PixlBit

So I haven't blogged in awhile and I've been quite busy. It's the holiday season so I've been doing some Christmas stuff with the family and last minute shopping. Anyways, I've been wanting to talk about something I as waiting on for 4 years. That very thing I was waiting on...Rodea: The Sky soldier...Oh and I bought the limited edition from the NIS Store for $79.99 or however much is was when it came out.

So this is the limited edition. You get Rodea The Skysoldier for Wii & Wii U. A music CD, art booklet, a key chain and the snazzy box it all comes in. Now for me...was it worth the wait? Let's take flight...

Anyways the story starts with Rodea who is trying to save Princess Cecelia  who is in danger. Going further on Rodea and wakes up in a different time  (A thousand years in the future) mistaking a spirited inventor Ion as Cecilia at first. Anyways with Ion's help you set out on a adventure to save the kingdom and fulfill the promise you made to Princess Cecilia While the story isn’t the most compelling thing in the world, it is enjoyable enough and it’s reasonably well acted too. It’s played as almost  like a Saturday morning cartoon, with  somewhat cheesy dialogue and overacting, but not to an annoying degree. The voice acting is good enough to get the job done, but won’t wow anyone expecting high end quality.

 

Wii U Version

 

The gameplay is a blend of flying and ground-based mechanics. Rodea: The Sky Soldier soars through the air and is also capable of shooting enemies down if need be. Most of the time, you can get by just spinning through them either on the ground or in the air which is a bit like Sonic, which is pretty fitting since Yuji Naka is behind this game.

Rodea: The Sky Soldier mixes Sonic's speed and platforming in a world with NiGHTS which was basically a dream game with a score attack mode blended in with some almost puzzle-esque boss battles. Rodea is very much a hybrid of those games in its time- and score-based approach to level progression. The third-person mechanics are also very much like Burning Rangers in that there’s a very good concept at the game’s core. The mechanics don’t all  gel together in a cohesive way. Despite that, the game is still a wonderful experience.

 

Wii Version

 

You control Rodea with the gamepad in the Wii U version. Nunchuk and wii remote in the Wii version. In the Wii U version, The left stick moves you around, the right moves the camera, and Y sends you in the air. This is where things get a bit shaky, because while you can aim with the left stick, your aiming is a bit imprecise for everything. Targeting and then dashing forward can work reasonably well, but the camera can get out of control and lead to needless deaths. Pressing down on the d-pad allows you to get out your blaster while X blasts away at enemies.

You’ll definitely want to mix things up with your attacks, because each has a limit. You can’t be in the air too long or you’ll lose all power and fall and die. Do you want to run through some blaster shots and take out enemies in a risk-free fashion? Doing so is safer, but adds time – so if you want to speedrun things, that isn’t a great option. Sometimes though, you’ll find that the fastest option is the safest – like when a coin path also sends you into enemies over the ground. You can grab the coins in an instant-grabbing sequence kind of like in NiGHTS and then dash into enemies without having to worry about dying due to your flight meter running out of juice.

The graphics won't wow you. The most-impressive looking parts of the game are probably the air-based sections since they have the best visuals. You’ll see enemies and a sky as far as the eye can see. Most importantly, you won’t see many muddy textures on enemies unless you’re super-close and you can’t see the nasty-looking textures on the ground and walls. While some games on both the Wii and Wii U use unique graphical styles to make the most of their hardware, Rodea is a muddy-looking mess that appears to have been ripped from it's 3DS counterpart (Upgraded somewhat visually in The Wii U version).The animation is perfect for what it needs to be though, and the cutscenes fit quite nicely with a fantasy RPG art style.

Rodea the Sky Soldierwhile not perfect, is still an outstanding experience. After you spend an hour learning its nuances, the controls become second nature. That’s when the game’s full potential can be reached…and while it's still held back by the camera and tendency to bounce you all over the place those issues are fairly minimal in the overall game and don’t affect a high percentage of the adventure. If you want something truly new to experience, then give Rodea a shot.

REVIEW SCORE: 8/10 B-