Have you ever wished you’d discovered something sooner? Perhaps a game that altered your perception on what the medium can offer, or with a story able to change your outlook on life? That was my experience with 2017’s Aaero, which eluded me at launch. A transcendent experience, it featured a lone spacecraft flying over eerily desolate landscapes, accompanied by a dubstep soundtrack skilfully in-tune with the action. The rhythm elements made it feel like a spiritual successor to Harmonic’s Frequency and Amped, while the ability to lock-on enemies and retaliate was comparable to on-rails shooters such as Rez and Star Fox 64. It seemed to have relied heavily on word of mouth, being one of the few dubstep centric games out there.
This is the long-time coming sequel – a whole seven years have passed, even requiring a Kickstarter to help get it across the finishing line. Everything has been rebuilt from the ground up, and feedback from the original listened to. Canadian electro dance music label Monstercat provides the music this time around, with the majority of tracks falling into the dubstep category. While the core concept is the same, the combat system has been expanded and refined, and this is something that prevents returning players from waltzing in and blitzing through it. Everyone going in will need to master new mechanics.
Initially, though, it seems that not a great deal has changed. Your ship accelerates automatically, and movement is confined to a transparent tubular tunnel peppered with glowing blue ribbons to follow. Riding along these perfectly not only increases the score multiplayer but also keeps the bassline bellowing. Drone-like enemies appear infrequently, sometimes even out of the blue, and these need to be dealt with before vanishing off-screen, often requiring multiple shots. The ship is armed with a machine gun on a cooldown, along with missiles that lock-on but unlike the previous game, missile barrages have a ‘sweet spot’ requiring perfect timing. Think along the lines of Gears of War’s active reload system. Achieving several perfect shots in a row is not only incredibly satisfying but also vital for beating target scores.
Yes, this is a thoroughbred score chaser. Performance is ranked out of five stars, and every stage has an online leaderboard. Achieving a two or even three-star rating isn’t too difficult, at least on the default Normal difficulty, but to acquire four or five requires very precise movement while ribbon riding, along with numerous perfect shots, 100% of enemies shot down and no lives lost. Quite the tall order. It isn’t long until ribbons need 360-degree movement or start to zig-zag, while larger enemies have elongated health bars. Aaero 2 does a very good job of charting your scores and progress, with the ribbon riding total shown as a percentage on screen, while the online leaderboards are very competitive.
A certain number of stars are required to unlock new stages. Criteria is well balanced, ensuring a steady unlock rate – you may occasionally need to restart and aim for a better score, but often, a three star rating will unlock the next stage. To see the final boss though, you’ll need a lot of four star ratings, doubtlessly prompting you to replay most of the game. Being music-focused this isn’t as problematic as it may sound, and this focus on refining skills and memorising tricky areas really elevates Aaero 2. The whole thing is structured around replay value.
Boss battles feature too, and these are a highlight, providing a slight increase in complexity and difficulty. The music is far more in sync with the enemy attack patterns during these battles, with basslines dropping at perfect moments. Like before, you’ll need to make every shot and missile barrage count to take a boss out before the stage ends or end up feeling their wrath.
Two of the boss battles take place underwater, showcasing the new focus on the mysteries of the deep. Murky waters make for limited visibility, making some hidden tokens (of which each stage has three to find) very well concealed. You’ll also be flying over icy tundra, scolding lava, off-world industrial complexes, and through picturesque forests. Indeed, not every location here is eerie and desolate. It’s worth mentioning though that the later levels are far richer and more detailed than the earlier ones, suggesting the developers honed their craft and started to push the game engine throughout production. The first stage is rather crude visually – almost giving a false impression of what’s in store. One thing constantly excellent though is the music, which has a nice variety of male, female, and synthesised vocals. Some tracks are loud and raucous, while others are far more soulful. Smart decisions have been made when pairing music to the boss battles, making them feel unique and not just another stage to beat.
Aaero 2 is very much designed for the long haul, only offering Chillout Mode and Normal difficulty settings from the outset – along with the two-player mode that has online matchmaking. As many returning players will no doubt testify, the experience doesn’t fully blossom until Advanced mode is unlocked. This mode will test your mettle, with more enemies and no assistance for ribbon riding. The achievements are heavily linked to playing on his harder difficulty too. If it wasn’t obvious by now, this is an experience based on improving skills and chasing those elusive five-star ratings. If scores are too low, you may even need to stop and think about why that is, and what’s needed to improve. It’ll definitely appeal to those who adored the games mentioned in the opening paragraph.
At the same time though, Aaero 2 shares the same trappings as a typical follow-up album from an artist you’ve enjoyed throughout their career. It has the same emotional highs and lows; you can predict the bassline drops, and the tone it conveys is identical to before. The first Aaero was more contemplative, making you wonder why the solo craft was on its journey. A little bit of that magic is lost here as that’s something I spent the entire first game pondering. This isn’t so much a case of ‘the difficult second album’ and nor is it an unnecessary sequel. The fact that it’s able to match the highs of the original is quite an accomplishment, but it’s never any better – it’s simply on par with its predecessor. In the end, it was a heck of a standard to set for itself.
Mad Fellows’ Aaero 2 is out 15th October on Xbox One and Xbox Series. A PC release is planned.