Waging War Over A Flower Shop: A Flightpath: Adventures In Venaris Review

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

I am a huge fan of shmups and have reviewed several notable titles in the past, so it probably comes as no surprise that I was excited to see an anime-inspired shooter heading to all major consoles in the form of Flightpath: Adventures In Venaris. (Hereafter simply referred to as "Flightpath".) This vertical shooter features a colorful cast of characters, an RPG-like upgrade system, and a branching storyline. Though it's a departure from the standard arcade-style shooters I'm used to, I'm sure there'll be something for me here. It does star a bunny flying a spaceship after all! Anyway, we have a lot to cover, so let's dive right in!

A Rabbit in a spaceship? I've seen everything!

Things get colorful and crazy fast.

Everything in Flightpath revolves around a criminal organization known as The Syndicate. This group controls much of what goes on in the planetary system Venaris, and all three of the main characters have some connection to them. Kath decides to get revenge after they burn down her friend's flower shop over a protection money dispute, AJ is a detective who got a little too close to The Syndicate's activities and is now going rogue to stop them on his own terms, and Max is a spacecraft race driver who refused to lose on The Syndicate's orders. All three set off a journey to bring them to justice, and while they pretty much follow the same set of levels, their branching paths change each of their campaigns a bit. That's actually one of the things that makes Flightpath rather unique, in that you'll have to play through multiple times if you want to see the different ways the story can play out. I'm not sure if any of these different paths lead to multiple endings, but considering that I've beat Kath's path three times and didn't notice anything too different, I doubt it. Even though adding a more integrated story to a shmup might seem rather innovative, I was not a fan of how it was delivered. Much of the game's text comes during actual gameplay, and things slow to a crawl to allow this to happen. This is actually something you can control in the options menu, but it always felt more distracting then cool when it happened. Then there's the fact that there is no voice acting of any sort. I wasn't expecting every character to be voiced if I'm being honest, but there isn't even a typing sound in its place. Instead we get a single "ping" type effect that is used for every single message in the game. This grew to be very irritating after a while, and I found myself skipping through most of these sections just so I didn't have to hear that ping again. The writing isn't Shakespeare anyway, so it's not like I was missing anything huge. While I wouldn't say this is a big negative on the game's part (Except for that slowdown during gameplay thing.), I have to admit that I think the game might've been better off with just a single screen before and after the main campaign to tell the already fairly simple story.

An example of a split path in a stage.

It's cheaper without the vowels!

Even though Flightpath is a shmup, it plays almost like an RPG at times. There are no lives, there are no in-game weapon pickups, and there is no point system. There's just money to collect and spend, and your single ship. The single-life mechanic might sound like it'd be a challenge, but your ship has the ability to take several hits before going down. Enemies and obstacles come at you from all angles, and every ship except for Max's can be fitted with guns that shoot in just about every angle. (Max's ship can't shoot behind him!) Taking out enemies gives you stars, batteries, and money, which are used to recover energy ship, charge up your secondary weapons and shield, and purchase upgrades for your ship respectively. Dying in game doesn't even mean a standard game over either. Instead you're given a "loaner" ship and sent on a secondary mission that's pretty much meant to earn you extra money so you can get back into the main battle with a better outfitted ship. Each of the three storylines has ten stages, with all of them ending in boss encounters or specific story-related missions. Speaking of which, besides getting the occasional message, you'll be given the option to switch/choose objectives mid-stage. These branching paths are usually rescuing someone or ignoring them, destroying a base or protecting evidence, or collecting specific items or giving chase to the enemy. These choices are made by flying in one direction of the screen or another, and this is as good a time to mention one of my other big problems with the game: its screen orientation. I'm no stranger to vertical shooters, but I'm not a fan of games that use a horizontally-situated playing field when the action is meant to be vertical. To make matters worse, Flightpath even has space on the sides of the level that are hidden slightly off-screen. This means that the area of play is not only rather squished, but also rather wide. This can be especially annoying in boss encounters, where the bosses will occupy an area of the screen that you'll have to fly upwards to even see. This is a hard thing to talk about for those not familiar with shmups, but it's an issue that I'm sure players will notice after a few minutes of playing. Thankfully it's by no means game-breaking, and you'll probably get used to it after a few stages just because you'll have to.

