[Review] Aperion Cyberstorm – Nintendo Switch

Aperion Cyberstorm
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : aPriori Digital
Published By : aPriori Digital
Category : Action, Arcade, Shooting
Release Date : 02.08.2018

Do you have what it takes to uncover and outlast an intergalactic conspiracy? Either way, gear up your ship because it’s time to try anyways! Unfortunately, the story in Aperion Cyberstorm for Nintendo Switch doesn’t do a whole lot more than lend a purpose for everything you do. Small text boxes will pop up along your way filling in details on the nature of the ships you’ll be combating and why. The chaos that unfolds as you experience each and every level of this game, though, is more than enough to honestly make you not even care about the story.

You’re offered three different game modes before you strap in to your ship : Campaign, Versus, and Onslaught. Everything but Versus can be completed by yourself, while all three modes can mash up to five different players in the same fight. The ship selection offers a number of choices, which can also be added to as you progress in the Campaign to unlock others, and can be broken down into what suits your personal preference : Do you want something that moves faster? Deals more damage? Has stronger shields? Pilot whatever fits you.

Once you’ve entered the campaign, it doesn’t take long before you see just how crazy this game can get. Enemies come in a wide, wide variety of sizes, shapes, firepower and skill. They won’t make it easy for you either, as the game will only load them for you in small waves. You’ll find yourself thinking you’ve nearly taken them out, and a dozen more will spawn in.

Not all the enemies shoot at you, some opting for a more direct and kamikaze style of attack by flying directly into you. Bigger ships can fire homing missiles and a scatter shot that can be tough to avoid if you’re in the wrong spot, smaller ships that will fire off projectiles once they are killed, and boss ships that are really impressive with their flying skills. All of this, on your screen at the same time, and you need to survive it all. Oh, and don’t go thinking that things would be much easier with a buddy. Cyberstorm is adaptive with its enemy AI, so if there’s more players, there’s even more enemies.

The power-ups you can snag along the way area big help to fighting the hordes of enemies. These can increase your rate of fire, add a scatter to your shots, restore some energy to your shields, and more! What’s I liked about these was the fact that you can permanently equip up to two of them on you at all times, to be used whenever you need to, only suffering a short cooldown after it’s been used.

Some areas will have these power-ups floating around, letting you use it for free essentially and not triggering a cool down on your equipped power-up. You’ll also find the ones that you don’t have equipped, but this is usually after you’ve unlocked it in the campaign as a way of testing it out for the first time. Occasionally, enemies can drop things when they’re killed. More often than not it will be a health boost, refilling a portion of your life bar. While it might be rare, they do still drop combat power-ups as well.

As mentioned above, Aperion Cyberstorm offers two other modes of gameplay. Versus will pit you against your friends in small arenas, while Onslaught is a true arcade version of this game, challenging you to get as far as you can on a single life and your skills. Onslaught seeks to help you out a bit more as well, giving you full and instant access to every ship, weapon, and upgrade.

If you’re looking for a great arcade style shmup experience, this is definitely a game for you. The absolute greatest element of this game though is the couch co-op mentality. Separate your joy cons, grab a buddy, and shoot everything in your path. Or, you know…each other. Whether or not you go it alone, Aperion Cyberstorm is an incredible game that is difficult to put down.