Walkthroughs & Tips

Review by: GenoForPrez

Reviewers Score: 9/10

Posted: October 09, 2005

Aero Acrobat 2
System: SNES
Genre: Side-scrolling Action/Adventure
Rating: 9/10

Review:

Levels: The first thing I noticed when playing this game was that none of the levels really have a circus or carnival theme, which is refreshing to anyone who played the first. After all, level after level of trampolines, tightropes, and circus clowns gets old pretty quickly. You'll notice a few enemies from Aero1 early on, but excluding the few you encounter in Act 1, Aero2 has nothing but new enemies for you to tangle with.

Enemies: In addition to having a better variety of levels to explore (i.e. military bases, factories, dungeons, etc), the game also ditches all the old "clown" nemeses in favor of an entirely new set of foes that are a huge improvement. Each Act in the game consists of 3 to 4 levels and each has enemies that are exclusive to that act. Not only that, but the enemies get more and more difficult as the game progresses. For instance, you will eventually encounter enemies that teleport, explode, or summon fire (to name a few).

Gameplay: If you've never played Aero at all, his controls might take some getting used to. Unlike most side-scrollers, the player character does not run at a fixed rate. He begins at a slow run and then gradually picks up speed the longer his movements stay fluid. If you're a player that enjoys racing through levels as fast as possible in the old Sonic the Hedgehog fashion, you'll be glad to know that you can get Aero going extremely fast if you really want.

The most important thing you'll want to know about this game is about Aero's drill attack; the trademark of Aero Acrobat. Instead of defeating enemies by jumping on them or shooting them (even though Aero does have the ability to shoot collectable stars), Aero attacks by diagonally drilling into his enemies. This means that in order to execute a successful attack on an enemy, you must leap into the air, setting yourself in a position diagonal to the enemy, and then press the attack button. Aero can drill attack in the four diagonal directions and down. I love the drill attack because it is very fast and because you can keep drill attacking consecutively as long as your attacks are making contact.

Conclusion: In short, this is one of my favorite side-scrollers of all time. It's got a variety of levels, a variety of enemies, and really fun gameplay once you get used to how Aero handles. Even if you didn't like Aero 1, I would still recommend giving this game a test drive. I can't promise that you'll agree with me about it being one of the best side-scrollers of all time, but I'm sure you won't be at all disappointed.

--Geno