Aaero: Complete Edition

Genre: Music-Rhythm / On-Rails Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

Aaero is a Music-Rhythm game with On-Rails Shooter elements that calls to mind games like Rez and Thumper but manages to forge its own identity. Originally released on multiple platforms in 2017, this game was brought over to the Nintendo Switch in 2018 with its expansion content included.

In terms of presentation, Aaero follows in the footsteps of Rez in that it has a simplistic abstract but futuristic presentation. It’s not technically impressive but it is aesthetically very nice, and makes for a good pairing with this game’s excellent soundtrack of EDM tunes. Really, the only place in this presentation I can find any fault with is that there is some aliasing here, but otherwise this game looks and sounds fantastic.

In terms of gameplay, this is a really clever meshing of different gameplay elements from different Music-Rhythm games that doesn’t quite feel like any of them. I’ll start by saying that this isn’t the sort of music-rhtyhm game where you need to do things to a beat (although there are actions where you’ll be rewarded if you do), and there’s little in the way of button-tapping. Rather, this is more about following the flow of the music. Like in Rez and Thumper, you’re flying a ship down a corridor that twists and turns, and much like in Rez you’ll have enemies that you can lock onto with a seeking laser that can target multiple enemies at a time. Like in Thumper, you’re moving your ship around based on the flow of the music, with your movements in sync with either the vocals, bass, or synth of the song. However, this movement is guided by a line to follow that reminds me a bit of Guitaroo-Man.

At first, you’ll be doing these two actions separately, moving with the left stick, targeting enemies with the right stick and firing with ZR. However, as the game gets tougher you’ll increasingly find yourself multitasking both, which is challenging, especially when the line you’re meant to follow gets more complex. However, once you “get in the groove” and get a feel for how to move during a song, there’s a fantastic feeling of accomplishment.

There are a few issues I can point to that detract from the overall experience here. Firstly, the game occasionally places barriers in your path that are difficult to see, dark against a dark background and often with your bright ship in the way. And secondly, even with all of the added content included in this version, you can probably blast through it all in the span of a few hours, though of course you can head back in at a higher difficulty. Still, it sits next to other Nintendo Switch Music-Rhythm games like Voez and Deemo with literally hundreds of songs, and it’s hard not to see this game’s 21 songs as a bit of a short list by comparison.

However, even though Aaero could do with more content and a few tweaks here and there, for the most part this is a fantastic and unique Music-Rhythm experience that fans of the genre should absolutely not miss, especially fans who enjoyed Rez but thought its gameplay could be a bit more intertwined with its music.

tl;dr – Aaero is a Music-Rhythm game with On-Rails Shooter elements that plays like a more musical version of Rez, with elements of other music-rhythm games added in, ultimately making this game stand alone as a fairly unique entry in the genre. It could do with a bit more content and a few other minor adjustments, but overall this is a fantastic Music-Rhythm game that genre fans should not miss out on.

Grade: A-

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