➤ Yoot Saito's hand luggage 🎮

Back in 1994, a young Japanese boy, Yutaka "Yoot" Saito, appeared on the scene of international game design, inspired by the timeless SimCity began to transpose its mechanics into a more limited and unusual context, a skyscraper: this is how it was born SimTower, a simulation so well done that outside Japan it was published by Maxis herself, and that it gave rise to several sequels. But if already in the first title there was a certain innovative vein, it was in 1999 that Saito exploded as a visionary designer: with his new company, Vivarium, he released a title that left more than one owner of Dreamcast perplexed. It was about Seaman, a sort of evolved Tamagotchi in which instead of a chick, the player had to take care and interact (via voice commands, a feature that still struggles to find decent achievements) with a strange fish with a human face, which had moreover the habit of entertaining with various anecdotes and insulting one's "master". In 2006 Saito confirmed himself as a regular user of psychotropic substances and completed for GameCube, in collaboration with none other than Nintendo, to my room, a game halfway between Real Time Strategy and pinball (!), with a large sphere that roamed deadly between the battlefields of feudal Japan, suitably full of obstacles and buffers. A scene like that of the eShop, in which the costs and small size of the games often allow designers to dare a little more than the big and risky traditional productions, should be the natural habitat for characters like ours: and in fact, published by Level 5 and part of the "Guild01" line, by Aero Porter you can say a lot of things, except that it is not a peculiar and radical title in the premises, in the setting, in the relationship it establishes with the player.

Let's go to work!

With the crisis gripping the global economy, the unknown protagonist of Aero Porter it doesn't seem true that he was chosen for what seems like a dream job: dealing with the sorting of baggage in a small regional airport, but with excellent possibilities for expansion. This is the premise of a puzzle game with very action colors, which immediately, in full Saito tradition, slams its frenetic and complicated reality in your face. But let's go in order: the player is presented with a series of conveyor belts for each working day, each of which is associated with a departing plane marked by the same color. As passengers check-in, their bags, also colored according to the plane on which they are to be boarded, arrive on the belts, and it is up to us to associate them with the correct one.

The problem is that these ribbons do not seem to have been arranged in the most efficient way possible: they are in fact circular, and are located one on top of the other. The possibility of making the belts "communicate" with each other is delegated to the back keys: with R the upper belts "lower", thus allowing the luggage to pass to the belt that is immediately below, with L instead they "rise", allowing the reverse shift. However, it is not possible to select the belt on which to act, they all get up and down at the same time, and this thing, combined with the fact that the baggage is presented to you immediately without apparent criteria and that the planes will always depart on time, without waiting for their hold is full, it begins to give you an idea of the difficulties you will face: the least that can happen to you is in fact that you are proud to have moved the yellow baggage on the correct belt, you will realize that in the meantime you have finished that too Red. Then you will have to re-establish the situation and maybe you can, but in the meantime a green baggage has arrived to complicate everything. Meanwhile, time passes inexorably, music and sound effects increasingly pressing start and the manager (a certain Bob Saito) interrupts you every two by three to introduce you to different variations on the theme. Yes, because if already in its basic concept Aero Porter it requires great intelligence, spirit of observation, dexterity, coldness and quick reflexes, only a couple of well-managed aircraft will pass and you will immediately be faced with countless complications. If it seems regular enough that the airport will get bigger and bigger according to your performance and from three belts you will have to manage up to seven at the same time, less predictable is the management of the fuel that keeps the same belts in operation, represented from a special bar: to prevent it from running out from time to time together with the luggage, a fuel tank will arrive, which absolutely must not be loaded on the airplanes but allowed to reach the lowest level. You can also turn off the lights of a single tape if necessary to save money, but in this way the color will no longer be displayed, or reduce the speed, with the risk of not doing everything in time for the various starts.

The 3D effect

In Aero Porter stereoscopic 3D is simply absent, apart from the secondary Hangar mode: with the expansion of the airport you can in fact collect a series of aircraft to be viewed in 3D and exchanged via Streetpass. Let's suppose that the choice was made for reasons of readability, with the many elements on the screen to be managed with speed and precision that in themselves generate some confusion, but we honestly do not believe that the addition of 3D would have worsened the situation.

The airport strike

Does it end here? Not at all: speaking only of complications that will be thrown in your face in the very first moments of the game, there are for example several special baggage, moreover ironically inspired by current events. From those of the VIPs who must be boarded before all the others, to those of politicians who require the same treatment but who, for reasons of discretion, are not recognizable by the color but by a tiny plate, up to the suspicious ones, represented by a icon in the shape of a bomb which lets you deduce what could possibly happen if you made the mistake of routing them to a departing carrier ...

We could go on, but the truth is that you can't get a precise idea of the roughness of Aero Porter if not playing. We are faced with a title that is truly without half measures, as lean and peculiar in its premises and in its realization, as intriguing and difficult in its management, and radical in the choice not to leave a moment to breathe: we do not have time to digest an element that immediately if presents a new one, even more diabolical. This intransigence also heavily affects longevity: it is not a long game, theoretically just over an hour would be enough to complete it, but, without considering that everything is based on the classic score system, its difficulty makes it quite long lasting; how much one is willing to tolerate this difficulty is another matter, which we will address in the commentary. Meanwhile, let's record how much even graphics and sound do not know half terms: a dry and modern style for both, which favors readability at the expense of, effectively useless in this context, spectacularity. Almost didactic graphics, with the pleasant detail of the silhouettes of passengers and operators at the top of the upper screen that are somewhat reminiscent of the titles of the film "Try to catch me", also with an airport theme, and simple sound effects, in fact, "from the airport. ", with sparse anxious music popping up here and there, just to press you a little more.

Comment

Digital Delivery: eShop Prezzo: 4,99€ Resources4Gaming.com

7.5

Readers (8)

6.5

Your vote

Aero Porter is the classic game that should be tried before deciding on the purchase, or at least one should be deeply aware of one's videogame tastes. Mind you: what he wants to do he does it perfectly, almost flawlessly, but "what he wants to do" is the problem. The new Level 5 product, by virtue of its total lack of compromises, will divide the user into two parts. One will play for five minutes, turn off the 3DS, shut it down, take a deep breath, and then throw the console violently against a wall, also attaching a large series of curses. The other, however, who will swear profusely, will love the gameplay, the challenge, and the satisfaction that comes from this. If you are part of this last segment then you will find the price of 5 Euros derisory compared to the amount of hours of play that such a title will be able to give you; just add a point to the vote you find above and get ready to get into Yoot Saito's twisted mind.