Aero the Acro-Bat was first released over thirty years ago on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. It is a platformer that was developed by now defunct American video game developer Iguana Entertainment, and was recently re-released for the Sony’s currently active consoles PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. It was published by Ratalaika Games on the 2nd of August 2024.
RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2, 2024
DEVELOPER: IGUANA ENTERTAINMENT
PUBLISHER: RATALAIKA GAMES
PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION 5
In the game, you control Aero the Acro-Bat, who is a red anthropomorphic bat, that is an acrobat. The story talks about a spoiled kid Edgar Ektor, who was banned from attending a circus, but later became a powerful evil industrialist. He decides to sabotage the circus by kidnapping all of its performers. The greatest star of the circus, Aero the Acro-Bat is the only remaining hope for rescuing the alienated performers and defeating Ektor’s evil ways. Aero the Acro-Bat is your typical classic platformer game that features 2D platforming through various levels. To complete a level, you have to clear its objectives, before an exit warp takes you to another stage. The game includes four different worlds, and each of them has five levels you need to get through. All of the levels are quite big and include plenty of hazardous objects that will instantly kill you.
With Aero, the Acro-Bat, you are able to attack the enemies by shooting stars and by doing aerial attacks on them. Through levels, you are also collecting points, and if you collect enough of them, it unlocks an extra level for you to beat. I have never played the game upon its initial release, since I never owned the consoles it got released on, which is a shame, because I am a sucker for platforming games. By playing the game now, I have to say that it is a pretty average games three decades after its debut, and I do not think that it is a game that you must play. It might be fun for you, if you want to relive the memories of playing it when you were younger, otherwise it does not radiate a lot of fun while getting through it. There will be a lot of running, jumping and attacking to beat the levels, but everything is, in my opinion, presented quite weirdly, and will require a lot of skill from the player, because everything is pretty darn difficult. Ratalaika’s re-release does include a rewind feature, that makes the game gameplay a little forgiving, plus there are also save states available, so you can easily rage quit the game when you had enough of it. Just do not forget to save, before your rage bubbles over.
As I said, it definitely is not a game that you have to play by all means necessary, but it might be a good release for nostalgic people that want to play it again. The features that I mentioned are very welcome, especially because it is a quite big game, and you will probably want to get through it through parts, and not finish it in a single sitting. It is pretty mid, but definitely not awful.
GRADE
