The Game Tutor Grades Rise & Shine

We first looked at Rise and Shine back in December 2015 and I ended the preview with a sense that the game was going well and was due out early 2016. Well we are now in early 2017 and finally, the game seems to be seeing the light of day, so let’s jump back in and see if the extra year of development has made a fine game.

Back in 2015, we spoke about how fantastic the demo was and how gorgeous the game was and how the soundtrack rocked. Well, all of that is still true but unfortunately, the harsh reality is there is not really much more here than was in the demo over a year ago.

The game is short lasting about 3-4 hours for a playthrough and if it was not for the case the game is very difficult then it would be over even faster. And therein lies the larger problem in that while a game being really difficulty is not an issue Rise and Shine (particularly in the second half) is difficult for all the wrong reasons.

Firstly, the controls. I said back in my original preview that playing the game with a controller was an absolute must. Well, mouse and keyboard controls have been improved since then but still the controls in the game as fiddly and you never quite feel like you are in total control and for a game that relies so much on pinpoint accuracy that is a problem. The other issue is changing between gun modes. So, you have 2 different types of the bullet which are physical and electric and each of those can be fired in 3 different way (normal, guided or explosive) and the main issue is that you have 2 buttons to do this. One to switch between the type of bullet and one to switch between how it is fired and when completing some of the game’s later challenges this mechanism is incredibly fiddly. The other slight issue is that when firing you can only move very slowly and this also is a problem. Imagine playing a bullet Hell game such as Radiant Silvergun where you had to be still while shooting. It just makes the game ‘less fun’.

Visually, however, the game is gorgeous and there is a lot of fun references in here for gamers but I did expect so much more than there is and to be honest I feel like the game has not greatly progressed since the demo I played well over a year ago.

Rise and Shine has a lot of heart and I am sure there are some people out there that will truly love it but this is definitely far from the must by classic we had hoped for.