Crisis Wing (2020)

Crisis Wing is very much a standard shooter, for better or worse. It works and works fairly well but there isn’t much to really make it “pop” even when compared to other shooters – even those of the era it’s trying to emulate. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since sometimes a basic game hits different and can act as a nice palate cleanser to unwind with between major releases. Even at the reasonable $7.99 pricetag, there are other shooters you may want to spend your time playing and returning to over this one.

Visually, Crisis Wing will appeal to those that grew up in the ’90s. It very much looks like something from the SNES era, with bold sprites and colorful variety.

Despite its simplicity, I enjoyed my time with Crisis Wing as it brought me back to the 16-bit days when I'd rent a shmup from the video store and even if it wasn't particularly special, I still had fun trying to beat my own high scores.

Back in the days of arcades and even earlier consoles vertical shmups were in their heyday, and while not all of them were necessarily special they could be counted on to at least be consistently engaging...