Jan 3, 20193 min read

Game Review #087: Blue Rider (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: Frankie W.

Developer: Ravegan / Ratalaika Games

Publisher: eastasiasoft

Category: Arcade, Action, Shoot em up

Release Date: 12.13.2018

Buy Blue Rider from the Nintendo eShop here.

Do Not Disturb

It's not often that I find myself playing all the way through a game in a couple of sittings, but every time I sat down with Blue Rider, it took a few hours of my life away; and after 9 action-packed levels with awesome bosses, I saw that beautiful credits screen for the developers. I took the game down a short, but sweet romp through multiple biomes, hordes of enemies, and used a big arsenal of robot-killing weapons! Let's get into the nitty gritty of the arcade-style adventure shooter, Blue Rider!

You Like Shmups?

Blue Rider, at its core, is an arcade-style shoot ‘em up, like in the old days of Taito and such. You have to shoot your way through 1 of 9 levels at a time, with a very pretty aesthetic, using your arsenal of upgradable weaponry. You have your primary and your secondary fire to use, with your secondary fire being your explosives you have for big damage! You have a direct-fire missile that fires ahead with no tracking, and homing missiles that will follow enemies to their death but do a little less damage overall. Your Primary feels like a choice straight out of Raiden. You have your red primary that is a wide shot that gradually gets even wider and denser with bullets as you upgrade it, or the laser-like rapid fire shot that just fills the area ahead of you with a deluge of bullets.

All of these options feel viable, as most of your success will come down to your ability to manage priority targets as well as dodge bullets. The game was pretty light on difficulty through the start of the game, but by the end I certainly found some bullet hell for me to hyper-focus on. New to the Switch version of the Blue Rider, this game also features 3 difficulty modes (my playthrough was on normal mode) as well as online leaderboards. I think really breaking this game down and competing for spots on the leaderboard might be a fun time, given the structure of the game as well.

Your little blue ship, the titular Blue Rider, is outfitted with a booster as well for added speed when it is called for. He's a hardy machine, able to take a good amount of shots before exploding and taking a life from you, so it’s not quite as stressful as your usual shoot ‘em up game. I found myself enjoying the nice casual experience presented by this title, but what really shined for me were the boss battles! So many games with guns like to pretend to have boss battles, but generally it devolves into fighting a really buff “normal” enemy by constantly strafing around them and not really testing your skills.

Blue Rider has a TON of awesome and super-unique bosses for you the take down: giant scorpion mechs which protect their weak points with massive claws while launching huge stingers at you, giant worm mechs flying in and out of the sand while shooting at you, huge stacked towers of guns, quadruple-laser-shooting shield mechs, and everything else in between! I wouldn’t dare spoil all of them for you, so you better pick up this awesome $9.99 title, because it is more than worth the price of admission!

Wrapping Up

I really enjoyed playing through this game, even if it felt like it lacked polish in a few spots. The core gameplay is fast, fun, and gratifying—and really, what else can you ask for? The story is essentially non-existent, but not every game has to be a vehicle for a story, sometimes just an excuse to be on a crazy planet is more than enough! The sound design in this game is nothing to write home about, but outside of the song used in the trailer, it is not very present on the mind. You will be so into navigating a field full of bullets and robots trying to take you down, you won't even notice that. All of these factors together make for a short but fun packed game that would be a great addition to anyone's Switch library! I give Blue Rider an 8 out of 10!