Kath's storyline was my favorite.

Bye bye Tribal Chief!

Upgrades are the name of the game in Flightpath, and you're going to want to pick up all the cash you can so your ship becomes the most powerful one in the game. Weapons are probably the first thing you're going to want to upgrade, and there's a special quirk to them. Each ship is able to equip several different weapons that fire forward, backward, or diagonally, but are only able to equip weapons that don't push your ship past its power limits. This limit is set by your generator, and that means you'll have to upgrade that first before you go in for the best weapons. Even with the best generator, you'll still have to make a few concessions as it won't allow you to stack the strongest weapons on all parts of the ship. The standard weapons are all here, homing missiles, lasers, machine guns, and plasma beams. You can mix and match to your heart's content, and you don't have to worry about losing any of your weapons if you're hit. Besides weapons, you can also upgrade your ship's armor and shields. These are pretty self-explanatory, and along with generators, you'll want to wait to purchase the best one available. That's actually one of the problems I found with this system, as the big deference in performance between expensive and cheap upgrades made me gravitate only to the expensive ones. I think the game expects players to make small, incremental upgrades as you go through the game, but I found myself toughing it out in the first 3-4 stages so I could just buy the most expensive gear by the midpoint of the game. This "pauper" stage of the game was harder than I was expecting, but it meant that I was able to skip the nonsense and be overpowered for the entire second half. It's probably not the best way to play the game, but I do appreciate that the customization options allow for it. Also, those who are looking for a challenge can even set their own limitations to the upgrade system. The possibilities are practically endless.

I had a lot of fun in the core game, and didn't mind at all that there were parts of it that felt very unpolished. If it were only the three main campaigns, I probably wouldn't complain, but I would find the game's content to be rather thin. Thankfully Flightpath also offers an Endless Mode that you can really sink your teeth into once you're done with the three storylines. This mode sees you take on various stages in rapid succession, with distance covered being your main goal instead of points. Also, instead of branching paths in the middle of a stage, you're picking buffs and debuffs that you'll only see in this mode. These can be things like avoiding a boss fight but being unable to use your secondary weapon, losing your shields but being guaranteed a shop visit, and so on. It's this mode that I felt was the most robust, and it was also here that I learned to appreciate the ins and outs of the ship upgrade mechanic. Since it's not really possible to simply tough it out here like I did in the main game, on account of everything being reset once you die, I found that I'd make smarter decisions regarding how I spent my in-game money. I finally learned to appreciate the middle upgrades, and each new piece of the ship suddenly felt a lot more important. Part of me wishes the mechanics that make Endless Mode unique were put into the main game, but I'm just glad that they were included at all. Though this might not be the best replacement for a standard Arcade Mode, it'll probably be the part of the game that'll most appeal to hardcore shmup fans.

Collecting random items can be a mission.

ACAB includes AJ.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to Flightpath's visuals, and that has to do with the different art styles on display. If we were just talking the character designs, portraits, or menus, I'd say that the game looks great and has a neat anime aesthetic to it. I loved all the characters, and Max and Kath grew to be my favorites. It's not all like that though, and rather than go for a sprite-based look to the game's core graphics, we get rather rudimentary 3D look instead. Saying things like "This looks like a PS1 game!" feels a bit overdone, but it's exactly how I felt while playing. To be fair things look more like they'd be right at home on a PS2, but my point is that nothing looks particularly detailed or well designed. The enemies all look like poorly rendered clumps of polygons, and there never seemed to be much variety among them either. Add in the squished feeling I mentioned earlier, and everything just feels a bit uglier. Things also take a turn when you start fully upgrading your weapons, as the colorful beams and bullets clutter the screen in all their neon-infused glory. The game just looked like a mess whenever I'd reach the final stage, and the occasional cool-looking boss could only do so much to alleviate the strain on my eyes. There are also some parts of the game that the Switch just doesn't seem equipped to handle, so be aware of that if you're planning on picking up this game on that console. I don't want to make it sound the Flightpath is a completely unplayable eyesore, but there is quite a bit of missed potential here that I feel could've been met if the game went for a simpler look for its gameplay.

