Air Twister Critic Reviews

If you loved Sega in the '80s and '90s, you'll likely find Air Twister to be initially very impressive and enjoyable. It loses its flavour over time though and it's pretty repetitive but it's worth experiencing, although maybe when the price drops a little.

Overall, Air Twister is a fine arcade title. It’s initially fun to play, and its trippy fantasy visuals do a decent job of drawing you in. However, once you’ve managed to topple the final boss and are treated to the end cutscene, there really isn’t much to keep you playing or cement the game in memory. The main story mode becomes just what you grind on to afford better butt dressings. I think the fallen swan deserved better.

Yu Suzuki brings to consoles and PC his latest game, released on Apple Arcade: a rail shooter that reminds of Space Harrier, with a simple and entertaining gameplay, but also very basic and repetitive, without any fresh ideas. The presentation has personality, but it can also look amateurish and mismatched, and the music does not fit the genre.

As a fan of classic arcade shooters, I had fun with Air Twister but its tacked-on upgrades and goofy extra content weigh it down.

Air Twister isn’t a bad game – far from it – but it does nothing to genuinely impress. It looks quite nice, has a love-it-or-hate-it soundtrack, and a wide variety of modes, but the core gameplay here is disappointingly basic. So, while fans of the genre might get some enjoyment out of it, it’s hard to recommend on the whole.

If you're looking forward to playing some good rail shooter on consoles, then there are lots of great alternatives to Air Twister. Just take a look at REZ on PS5 or Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox consoles.