Rolling Sky 2 Review
Fast Facts
Title: Rolling Sky 2
Developer: Rising Win Tech.
Publisher: Rising Win Tech.
Website: https://www.rising-win.com/rolling-sky2
Genre: Platform, Music, Rhythm
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 06/02/20
Price: £10.49 – Rapid Reviews UK were very kindly provided with a review code for this title.
Musical number!
Rolling Sky 2 is a game all about movement combined with the power of an orchestra soundtrack in this unique runner.
Your main goal is to reach the end of each song/level, avoiding pit falls, leaping from pillar to post and trying not to hit into any obstacles. You also don’t have freedom of movement: you can only move your character from left to right as running and jumping is all automatic.
Musical adventure
Each of the 12 stories evolve around different characters, each accompanied with their own unique soundtrack that evolves overtime during your run, creating a musical experience.
During your run, if you hit into any obstacle or fall off a platform your run will end. However, don’t be disheartened as you can retry as many times as you like and there’s no penalty for doing so. There are a few checkpoints scattered throughout each level, and hitting these will allow you return to these points if you die. Also during each level you can collect blue and golden moons that are scattered throughout. Blue moons can be picked up straight away, however golden moons need to be collected a few pieces at a time before it becomes whole and you’re able to snag it. If you like collecting stuff and getting 100% completion for each level, you may enjoy the challenge in trying to collect all the available moons in each level which adds a little replayability to the mix.
Each level expands and changes over time, and new areas will appear including new hazards, making for some pretty great set-pieces. Some of my favourites were the massive worm attack in Death Book or swinging from rope to rope through a harbour in Theft Prequel, which is pretty cool to see for the first time. However my favourite musical scores were from Pharaohs, Starry Dream and Ronin. I just wish there had been a juke box or music option where you could have just listened to Rolling Sky 2’s music, that would have been great… sadly there’s no option to do that.
The challenge
Each story has a single main character that you can control with two methods: either using the analog stick or motion controls on your controller.
To be honest, I found the analog stick to be to twitchy which sent my character flying off platforms and crashing into obstacles all the time… However using the motion controls felt a lot better. You have to be gentle though when playing with the motion controls, small movements will do… but I found this control option far more effective than the physical set-up.
Normal/Hard/Nightmare
Apart from normal difficulty, some stories have a hard difficulty and a more challenging nightmare difficulty to contend with. These will definitely challenge you. The only issue here is all stories are available from get go and there’s nothing I’ve seen that you can actual unlock in the game…unless you unlock something after collecting all the available moons that is. But I grew tired of the same levels after a few hours. I really loved the musical scores but levels became repetitive after a while, and I’d seen pretty much everything in my first hour of play.
Musical void
I really enjoy rhythm games and this has a lot to like. But maybe you should play this in short bursts as after I’d run through all the normal and hard difficulties I was done…. And apart from nightmare difficulty, there wasn’t anything else left for me to see.
Graphics, sound
Graphics for each themed level look real nice and they have a lot of moving parts which look nice in motion. The music is top-notch and plays especially well when using headphones, which makes for a more immersive experience.
Short experience
I just wish there was more of it as after my first hour on the game I’d seen everything it had to offer. I think it would have been great if they had included Rolling Sky 1 as a bonus, as I always find it odd when developers bring out a sequel and not the original game. I think it would have benefited the game and its longevity.
Final words!
Apparently 70 musicians were invited to create and produce the music for this game which is pretty impressive and it shows, as music is definitely a stand-out feature in this title. The 12 levels are nice mini escapes and you can challenge yourself in other difficulties, gathering all the moons if you want to complete the game 100%.
But after an hour of play you’ll have seen everything the game has to offer which is a shame. Beautiful music and the platforming is fun for a short while, but there is nothing else to keep you motivated… making the experience after an hour feel a little shallow.
Rapid Reviews Rating
You can purchase Rolling Sky 2 at the following link: eShop
