First and foremost in the review for Rise and Shine, I just want to make one thing incredibly clear to the developers of this lovely but very punishing game.
I loathe you, I don’t hate you, I just loathe you. The game is both enjoyable and dreadfully punishing with non-stop re-spawns and a very mellow story.
That being said we are now heading into spoiler territory folks! Now at the start of the game, you are introduced as the young boy named Rise who meets the legendary hero of Game-world after an evil space grunt is killed before him, as he is killed the legendary hero takes a mortal blow and hands the legendary gun Shine to Rise, hence the name of the game.
The Legendary hero goes on to explain that the bearer of the gun will have unlimited re-spawns and cannot die now, to which the kid asked “Why aren’t you re-spawning?” before the legendary hero dies on the spot.
Now the game as you progress through is loaded to the brim with every kind of video game reference you can think of some of which confused me, and others that were so obvious I overlooked them, from statues of Princess Peach, and Kid Ikarus, all the way to jumping over barrels to get by certain stages the game is loaded to an unhealthy level with video game references.
One of the things I enjoyed so much about the game is actually its very dull but amusing story that it has unfolded. Yes, you read that right I was truly enjoying the dull storyline they cooked up for the game and It was pretty funny at times too, and not in a pathetic way, just in a that is a very creative way.
It’s nice to see a game like that with some originality despite its very dull approach, unlike other game companies who just stick to what they know and don’t trust to do anything bold or creative. That really stood out to me.
Now avoiding any more spoilers I want to say that the soundtrack to the game is actually really sweet, and by itself, I kind of recommend the game because it really has that vibe that helps bring it all to life. From seeing Flappy bird fly on the screen, to having the Duck Hunt Dog show up and screw me over.
But I should point out for the game that the controls are pretty abysmal and I think it was by design, to add a level of difficulty to the game. If you have a game of infinite re-spawns you wouldn’t expect the game to be easy and they didn’t skimp on the difficulty. Although if you do want difficult they have an “Iron Man” mode for the game as well besides Normal because honestly, get a good scrub.
I however will not be using Iron man mode, because I am indeed a scrub, so I will leave that to the developers to show off if they can even do it.
So let us review it real quick! A very dull but amusing story, hard-to-use controls, a great soundtrack, a solid design, incredibly rage-inducing, and let’s not forget the peace of resistance and the overwhelming easter eggs for the game, it’s like it bleeds One Up’s.
In conclusion, Rise and Shine is a pretty great game, and I have had a wonderful time playing it despite the rage-educing coma it will probably put me into by the end of the week. If; you want to check out Rise and Shine you can find it on Steam!
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!