Rob Lake reviews Bezier: Second Edition on Nintendo Switch...
Bezier: Second Edition is a remake of the 2016 Steam title: Bezier. This stylish twin-stick shooter features a bright and colourful graphical style that is very reminiscent of Bizzare Creations' Geometry Wars. Whilst on the surface Bezier: Second Edition looks and feels like a Geometry Wars clone, underneath its so much more.
The main difference between the two games is that Bezier: Second Edition has a semblance of a story to its proceedings. This story takes place inside a digital world where all life has been digitised. Think along the lines of The Matrix and Tron and you're in the right area. The narrative is fed to us via a voice-over that plays at the beginning of each of the many stages. Much like both Tron and The Matrix, the story boils down to saving the digital world from the resident "big bad". It's not an original premise but gives you a sense that you're not just shooting random shapes.
The premise to Bezier: Second Edition is pretty basic. You're placed on a grid with wave after wave of swarming enemies to defeat. Building a chain of successful attacks will lead to a larger multiplier, which then leads to a higher score. On occasion, various stars-like symbols will spawn, which shooting will upgrade your primary attack, and on occasion, they will unlock a secondary ability. Controls are via the traditional twin-stick shooter controls. The left analogue stick controlling movement, while the right controls aiming and shooting.
Upon first "booting" up Bezier, the story is the only game type available to you. As you spend more time with Bezier, daily challenges and an endurance mode open up for you to play. The lure of these is that there is various difficulty settings as well as leaderboards. There is a risk vs reward system at play as playing on a higher difficulty results in fighting more enemies for the chance of a higher score. Much like Geometry Wars, Bezier is great at passing amongst friends to fight for the highest score. Get into a strong rhythm and there's no reason why you couldn't reach a score in the millions.
When it comes to visuals, Bezier: Second Edition is fantastic. The screen is often littered with all manner of goings-on, and while it can feel a little clustered, it's gorgeous to look at. The game takes place over a black background which works wonders in highlighting the vibrancy of the many enemies and bullets. What sets Bezier aside from its peers is that it employees a health bar rather than a single life. This gives a little leeway when it comes to error. In an interesting turn, this power bar is aptly named "Ouch" with your remaining energy displayed above it.
The soundtrack is also spot-on with various forms of techno, to a softer classical tone. It's incredibly fluid and serves the rhythm of the game incredibly well. It's also one that requires you to crank up the volume as you bust out the moves in the digital world. The story voiceover conveys a sense of drama within its soft tones, whilst the big bad likes to shout things about eating bananas and his overall "you can't stop me" mentality. This all ties into really getting you in the zone to churn out those high scores and pushes the games high-speed thrills.
Bezier: Second Edition is a fun twin-stick shooter. Fans of Geometry Wars will feel right at home as both games share a lot of similarities. While it's a little light on available content, Bezier still is a fun, high-score chasing blast through the digital realm.
Rating 7/10
A review code was kindly provided by the publisher for this review
Bezier: Second Edition is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop and can be purchased here.
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