Aero The Acro-Bat (Genesis) review "Carrying on in day to day life, we find ourselves laughing at a variety of subjects. A joke a friend tells, or perhaps an article outlining the latest form of idiocy in today's society. Whether it's the misfortune of a rival or a scene in a revered comedy, it amuses us. Now ponder for a moment what a world would be like without entertainment. Imagine a place where humor has been sucked from existence as if it were a material substance. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Aero The Acro*Bat

Carrying on in day to day life, we find ourselves laughing at a variety of subjects. A joke a friend tells, or perhaps an article outlining the latest form of idiocy in today's society. Whether it's the misfortune of a rival or a scene in a revered comedy, it amuses us. Now ponder for a moment what a world would be like without entertainment. Imagine a place where humor has been sucked from existence as if it were a material substance. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Aero The Acro*Bat. Welcome to the world that Edward Edkar will eventually create unless you stop him. Now, we can cease with the overdramatization and melancholy prophecies and analyze this quirky adventure.

Aero is the epitome of mascot. In fact, should Sonic not have sufficed so well for Sega, I could see a bat like protagonist stepping in to fill the role. Regardless, he has all the aspects a good platforming hero demands, starting with his acceptable, if not innovative, control scheme. His ability to perform a twisting motion while in midair to assault enemies and handle tricky jumps is done effortlessly with a tap of the B button. Your remaining two buttons are used to throw stars and scroll the screen, allowing you to get a better scope of your immediate environment. Most of the levels take place in a serviceable side scrolling format, although there is a handful of specialty levels that involve speeding along on a roller coaster or barrel ride.

The design of the more generic levels, despite the absence of any extra, unique spice, find themselves being quite provocative and enticing. Spanning four worlds and nearly twenty stages, there's plenty of platforming goodness heaped into Aero's potentially humorless domain. Catch an elevator up to a new level, leap onto two star platforms, gobble up a soda and cupcake to replenish your health, and snatch up a special balloon leading you to a bonus zone. Not uncommon instructions for this title. The vibrant environments span numerous locales, from forests to amusement parks to the deranged lair of Mr. Edkar himself.

Designed beautifully I question not. However, some of the execution of Aero The Acro*Bat's levels do leave something to be desired. This is, to be truthful, the game's largest error. In what has to be explained as the game’s attempt at innovation, certain levels enlist you to complete some rather insane tasks. Jumping through twenty five hoops would be an example of these somewhat unreasonable requests. With numerous zombies, trolls, and other assorted baddies rushing onscreen, stopping to complete random instructions that seem irrelevant in the big picture could lead to contemplation of the TV with a footprint dominating the center of the screen. The three bosses integrated into the game don't present the same aggressiveness their levels do, but when you consider the effort and probable frustration required to reach them, their moderate challenge becomes somewhat amplified.

Even considering the ludicrous demands Aero The Acro*Batfrequently makes, one cannot deny the aura it presents. The cheery makeup of the various areas has a habit of drawing the player to them. One could even look into the aforementioned difficulty from an optimistic perspective, assuming correctly that a rather elating sense of accomplishment comes packaged with seeing your humor hating nemesis finally brought down. For all its pros though, the single mistake of overdoing the learning curve sticks out more than you may imagine. Platform novices may want to pass this one up, but if quirky side scrolling tests of your reflexes and fast thinking are the type of thing that lights the fire in your gaming eyes, by all means give Aero and his world threatened to be devoid of humor a shot.

Community review by jdog (June 27, 2004) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.