DeVuego ES_COR

I’m sad that my enthusiasm for Rise & Shine dropped so thoroughly during my playthrough, because it’s not all bad. My favorite parts are the ones that lean heavily on puzzle-solving, like using your radio-controlled bullets to avoid incoming fire and hit switches. The art direction is also impressive, with colorful hand-drawn characters and landscapes that make the action pop. I even liked some of the nods to other games, including characters who are only as different from Mario, Link, and Marcus Fenix as law requires. However, even these references get stale as you realize that the world has no identity of its own; it’s just an amalgam of game industry winks and nudges. That kind of erosion sums up my feelings about Rise & Shine as a whole; it feels clever and promising at first, but doesn’t change its approach when the formula wears thin.