It’s so onerous to defend a sequence like Aery. They launch each few months, which is extra parrot-flying than anybody may presumably want. The degrees are all recycled from earlier titles. And, virtually with out exception, they launch with a medley of bugs and glitches. When every sport is so just like the final, how are game-breaking bugs excusable?
However let’s attempt to defend it anyway. There are valuable few video games on the Xbox that faucet right into a extra enjoyable, laid-back vibe. Aery is meditative, and the Calm Thoughts sequence specifically leans into the ‘take a break’ side of the video games. And whereas the environments could also be recycled, there’s a low-key magnificence to them. Because the admittedly sensible soundtrack soars, you’ll find your self having fun with the sights.
There we go, we’ve made the case for the defence. Now we will get on with a extra practical evaluation. Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 is the newest within the improbably lengthy line of Aery video games, and it does completely nothing completely different. It ignores any earlier dalliances with altering the soundtrack, enhancing the artwork and even including new ranges: every part right here is identical previous, usual.
Very similar to the earlier Calm Thoughts iterations, Calm Thoughts 4 needs to get out of the way in which as a lot as doable, in order that serenity could be achieved. What meaning is that the feathers that you simply acquire aren’t all unfold about a big area and gainable from the beginning. They are usually in a sequence, one after the opposite, and the subsequent feather solely seems after getting collected the earlier one. Which means you may put your belief in whoever positioned them: as you acquire a feather, the following one seems, and you may financial institution barely to the left or proper to catch them.
That’s it. You tilt your parrot at a feather and wait just a few dozen seconds earlier than you attain it. You then tilt to the subsequent one, and so forth. The tally of feathers ticks up, providing you with some reassurance that it gained’t final ceaselessly. And as soon as the ultimate feather is caught, you might be whisked away to the sport’s menus, the place you may choose one other degree. Oh, and also you’ll be 100G richer as a thanks.
Indisputably, it isn’t going to be for everybody. The closest Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 will get to problem are within the moments the place the trail of feathers takes a sudden flip. You could even full a 360 flip as you search for the subsequent one. However we assure that the confused look in your face will final a most of ten seconds, as the subsequent feather will materialise on the horizon.
However whereas it’s extra a screensaver than a sport, it’s additionally soothing. There’s a motive that folks maintain shopping for the sodding factor, and it’s not simply due to the straightforward 1000G. For 2 hours, you may assure that Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 will do the naked minimal to carry your consideration. All the frustration from Remnant II or Forza washes off you as you seize one feather after one other.
So, how does Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 rank towards the opposite Aeries? Significantly badly, thanks for asking. The rationale for that flippant reply is that it makes all the standard errors that we have now turn into sadly used to with the Aery sequence.
I’ll be trustworthy, I’m discovering it more and more inexcusable that the Aery video games can’t launch in a completed state. EpiXR Video games are charging £12.49 for an Aery sport these days, so that you’d hope that issues would enhance, however – if something – issues are getting worse. Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 launches with two ranges which can be utterly inaccessible. As quickly as you boot up The Fields or The Peninsula, they instantly crash you again to the house display. We’re not the one ones having this drawback, going by the sport’s boards and opinions. When that quantities to 2 ranges out of Aery – Calm Thoughts 4’s eleven whole ranges, it’s a major proportion. You’re lacking slightly below one-fifth of the sport, all due to bugs.
Visible points are rife. One degree, The Celebration Village, is borderline unplayable. There are fireworks spaffing throughout the sky all through the extent, and this clearly is having an impression on efficiency. You possibly can solely see just a few metres in entrance of your face, as buildings pop-in instantly. We have been glad to see the again of it (make it three unplayable ranges out of 11). And that’s with out mentioning repeated points with screen-blanching, as a bunch of ranges are so washed out you can’t see the parrot, particulars within the surroundings, or sometimes the feathers themselves.
Not nice, is it? Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 will get a 3rd strike with its alternative of ranges. There are not any ranges right here that we haven’t seen in different Aery video games. We usually can level to 1 or two that at the least riff on one thing that has gone earlier than. Right here, the most effective we will say is that they’ve chosen some fairly good ones from Aery’s previous. Valhalla and The Backyard Eden are a number of the absolute best. However these are borrowed victories, as we’ve performed Valhalla at the least 4 occasions now.
A fourth strike? Oh, we’re spoiling you. Some ranges, for causes that we will solely guess at, are stupendously gradual. The Western Village zooms right into a single prospector village the place most different ranges zoom out and have you ever flying by huge arenas. However within the transition, the parrot has turn into excruciatingly sloooow. It takes far too lengthy to journey from one constructing to a different, and the speed-up button solely will get you to date. There’s not sufficient within the surroundings to make that speed-decrease satisfying. It’s simply plain boring.
‘It’s simply plain boring’ is an announcement that would, sadly, stretch to the entire sport. As a result of Aery – Calm Thoughts 4 is concerning the twelfth regurgitation too far. The identical ranges arrive in the identical preparations, and we’re meant to pay £12.49 for the privilege. When visible points and game-breaking bugs cut back the playable ranges from eleven all the way down to eight, it’s onerous to make a case for anybody to pay for it.
