Thank you Red Art Games for sending us this game to review!

Way back in the 1990s, the West got a shoot 'em up game called Aero Fighters. It received several sequels throughout the 90s, before the fifth game was released in 1997. In Japan, the same series is called Sonic Wings. Over 25 years later, we finally got a sequel in Sonic Wings Reunion.

Sonic Wings is one of several popular vertical shoot 'em up classic franchises. This, like many other similar games, has you shooting enemy ships up from the bottom of the screen, and blasting them out of the sky. You can move anywhere on the playing area, but if you move up, you are shrinking the part of the screen your bullets get to fill, as your shots only go up. Enemies can come at you from almost any direction, but as you might expect usually come from the top or the sides. There are eight relatively short levels, each that ends with a boss to defeat to test your mettle.

While Sonic Wings Reunion looks and acts like it's from the arcade era, unlike most arcades, it has proper difficulty levels. I found 'Normal' to be not too bad, at least on the first round. You see, when I first started playing, I didn't realize that once you beat the eight levels and see an ending, if you keep going, the difficulty goes up - but finishing the second round is how you get on the leaderboards. I found conflicting evidence suggesting there are more endings to see via second round playthroughs, but when I completed the second round with a character, I didn't see a second ending, but simply the first one repeated, so I can't confirm. Whatever the case, I regret stopping earlier during most of my playthroughs. If you play, keep going through the second round of eight levels.

Like most shoot 'em ups, story largely takes a back seat to the action of shooting down whatever you are fighting against. I still don't really know why you are blowing up so many enemy fighters, nor do I really care. However, depending on who you choose to play with, you get to see banter after each level, as well as see different endings.

There are eight characters/pilots you can play as initially, with two unlockable secret ones. Each pilot has their own unique aircraft, each with a primary main weapon, and a secondary bomb. When you hold down the fire button (by default A or B) the main weapon shoots, so there is no need to worry about turbo or button mashing or anything like that. I appreciate it when games don't require you to incur repetitive stress injury to play a game. Moving on, the secondary fire is some kind of bomb. You have a limited number of bomb shots per life, but you can get more by either picking them up when an opponent drops them, or dying, as you get more after each death.

Each pilot's shots are often quite different from each other. Some have a powerful primary fire, or perhaps one with different trade-offs. For example, some shoot a lot of shots ahead of the aircraft, encouraging a focus-fire strategy. Others spray shots at an angle, making it easier to clear the screen of opponents. The secondary bomb attacks also vary widely. Some do a quick, powerful blast in the middle of the screen. Others clear more or less of the screen. There is a lot of bomb variety.

Some truly wild bombs are out there. One of the most surprising bombs to me was what the Russian pilots offer. This twin sister duo fills the screen with a set of four giant Matryoshka nesting dolls that block bullets and do a lot of damage to opponents. They move in strange patterns, and some are clearly more effective than others. Sometimes this leads to wasted bombs, but when they do what you want, they are incredibly effective. There are several similarly powerful bombs that can dramatically change gameplay when choosing those characters.

Unlike most shoot 'em ups, which usually let you choose one pilot (or perhaps two for co-op of you are lucky), this game offers an unusual mechanic: allowing you to optionally choose a wingman. What this means in practical terms is your first player character is the aircraft you see on screen, along with their bomb (accessible by pressing Y) and the second is the bomb you get to use in addition to your main bomb (by pressing X). You trade one bomb per life for the flexibility of having two bomb options available; this is usually worth the trade. What this means is you only get three bombs instead of four.

In addition to the bomb changes, having more than one pilot also means that the chatter found after each level changes, sometimes dramatically. The endings do, as well. This is a fun mechanic, even if the dialogue is sometimes really basic or not very interesting. At other times it's just wild and quirky enough to be worth it, I suppose. Whatever the case, I do appreciate that the mechanic is there, since it's a reason to play as each pilot alone as well as each possible combination of them, which leads to a ton of replay value that would otherwise not be there.

You see, the levels themselves are fairly short, and not all that difficult. You also have unlimited continues, which I really appreciate, but it does mean that you can blitz through the game in under fifteen minutes, at least if you don't play through the second round of levels. I'm sure it would take longer on later difficulty levels.

The shoot 'em up gameplay itself is pretty solid, if a bit easy. There is nothing mechanically wrong with the game, and it's fun to play. The problem is that it's just fine, but not amazing. And they are asking a premium price for it.

The console versions are $29.99, which is on the high end of acceptable, but just barely. The PC version, which from what I can tell is largely identical to the console ports, is an eye-watering $59.99. Sixty dollars. Thankfully, it's been on sale for $17.99 before, and that's closer to acceptable. Whatever the case, the value is a bit tough to swallow.

Morally, the game is pretty typical by shoot 'em up standards. There is obviously violence, as ships shoot each other. There is no blood or gore. There is some mild language, including words like 'd*mn' and 'h*ll', but not much worse than that. When it comes to sexual content, one character wears very short shorts and a revealing top. Since I didn't play every possible character combination, I can't say if there is anything to note on some combination of pilots I didn't try out myself.

Sonic Wings Reunion is a decent but not overly exceptional shoot 'em up. It's fun, and if the price is right, I'd consider getting it. But the full asking price seems like a bit much for what you're getting, especially on the Steam PC version. On the Switch version I reviewed, it's an okay value. The graphics and music are fine, but not exceptional. Unfortunately, that's kind of my overall conclusion: it's fine, but not exceptional, especially at full price.