If there’s a game that had every chance to be more than good, but amazing, that I’ve heard about recently, it would have to be Earthion. Recently announced, it quickly garnered a lot of buzz because the name Yuzo Koshiro was attached to the project as one of its creative leads, under the banner of his studio, Ancient Corporation. Known in the retro videogaming world as one of the most accomplished composers in the business, the highlight of his works being the Street of Rage games.
Alongside game director Makoto Wada (from Gotta Protectors and Royal Anapoko Academy), Kojiro delivers one hell of a retro-inspired experience with Earthion, a sci-fi space combat shmup that puts you in the shoes of Azusa Takanashi, an environmental researcher turned pilot. Aboard the uber powerful fighter YK-IIA, it’s up to you to protect Earth from an invading force. It’s so old school of a game that it’ll also be released in conjunction with Limited Run Games as a fully playable Mega Drive/Sega Genesis cart later this year. Current gen consoles will be getting their due in September. But for now, we’ve got the PC version to talk about.
As can be seen in the trailer above, Earthion is a sidescrolling horizontal shooter in which you pick up a crap ton of power-ups and use them to cause all manner of destruction against the enemy. You get so geared up in the game that the choice of whether or not to shoot all of your guns is left to you, with the option to manually control each of them as needed.
The YK-IIA is so versatile that when doing just that, you’ll probably be surprised at how large of a range it has depending on the weapon, allowing you to cover a substantial amount of screen real state, which comes in very handy, since the enemy isn’t shy when filling the game space with obstacles to try and destroy you. Levels are just long enough to make getting to the end without dying an accomplishment, but not an impossible one. If you are a genre veteran, Earthion can be completed at around the 2-3-hour mark, but someone like me who’s a filthy casual when it comes to shmups, well, that number goes up quite a bit – not that I’m complaining as I’ve been enjoying every second of it!
Speaking of impossible, there’s a number of difficulty options at your disposal before starting a run in Earthion. Shoot ‘em ups are infamous for just how hard they can be even if they tend to be relatively short to beat. This is the case for the game as well if you choose to play past its ‘normal’ setting, but what makes it manageable and easy to recommend to anyone looking for a good arcadey time are its easier toggles that turn Earthion into a fun and somewhat challenging time that incentivizes you to try again and turn up the dial to the next notch.
Graphically, there’s a lot to be said about it too. This being the PC version, there’s a few things that make it look like a beefed up version when compared to what has been shown so far from the 16-bit port. It’s nothing that makes the latter look worse, mind you, but it’s what would be considered cheating by those trying to nitpick any other game with retro visuals that might go out and claim it would run on actual hardware. Sprites are dense, extremely detailed under the limits imposed, and tend to be slightly bigger and more animated than what will be seen on the cart version.
Now, the soundtrack has to be good in this one, right? Considering the name behind the compositions at play, it’s a foregone conclusion, but it still impresses. Yuzo Koshiro has had decades of experience mixing songs using all manner of instruments and manipulation at this point. He’s a madman when it comes to old synth technology and that certainly comes through as Earthion is played and absolute bangers come out of your speakers. And it all marries extremely well with the sound effects, which sound authentic to the ‘blurps’ and ‘bloops’ of the original Genesis/MD sound chip. There’s even some speech thrown in for good measure.
Earthion is the passion project of a team that has been in the game long enough not to be inspired by the classics, but who have been part of the creation of the foundation of what we have in gaming today. It’s the sort of game that can only happen if its creators are masters of their craft, which is obviously the case with this one. Be sure to add this one to your collection as soon as possible. It’s that good. Are you ready to save your planet from alien scum?
