E3 2015: We Take To The Skies With ‘Rodea The Sky Soldier’

Despite its current reputation, people still take notice when they hear that the creator of Sonic The Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, is developing a new property. After floating around in development hell for a few years and shifting over to a new platformer, it won’t be long until we’ll be able to play Rodea The Sky Soldier for ourselves. At E3, we were able to check out the first few missions of the upcoming Wii U and 3DS game and see if it lives up to its creator’s pedigree.

As Rodea, a reactivated android who must protect the land from the evil that defeated him in the past, has a huge world in the sky to explore.Considering how low key this release has been, I was impressed to see how large of a scope this game has. If you can see it on screen, you’ll be able to go there, but you’ll have to strategically plan your jumps. While Rodea can fly for a short period of time, he needs to make contact with land or destroy an enemy in order to replenish the amount of time he can stay airborne. If you underestimate the distance, it’s going to be a long way down!

Holding one button to activate his reticule sets his flight path, while the attack button sends him towards enemies at full speed, barreling at them with a vicious spin attack, (sound familiar?). Flying through rings will set him on a short, on rails path to new areas, while collecting stars along the way counts both for points, and the ability to unleash a screen clearing super attack once you have 50 in hand. Feeling like a combination of sequences from Sonic Adventure 2 and Nights, it’s clear to see that Naka has his hands all over this project, which is a welcome realization.

Originally designed as a Wii game, there was also some good news for those purchasing the title on the Wii U version. What might be the final Wii release, all copies of the Wii U version will come bundled with a Wii copy, which will exclusively feature motion controls, and an online mode that lets players experience this huge world with friends from around the world. Combining this information with the jam packed collectors edition that was previously announced, and this package is looking sweeter by the day!

With all the praise out of the way, Rodea wasn’t without its problems. The controls take some getting used to, with jumping and targeting not being as intuitive as I would have liked. When on land, the camera mirrored the Dreamcast Sonic games in the worst way, often getting stuck or zooming in at the wrong times. Worst of all, while falling out of the sky with no land under you should result in an instant death, we’re forced to watch Rodea fall… and fall… and fall, until the game registers the lost life and sends us back to the checkpoint. Having said that, some of the other hiccups the game suffered, namely short jump times and weak attack distance will be improved as the player upgrades, so hopefully the rest of the problems will be addressed before the game releases in October.

Considering all of this new information, will you find Rodea: The Sky Soldier on your list of must buy games this October? Let us know in the comments if you’re planning on experiencing Yuji Naka’s next great adventure!