Rise & Shine Reviews
Brutal difficulty isn’t bad by itself, but Rise & Shine doesn’t balance it with a sense of satisfaction when you succeed
Rise & Shine is an enjoyable side-scrolling action game that perfectly blends the run and gun gameplay of past games with puzzle elements that make you think. The artwork is nothing short of spectacular and the sheer amount of nods to other franchises in the game will make you smile. The game can be completed in a handful of hours unless you become stuck on the final boss like I was, which added a couple more hours to my total. Upon completion, you can go back and find missing collectibles or try your hand at the Ironman mode. Besides a couple of puzzles that bring the game’s pacing down to a crawl, I thoroughly enjoyed everything from the gameplay to the atmosphere in Rise & Shine.
Rise and Shine is a very challenging platformer that relies heavily on references to other games to balance its lack of a good cast of characters.
While I don’t think any game is perfect, Rise & Shine is incredibly exemplary. Highly recommended.
Rise & Shine reminds us of the visual style and of the gameplay of Metal Slug series. It's hard, fulfilling and funny, but it suffers also from a lack of game contents.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Rise & Shine may be an infuriating endeavor but it's also a memorable one full of humour and a fun mix of gameplay elements.
Fun but short action game that also has a great amount of puzzles. Its control it's not perfect when played with a controller, but that almost the only flaw.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Lately most of the games that have been released in the last few months have not been challenging. Rise & Shine is breath of fresh air in terms of challenge and the story is not half bad either.
Despite its brevity ultimately doing some notable harm to it, Rise & Shine is still ultimately a solid platformer for the most part, one that has a lot of cute callbacks to classic video games while still having its own unique charm, along with some impressive graphics and nifty ideas sprinkled throughout.
Try this game out for the beautiful art style and your occasional dose of maniacal bullet hell gameplay, but prepare to rage quit more often than you would like.
the ability to make the gun point at the right spot is the difference between gaming nirvana and controller chucking rage. Go ahead and ask my controller where this experience leaned.
At its best, Rise and Shine is a marvelous reinvention of shooter mechanics wrapped up in puzzle-heavy stages that require some serious grey matter to think through. But most of the time? Rise and Shine’s charm can’t save it from its sadomasochistic formula.
Rise & Shine is short and sweet and fun while it lasts, but it's all over far too soon.
Regardless of its few flaws, Rise & Shine is a fun, vibrant arcade shooter that should please fans of the genre and remain accessible enough for newcomers. Its light-hearted approach, humour and gunplay make for a enjoyable fast paced experience that is filled with smirks.
If you want a game with lots of action, lots of fun and lots of references to the video game world, Rise & Shine is your game. But the aiming system and it's difficulty will drive you crazy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Rise & Shine packs itself with references galore in a world it doesn’t quite explore. But its combat, puzzle design, art direction, and brutal difficulty make that largely irrelevant.
Rise & Shine feels like a game that tries too hard to be too much, ultimately coming together in a fun package that could have been great. The action is tight and rewarding, the gameplay is varied, and the difficulty is satisfying, if a bit frustrating in some parts. Fans of old-school arcade shooters will find plenty to love here, even if the jokes don’t always hit home.
With a playtime of around three to five hours (a chunk of it down to death-induced restarts), Rise and Shine mercifully doesn't outstay its welcome. Unless you're keen to replay the game on its unlockable permadeath Ironman mode - or hunt for a handful of useless collectibles - you'll have little reason to return to Gamearth. However, if you can tolerate/appreciate the hammy humour, there's a tight and often tricky adventure that delivers a decent, if fleeting experience.
Rise & Shine has all the markers of a hit indie game. The gun’s add-ons, a series of upgrades that include a special curve-the-bullet ability, give the game an individualistic “hook”, and the art style is funky and appealing. If you approach it with the expectation of being entertained, you probably will be. But if you’re looking for a game that will reinvigorate your passion for the innovation of the indie game scene, look elsewhere.