Review: AereA – A Tribute To The Classics
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Aerea, from Triangle Studios and published by Soedesco is a multiplatfrom music-themed action role playing game (arpg). Role playing games has been one of the most played genres when it comes to video games. There has been a multitude of rpgs released in recent years and here’s what we think of what AereA offers to […]
Aerea, from Triangle Studios and published by Soedesco is a multiplatfrom music-themed action role playing game (arpg). Role playing games has been one of the most played genres when it comes to video games. There has been a multitude of rpgs released in recent years and here’s what we think of what AereA offers to the genre.
S T O R Y
Aerea is a game about the floating island Aezir that is in danger of falling to the ground due to having lost the primordial instruments whose magic keeps it afloat. It’s up to you to choose who among the disciples of Great Maestro Guido’s who will help locate and retrieved the primordial instruments scattered around the game. You can choose among 4 characters, Jacques The Cello (melee), Wolff the Harp (archer), Jules the Lute (mage), and Claude the Trumpet (ranged).
GAMEPLAY
Aerea plays like your typical arpg. Aerea reminds you of other arpgs such as Torchlight with its classic top-down view. As any rpg, you gain experience by fighting creatures or in this game, cute looking animals or insects, depending on the area that you’re in. In Aerea, you level both your character as well as your instrument (weapon). You level up your instrument by using Tuning Points (TP) and apply it to your preferred attributes such as vitality, attack power, defense power, accuracy and ability.
Aerea also has a multiplayer option; you along with three other friends can play the game. This feature reminds me of those classic arpgs in the arcades like Golden Axe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You progress through the game by playing different missions that would enable you to explore the different areas/worlds of the game. Aside from fighting creatures, you’ll spend most of your time exploring the map, figure out puzzles and unlocking doors. Though this tasks aren’t hard to complete, it does get repetitive pretty quick.
The game may seem easy but you won’t breeze the game easily. It also offers a certain level of difficulty and if you’re not careful, you’ll realize that your health bar is depleted and next thing you know, you’re dead. The game doesn’t have a checkpoint or a savepoint so when you die, you’ll start all over again, defeat the same monsters, redo the puzzles, and unlock the same doors. It’s also a task to manage your item inventory. You only have four slots for items and when you first encounter them in the game, they do not have an item description, so it’ll be a case of trial and error. You’ll figure out what the item does in-game or you can wait until you get back to the music hall’s store.
Aerea uses the same mechanic for most arpgs, you either hack or slash, shoot with a ranged weapon or cast magic. It would have been helpful if Aerea has a lock-on or auto aim feature. Playing melee works just fine but having a ranged/magic character may seem tedious as it’s hard to aim and shoot enemies while moving.
VISUAL AND PERFORMANCE
Aerea looks and plays like your average arpg. The characters are designed unique to the game. All of the characters, items even the effects are all music related. You’ll also see a lot of music symbols all throughout the game. It wouldn’t be a full music-themed arpg without a great soundtrack. The music is well-crafted depending on the area you’re in, if you’re back in the music hall, it’s a soothing classic music and intense and fast music when it comes to boss fights. Aerea’s world and it’s characters are cute, bright, colorful, and eye-catchy.
VERDICT
AereA is a classic arpg released on the console. It may look dated for the current console and doesn’t offer anything new (except for it being music-themed) that we haven’t seen before. AereA may have seen to be inspired by the different arpgs before it but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad game. It’s made for a different demographic, probably not for the veteran gamers but for gamers who just recently discovered the arpg genre. It is a good game to introduce to the younger generation who also just started playing video games. There aren’t a lot of rpgs made for the younger audience. Aerea may not be for everyone but it has its own unique charms. With it being a music-themed arpg and its multiplayer features, it takes you back in time when you just started playing and enjoying video games with your friends.