The visually stunning graphics of Rise & Shine conceal flaws. The makers were so intent on making a lovely and hard game that they forgot to make sure the receiver had fun as well.
Rise is one of the millions of people who live on Gamearth, a planet where everyone becomes a hero at some point in their lives. A renowned warrior bestows a powerful, intelligent rifle on a little kid clothed in an orange jacket and assigns him the duty of reaching the monarch. Along the way, he’ll have to combat a full army of alien invaders while listening to jokes about game solutions and conventions. The plot is uninteresting. The dialogue gives the sense that the playwright is continually winking at the player and, as a result, is not paying attention to his work. The comedy appears forced or forced in several places – gangsters joking about being near to explosive barrels is the pinnacle of the designers’ ability. The challenge is the key advantage of Rise & Shine. The game does not disappoint in this regard, it must be said. Battles involving hordes of enemies and smaller or bigger bosses are extremely taxing, and even the simplest combat might drive you back to the beginning.
The issue is that the degree of difficulty rapidly gets exhausting. Avoiding slow-moving bullets just to reach out from behind cover, fire two shots, and wait for the next volley is tedious, and fleeing in a grenade shower is more aggravating than entertaining. The confrontations with the big bosses are more intriguing, although you can see that the authors tried to compensate for certain flaws by boosting the difficulty. Fortunately, the game is constantly saved, so individual errors do not wipe out too much progress. Even still, the sting of the frequently ludicrous deaths is not washed away. What happens outside of fighting is the most intriguing aspect. The problems include the use of a rifle and unique bullets. We have to direct a remote-controlled missile through the maze at times, while at other times we have to shoot ourselves in the appropriate position with a grenade. The problems never put too much strain on your gray matter, but they do need some coordination and quickness.
Controls get in the way, whether we’re fighting robots and space thugs or trying to direct a single bullet through a hail of gunfire to push a difficult-to-reach button. Running Rise is tough since the hero only hops a few pixels and it is frequently impossible to see what is within his range, and the requirement to draw the weapon before each shot slows us down and distracts us tremendously. The visuals are pretty excellent, especially the rich, complex levels. It’s also difficult not to admire the boss designs, which definitely took a lot of time and thought. The comic book boards that emerge in the gaps between levels, while not as detailed as the maps themselves, leave a particularly pleasant impact, creating a fairy-tale mood, albeit pretty violent at times.
However, the practical graphic aspects appear considerably worse: the life meter is so little that it is scarcely visible most of the time, and the hero is a tiny figure packed into a big environment. Far too much was given up for the sake of creative vision. The adventure itself is also brief – the game may be finished in around two hours, or even faster if you don’t die too frequently.
Super Mega Team made a game that did not live up to the studio’s moniker. Rise & Shine is gorgeous, sometimes humorous, but mostly exhausting. Balancing the difficulty such that the receiver obtains gratification from each hurdle conquered is tricky, and it most likely did not succeed this time.