Aaero

[spatular]

I didn't know about this until a few days ago (not that i remember anyway), just released yesterday, and it's pulled me away from persona, for a bit anyway. normal price is ~£12 but seems to be on offer for ~£10 currently.

 

Initially interested because of comparisons to REZ, i like shooters like that, even the dragon one on the xbox one that didn't seem very popular. but it turns out it's not as similar to rez as I was expecting, the shooting (on the right stick) is simplified a bit and shares game time with rhythm action line following (on the left stick). On the normal difficulty you aren't asked to really do both of these at the same time, but i think that changes on harder difficulties.

 

The shooting is quite similar to rez, but you can only aim within a circle and quite a lot of stuff is conveniently at the edges of the circle so easy to aim at, because you will be expected to do two things at once. The rhythm action bit is following a line with your ship in time with the music, a bit like that old psn game i can't remember the name of (and didn't think was that great) but it works really well here, and is good fun, imo.

 

the music is not what i'd normally listen to, don't really know how to describe the genre either, dubstep maybe? but it fits in really well with the game and i was enjoying it.

 

there are some problems mind, the auto lock-on can target stuff you don't want when a missile is just about to hit you, and coming back from a hit can instantly cause another hit, but these might just be me needing time to get used to it more.

 

i've done all the 15 levels on normal, then re-did a few to get more stars to unlock the next difficulty setting but not had much time on that yet.

so yeah i've been really enjoying this. wasn't sure if i should pick it up but glad i did.

[Craymen Edge]

Thanks for the heads-up, I didn't realise it was out yet.

I played this at EGX last year, and loved it. I went back a whole bunch of times.

[spatular]

cool!

 

to try and give a better idea of the music, this is one of the music tracks, it would not be out of place in wipeout:

 

 

oh maybe a better example, same song along with some brief gameplay:

 

 

i've been playing some more on the next difficulty up, it's quite a nice gradual increase in difficulty, still really enjoying it. and in the top 10 for a load of songs at that difficulty....because there are less than 10 scores on the leaderboard. being hit straight after a hit is still a thing though, does seem a bit unfair.

[spatular]

there's a manual here for the steam version which has some really handy info, like firing just before the beat makes the lasers really fast, and scores more points. and the auto lock-on targets threats as a priority, so if something flashes red it will be targeted and an old target will be let go.

 

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/499890/manuals/Aaero_InstructionManual_v1.0.pdf?t=1491929207

 

i played it quite a bit, done all the difficulty levels, got all the stars/collectables, really enjoyed it, still never properly got the hang of timing the shooting.

[Whiskey_chaser]

First i've seen of this - will be over it like a rash on payday!

[mfnick]

Played and completed Normal on this last night, thanks to Xbox Gold. It’s a great game! Thoroughly recommend anyone with a Xbox give it a go. Never heard of it before but thoroughly enjoyed my time with it so far.

 

Don’t know how they do it but following the Ribbon just feels really satisfying. The feedback through the visuals, sound and vibration is just great. The soundtrack is totally up my street too. Liked it so much I bought 1 of the DLC packs. Will probably get the 2nd since the game is basically free. 
 

My only issue is I’m going through advanced now and I’m disappointed how they’ve increased the difficulty. I was hoping for more ribbons to follow but instead I’ve just got a bunch more enemies and projectiles. That’s just not as fun IMO. If you get hit at any point it’s basically game over too, you literally don’t have time after respawning to target and kill the next set of projectiles due to the pathetic invincibility time you get. Doesn’t help I’ve got hardly any rhythm so timing the fast shots always fucks me up. I’m currently stuck on the 3rd to last level and there’s a set of dive bombing enemies I just can’t kill fast enough. 
 

Any tips @spatular? How the fuck you got all stars I’ll never know. Well done! 

[spatular]

thanks! 

 

not sure about tips, its been a while, i do sort of remember the enemies on the shooting bits first come in on the edges of the area you can aim at which makes them easier to target (you can just move the analogue stick round the edges) so try and get them as they're coming in. also the targeting does odd things and being hit by stuff you think you've already shot so watch out for that. i probably only did ok at it because i liked it and played it a lot. good luck! 

[mfnick]

Well put another hour in and didn’t actually realise how much of a difference that fast shot on beat makes until I read your posts. Turns out it’s pretty essential on that stage and I’m guessing it will be further on too. Unfortunately I just can’t get my head around it at all, I can’t even figure out which part of the beat it wants me to press it on. Especially in the heat of a bunch of enemies dive bombing me. So going to have to call It quits. I’ll still fire it up every now and again though and play the easier stuff because it’s good fun. 

[spatular]

oh yeah the button timing was pretty odd, you're supposed to fire just before the beat, it is a bit strange that they don't just make you fire on the beat as that would make more sense imo.

[spatular]

AAero 2 out on the 15th on Xbox, was £12.5 to preorder so I preordered it. Apparently coming to steam and maybe other platforms later.

[mfnick]

😳 I have absolutely zero memory of this game. Even just watched those videos to try and jog it, & nothing. Worrying. 

[spatular]

oh man my memory is bad these days too

[spatular]

Played a load of AAero 2 now, it’s great! At first I wasn’t sure about it as they’ve changed how it works a bit from the first one, now following the line is less important and hitting enemies on the beat is more important, for score anyway, helps with survival too mind. So now you fire on the beat which makes more sense than the first game… but I don’t think it’s every beat, maybe every 2 or 4, there is an indicator which shows when to fire, the indicator could be a bit better imo, there’s a few little things like that that makes the game fall short of absolute top draw, but despite this I still got into it and ended up really liking it.

 

ive played it loads and still not 100% on how the scoring works but basically you need to keep on the line enough to keep the multiplier up, and fire on the beat.

 

the music is great, well not sure it’s the sort I’d listen to outside the game but fits the game really well.

 

the bosses are really hard, well hard to kill, (you sort of don’t have to be able to kill them I guess)  especially the crab boss, I’ve played that stage so many times, I do like the music on it mind, the score needed for 5 stars on that one is a bit of a difficulty spike imo, I have all the other stars but that last one on the crab boss level. Stupid crab.

 

anyway yeah great game, pretty cheap too, recommended, if you like the first one or fancy something a bit different combo of rhythm action and Rez. Probably recommend the first one above the second as iirc it’s a bit easier to get into, or it could be I was just stuck in my ways of playing the first one.