficult at occasions, although there’s a helpful approach round that. In the event you die too typically, you’re given a couple of choices to make issues simpler, granting an immortality of kinds. You may elect to have this selection proven once more later, or not once more. It’s one other nice strategy to steadiness the issue.
There are a couple of different issues I really like about Yars Rising. Firstly, the type. All the pieces appears to be like pretty. It’s a 2D platformer that by some means seems 3D. A part of that is the way in which Emi can use background areas to dodge obstacles and enemies, like ducking right into a crevice. However the character fashions themselves are rendered in a neat approach that provides them depth and provides to the characterization.
I additionally love the dialogue. The story flows shortly and easily as Emi communicates by way of radio along with her buddies on the surface. As they information her by the constructing’s safety, there’s loads of fast-paced humor. A few of it might come throughout as a little bit corny, clearly aiming to emulate how 20-something-year-olds converse, however I discovered it amusing nonetheless. Every character additionally feels distinctive, with various feelings to drive their story ahead.
Terrific voicework enhances this narrative. Emi’s character, specifically, is voiced with such ardour and humor that I discovered myself wanting to listen to her converse reasonably than shortly studying and skipping the textual content. Kudos to the actors concerned.
The music can also be value noting. An upbeat synth-based soundtrack performs neatly within the background, with songs altering as if Emi is listening to her favourite playlist on Spotify. You may even see the track titles on the prime of the display. It suits in effectively with the aesthetic and the characterization. Properly performed.
Yars Rising sounds fairly good, proper? It’s. My solely actual difficulty with this recreation is the presence of some annoying loading screens. Whereas they’re comparatively quick in length (between 5 and 10 seconds every) they happen a little bit too continuously. The sport stops to load new sections each three or 4 screens of gameplay, which interrupts the circulation. It turns into extra noticeable later within the recreation when a little bit backtracking is concerned, that means you progress extra shortly by every room. It’s not at all a deal-breaker, nevertheless it feels prefer it might have been averted.
General, Yars Rising is a terrific platformer with satisfying puzzles and taking pictures parts. I loved the story, together with the intelligent integration of a basic Atari recreation. Other than some annoying loading screens, that is completely a recreation value trying out.