Perhaps I’ve acquired a gentle spot for on-rail shooters, or possibly there’s one thing in regards to the bass-heavy, rave-reminiscent music of Aaero that simply did one thing for me, however Mad Fellows’ debut rhythm shooter hypnotized me for weeks when it launched in 2017.
In 2024, there aren’t loads of rhythm video games on the market, sadly, and that’s a crying disgrace, as a result of it’s one among my all-time favorite genres. I think about loads of you studying this most likely grew up on a gentle eating regimen of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and that’s why rhythm video games have a big place in your hearts, too. However let’s not additionally neglect the likes of Vib Ribbon or, extra just lately, Hello-Fi Rush, too. The style, when given area to breathe, is a superb place to be.
You possibly can think about my glee, then, after I learn that Aaero 2 is a Actual Factor, and that it’s coming to PC and Xbox. The sport will launch first on Xbox Sequence X/S – which is sensible, since that’s the place the unique sport discovered its small, loyal viewers – earlier than coming to PC barely later. It’ll hit Xbox Sequence X/S on October 15, 2024. However, PC gamers, worry not: it is possible for you to to play a near-final construct of the PC model as a part of Steam Subsequent Fest from October 14.
“As we shift our focus to the PC Steam model of Aaero2, we’re providing a demo of the near-finished sport to PC gamers,” says Paul Norris, Mad Fellows’ artistic director. “This is not going to solely give them a style of what’s to return but in addition present us with helpful suggestions.”
The demo reveals off among the sport’s important options; you get to trial just a few of the tracks that may function within the sport and see what the on-rails rhythm capturing is all about. It might look a bit fundamental, however there’s one thing of a movement state the minimalism of the sport provokes, and I actually suppose it finally ends up feeling like Tetris Impact at instances. Excessive reward, that.
From what I’ve performed of this demo, that evaluation feels much more correct right here than within the first one, due to some high quality upgrades and the overall tightness of how Aaero 2 operates. There’s on-line co-op, too, which means you and your mates world wide can jam out to Monstercat’s superb music with out pause and work on these aggressive leaderboards collectively. The truth is, multiplayer was a important focus for the sport this time round, as Norris explains.
“From the beginning, I insisted that if Aaero2 featured multiplayer, it will have to assist each native and on-line play,” he says in a press launch. “Too usually, I’ve been excited a few co-op sport solely to find it’s local-only.
“Incorporating on-line play into Aaero2 launched a bunch of extra challenges. The sport mechanics needed to be rigorously designed to cut back the influence of latency between gamers. On high of that, the certification course of for an online-enabled sport is considerably extra advanced.”
For a micro-studio, Mad Fellows actually has labored magic with this litlte gem of a lightshow. It’s audio/visible crack, to place it bluntly, and I can’t wait to pump weeks extra of my time into it when issues quieten down a bit of within the triple-A gaming area.
That’s two-for-two, so far as I’m involved, Mad Fellows. Stick with it.