Since I already mentioned earlier my thoughts regarding Flightpath seriously needing something better than a ping for dialogue, I'm going to focus my discussion on the game's sound on its music. Flightpath goes the route a lot of modern action-orientated games go, where the music seems to be lost in the game's sound mix. The hum of weapons, the explosions of enemies and stage elements, and all the other sound effects going on drown out much of the game's music by default. After adjusting the game's sound options, I was disappointed to learn that I probably shouldn't have bothered anyway, as the music felt quite generic for a game like this. I don't want to make it sound like I thought that anything in the game was bad, or that the music was an atonal mess, but I couldn't help but feel that the soundtrack seemed to be totally uninspired. Any track could've been placed in any level, and they didn't have much of the usual upbeat energy one finds in a shmup. There wasn't a single track that I felt added to the overall experience. Though Flightpath is still a rather decent game overall, I think sound is where the developers dropped the ball the hardest.

The Endless Mode stage choices.

This reminded me of Shadow The Hedgehog.

Though Flightpath is clearly made to be played multiple times, I'm not sure it's really worth it. Playing through each of the campaigns once is fun enough, and the Endless Mode does give you something to do once you've completed the main game, but going through each story again to see how things play out differently doesn't seem worth the time investment. I mentioned earlier that I beat the story mode three times with Kath in the hopes of seeing if anything at all changed within her story. I can say that things like bosses faced, objectives given, and even the occasional in-between level cutscenes did change depending on the in-game choices made. That said, I didn't notice any of these choices having any effect on the game's ending, and they didn't even change up the levels played. Completionists might want to take up the challenge, but since there's no way to track what you've seen and what you haven't, I don't see the point. I still think that the experience offered is more than worth the price of admission. At just $9.99, Flightpath is priced more than reasonably for fans of shmups to give it a shot even if it doesn't feel like it hits it out the park. This isn't a bad game by any means, it just doesn't have the longevity I was hoping for when I picked it up.

Just a bit too bright.

Marie is best girl.

While I'm not sure I can give Flightpath: Adventures In Venaris the widest of recommendations, I can say that it's a game that I had a lot of fun with, and I think most others will too. The core gameplay was entertaining, each of the three stories had some funny moments, and I'm just a sucker for shmups. Hardcore fans of the genre might find it a bit too slow and easy, but casual players will probably enjoy it for it not being the standard arcade experience. If you do decide to pick it up though, maybe consider getting it on a platform besides the Nintendo Switch, unless you want to deal with the occasional performance issues. Either way, get out there and save Marie's flower shop already!

Check Out Flightpath: Adventures In Venaris on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/flightpath-adventures-in-venaris-switch/

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Story: B
Gameplay: B
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: A

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ A shmup that relies more on story and an RPG-like upgrade system over arcade gameplay.
+ The branching storyline, and three playable characters, make this a highly replayable game.
+ The Endless Mode is fun and has several gameplay mechanics not seen in the main game.
+ Great character and character designs really bring the world to life.
+ Featured several levels with varied stage objectives.

Cons:
- The story segments that occur during the stages themselves seem poorly integrated.
- Could've really used some sort of voice acting as the single sound that comes with on-screen text can become grating after a while.
- The game's soundtrack is okay at its best, and simply not very good at its worst.
- The stages and enemies feel rather uninspired and lack much detail.
- There are some performance issues on the Nintendo Switch.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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