Within minutes of starting Rise & Shine, I was introduced to a planet that’s chock-full of videogame characters. References to our beloved culture are often found in Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team’s newest effort. But, as I’m sure we can all agree, references aren’t enough to build a game on. Luckily, Rise & Shine has learned a thing or two from the greats of its genre.

A 2D side-scrolling action game, Rise & Shine puts you in the sneakers of Rise, a little boy living on Gamearth. The planet gets invaded by evil Space Grunts and, through a predictable turn of events, you get to be the one that has to save the day. Right off the bat, you’ll encounter familiar faces and references to videogame characters or places in the background. Visually, Rise & Shine is a very slick and polished title. A colorful, cartoony art-style with detailed environments adds a modern touch while, the bosses, which are just-as-detailed giant robots, make one think of the past.

In your efforts to save Gamearth you’ll make use of a number of abilities your weapon, Shine, gives you. Two types of ammo will be made available, one more effective against robots, another that’s good against those meaty Space Grunts. These ammo types will be used in conjunction with 3 firing modes. The standard mode is what you’d normally expect: bullets flying fast in a straight trajectory. The second firing mode gives you remote controlled bullets that can be manually directed through certain areas. This ability comes in handy when activation of distant levers or the solving of puzzles is required. It is, however, never very useful in combat. The third firing mode gives you a lobbed grenade that you can detonate at will. This is most useful in boss encounters and when dealing with grouped up or shielded foes. You can also dash, which comes in handy when trying to avoid certain types of incoming fire.

Rise & Shine’s movement and combat feels very tight. The character is responsive and alternating between ammo types and firing modes can be done on the fly using “Q” and “E”. Despite this, the game doesn’t push you to be extremely mobile, encouraging the use of cover, whenever available. This makes sense, due to the fact that, at the end of the day, you are playing as a child. There’s a certain amount of attention that’s offered to this little element. The force behind repeated shots will push you back. You can double jump, but only with the aid of your weapon that’s on your back, while not firing. Rise’s frailty is something you’ll have to look out for. A hit or two are enough to send you back to the previous checkpoint, so, precision is required when aiming, in order to shoot incoming projectiles before they reach you. You have to figure out when to fast fire and when to use your bullets sparingly, as different enemy combinations will aim to murder you. The pacing is also done well, breaking up intense fights with puzzle and narrative sequences just so none drag on for too long.

The boss design in Rise & Shine is tributary to titles of old. Giant robots with several phases and attacks that have a certain pattern will mark the end of the three acts. Death will, no doubt, pay you a visit as you get zapped by an incoming mob you didn’t expect, or by that last pesky rocket you didn’t keep enough ammo for. However, respawning is done quickly and checkpoints save you close to the action that it never feels like a chore. Most of the frustration I’ve encountered came from me not paying enough attention to what’s happening on screen. While I don’t exclude this being something that won’t be too widespread, I did have trouble, at times, keeping track of where my character was positioned while aiming, leading to some deaths that felt extremely cheap. Chances are, this happened because of the busy, colorful backgrounds that made keeping track of all the stuff on screen a bit too difficult. Be that as it may, these deaths were in the minority and something that did not cause too much hindrance.

When it comes to the story, events are presented both during gameplay, through dialogue boxes and through comic book-like panels in between levels. Familiar faces will make their appearance, as the developers have included a large number of known characters from classics in their game. This is most likely meant to be a tribute of sorts, as Rise & Shine draws clear inspiration from older side-scrollers. The bond between the boy and the gun is explained to a certain point, but the story never stands out too much, on the whole. This happens, most likely, because of the game’s length. The more skilled people out there will finish the story in 3 hours. For people like me, who get stuck for an hour on the last boss, the game time can go up to 4 or 5 hours. Thus, the game’s story leaves a couple of things unanswered, or barely touched upon. Certainly, there is an Iron Man mode for those who want to go the extra mile in terms of challenge, however, with how tight the controls feel and how polished everything else is, Rise & Shine left me wishing there had been more to it.

The game’s brevity is its worst enemy. To those that aren’t interested in replaying the story in Iron Man mode, the release price of $11,99 might seem steep. However, apart from that, Rise & Shine is a great side-scrolling action game. Its responsive controls, slick visuals and great combat made me enjoy the time spent with it. It is a game that shows awareness of the past, both through mechanics and the inclusion of classic characters in its universe. I only wish there would have been more of Rise & Shine’s adventures before the credits rolled.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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