Rise and Shine is a 2D side scroll shooter that is more of a nod to old school shooters in which you have one life and a small health bar. The story is about you playing as Rise and your world of Gamearth is invaded by the warmongering world of Nexgen (I am not making this up!) and you are passed a sacred gun Shine and you have to save your world.
General Gameplay
Rise and Shine to its core is a 2D shooter, if anything more in lines of the old school games like Contra. You control the character Rise and use Shine the gun to shoot enemies. The game is set up like a hybrid puzzle/shooter, in which you have to use special ammo to figure out environmental puzzles to continue on a linear path. The game is designed to be a shooter but a hard shooter (more on this in our family friendly section). Also you use cover in certain sections to cover yourself from enemy fire.
Audio
From guns blazing, to background ambient sound, the game has great audio. It is supported in 5.1 surround sound and the action comes clear through the speakers. As the game does not have any spoken dialog, there is nothing offensive about the audio, however being a Mature rated game, the game does have some sound effects of the main character dying. This may upset some gamers when hearing the sound effects. Rise and Shine audio actually is well done and fun to hear in action. The sound for the family gaming members that use headphones came through clear and without any issues, however again parents please use caution of long exposure times for those that are gaming with headsets.
Visuals
Rise and Shine visuals are very breathe taking. It is done in more of a style of a comic and the character animations are drawn in very much detail. The animation is beautiful to watch in action and even minor details to the background and environment is top notch. However again being a Mature title that the death animations for your character and he being a child are very gory. This is a game not meant for children to play. We did notice that the game does not support a colorblind mode and with having this amount of detail it was hard with some of our family gaming members to keep up with the action on larger screens. Other than that the game does not have any type of nudity or anything else expect for the violence that would be offensive to gamers.
Controls
The controls are set up in a hybrid style of being a twin stick shooter and a platformer. With a jump, cover, changing ammo type and aim and shoot that is what the controls are model after for Rise and Shine. The game is every easy to pick up and play but we notice from the PC version of the game that with aiming that it is easier on the PC vs the Xbox One version of the game. This is not a game breaking issue but for those that are going to play the game, something to keep in mind when playing to take heart to aim up your shots. Parents there is no need of any special type of controller to play the game.
“Don’t let the games sharp graphics fool you, this is one hard core shooter game”
Delivery
For those that are in the market for a hardcore 2D shooter, Rise and Shine will fill that void, but be warned that you WILL DIE A LOT IN THIS GAME. The game is not a casual shooter but more for hardcore fans. This is not a bad thing but during our play test some of our gaming family members were getting frustrated with the amount of dying that was going on in the game and they were just turned off from playing it. Does this make the game a bad game, no, however it is more in line for those that want a challenge and not a casual shooter.
Family Friendly
First off during our testing of the game, when we saw the rating we wanted to give it a benefit of a doubt and see if the M for Mature rating was a justified rating and after playing the game for about several hours now we can say that this is a game not meant for children. First off the game is very colorful and with vibrant colors and graphics, great sound, references to other gaming franchises and others things that may make you think that it is kids friendly, but it is not. The main character death animations are very gory and disturbing seeing a child get killed like that can be too much for some gamers to deal with. Also the level of difficulty in the game is also something to keep in mind as it is a game that you will die a lot within a span of several minutes of playing. The game does not hold your hand to tell you what to do per say but more of “hey I got this new ammo type and what can I do with it?” Also there is no way to change the game to be easier as this is meant to be a hardcore shooter. Now I do agree with the M – for Mature rating, but this is not a bad game, not a family game, but not a bad game for those that love hardcore shooters. If you have someone in your gaming family that is a mature age that love shooters, then I would recommend getting this title for them, but again be warned this is not an easy game to play, let alone beat. This is more of a game of trial, death, error and repeat till you can move to the next section, so if you have a gamer in your gaming family that likes these games then Rise and Shine if good for them.
Closing
Rise and Shine is a brutal, solid 2D shooter that only hardcore shooter fans will love, but with its brutal death scenes and very hard difficulty, it is not for the whole family.
