Windjammers 2 – Review
As soon as you open Windjammers 2, you’ll see the title of the game emblazoned across the top of your monitor. It’s true that Windjammers is a tactical version of air hockey with outlandish cartoon characters, but it might be better described as a combination of air hockey and classic fighting game presentation.
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember Windjammers as an arcade game from the 1990s with a niche audience that was brought back to life on PS4, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo Switch by DotEmu. While he was working on Streets of Rage 4, he has since released Streets of Rage 4, Metal Slug, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in The Nostalgia Zone.
In keeping with the SNK tradition of arcade games, Windjammers 2 has a punishing difficulty level. Windjammers 2’s over-the-top, vibrantly coloured visuals only add credence to the feeling that you’re standing in a smoke-filled 90s arcade, trying to beat your mate before you leave Sega World.
A typical ramp-up for the final match against the “boss” character is present in arcade mode, even on the lowest difficulty setting. Despite the fact that this is an exhilarating gameplay experience, I worry about how newcomers to the series will fare. I think DotEmu is aware that its poor tutorial does not adequately teach the necessary techniques, because it has a much better one on its YouTube channel, which I highly recommend people watch.
Throwing the (Frisbee) disc into your opponent’s court’s openings is the simplest strategy. If the disc hits the deck and is not caught, it scores two points. There are three to five different point slots to choose from. The rules are clear, but the ease with which you can score obscures the fact that this is a highly strategic game. When the disc is in your hands, you can’t move and you have to throw it fast, so the emphasis is on getting moving before you have possession and planning ahead for your next move once you do have it.
You can use lobs, drop shots, overhead smashes, and more in this Tennis-like game. However, this is where Windjammers 2 diverges from the norm and plays more like a fighter than a sports game. “Parry” the disc into the air by launching it at you and pressing “A” at the same time. You can charge up under an airborne disc, for starters. Second, you can slam the disc onto the deck and launch it at your writhing foe.
Matches are played to 15, and the winner is the first to win both sets. Even though matches can be over in a flash, a comeback against someone feels as good as any other competitive game. You’ll lose time playing Windjammers 2, though. Even a 10-0 lead can be wiped out in two shots thanks to the high number of points available in each rally. A lot of the fun comes from figuring out the best moves to use at the right time.
It’s as satisfying in hour thirty as it is in hour one to execute a disc smash that takes both the disc and your opponent through the five-point slot, allowing you to annihilate your opponent with a fiery smash. The “B” button must be tapped as soon as you catch the disc in order to perform the drop shots. If you want to feel like you’re executing Zangief’s Spinning Piledriver in Street Fighter II all over again, you can even rotate the stick before launching the frisbee to add some curve.
It’s easy to play, but difficult to master in Windjammers 2, and while the gameplay is flawless in the moment, there are some issues with the game’s final polish. It’s a nice touch to include an Arcade Mode for each character, and there are different “scenes” for each one at the end. After every game, there’s a period when the scores are tallied, which takes an eternity and frequently doesn’t work as it should. Aside from the concluding scenes, there is no real “storey” in this strange moment. A little more attention could have been paid to this mode, but that’s just a minor niggle, as multiplayer is where Windjammers 2 shines, and the servers appear to be stable pre-release.
Only four of the ten characters in the sequel are new, with the six from the first film returning as well. The special moves are a major plus, but aside from that, this is very much a developer iterating on the original, without making wholesale changes to the gameplay.. However, for fans, it will suffice to have a new game in the series with a solid netcode that makes the ranked online matches worth playing for hours on end.
Windjammers 2 has a lot going for it: a great soundtrack, a great atmosphere, and vibrant visuals. Given that the game’s development took at least three years, there’s a sneaking suspicion that there will be “more.” With a small but dedicated fan base, a low entry-level price, cross-platform compatibility between Xbox One and Windows PCs, and a high regard for the original title, this one is an easy win.
