Kaiju Kite Attack

Who is going to save us when the kaiju monsters rise from the ocean and start destroying our biggest cities? Will we rely on our military? Turn to a squad of mechs? Hope another kaiju monster shows up to save the day? If you're developer PWCA, you have a better option -- a kite. As crazy as it sounds, that's the weapon of choice in the wild new shoot 'em up, Kaiju Kite Attack. And if you think I'm not going to review a game where you use a couple wooden dowels and a strip of plastic to defeat Godzilla, then you don't know me at all.

It's just another peaceful day at the park for Nino and his grandmother. That is, until a giant kaiju monster crushes meemaw with its foot on the way to destroying the city. But don't worry, young Nino, because there's a guy with a kite that saw the whole thing go down, and he's going to use it to vanquish the evil creature once and for all.

This is the setup to Kaiju Kite Attack, which has to be the silliest and most over-the-top shoot 'em up I've seen this year. It's a fever dream that combines procedurally-generated platforming stages with traditional 2D shooting to create something kind of magical. And by "magical" I mean incredibly difficult and definitely not for everybody, but is something that almost feels like it was designed with me in mind.

There are two life bars in Kaiju Kite Attack -- one for the kite and another for the human on the other end of the string. The idea is to fly the kite around the sky while shooting backwards at the kaiju monster. At the same time, you'll need to pay attention to the guy on the ground, who will need to jump over bottomless pits and dodge enemies. We can use the kite to double (and sometimes even triple) jump across large areas, as well as float back down to the ground. But killing a giant, city-crushing creature is not as easy as it sounds, and all it takes is a few stray fireballs to send our hero straight to Kite Hell.

But forget dying, because when finally manage to take down one of those nasty kaiju monsters, you'll pull a Mega Man and steal its powers. You'll find that the different bosses are vulnerable to certain attacks, so finding the right weapon to use is crucial. And the things you throw at the monster are just as insane as the rest of the game, giving you access to everything from fish to fleas to hairy legs. There's a pretty great selection of weapons to switch between, and learning when to use each attack is the key to victory.

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Unfortunately, that brings us to some of the game's weaknesses. Considering how much you need to swap between the weapons, it's a shame that it's so difficult to do on the controller. You switch weapons by pushing in the right analog stick, which will cycle the weapons in a predictable order. The problem is that it only goes one way, so you can't quickly switch to the weapon you need. And considering how many abilities you pick up along the way, it actually takes a bit of time to rotate through the list. By the time you find the weapon you need, chances are your little kite will already be roasting in Hell.

And speaking of frustrating, controlling the guy on the ground is not always easy. He's a bit floaty and kind of slides around the ground, even when he's not on ice. The procedurally-generated levels can also be a pain, especially in later stages when there are floating platforms and other obstacles. The gameplay feels limited in ways you might expect given the circumstances, but what it ultimately does is lead to an incredibly difficult shoot 'em up that is occasionally cheap and unfair.

That said, none of these issues kept me enjoying the shoot 'em up action. I'm hopeful that the developer will eventually add a better way to cycle between weapons, but even if that doesn't happen, you should still check out Kaiju Kite Attack for the utter weirdness alone. There's a lot about the storytelling that I love, especially when it dips into flashbacks and flies in crazy directions. I'm also a big fan of the throwback presentation and the chiptunes soundtrack. I like the kaiju designs and the silliness that comes from using hairy legs as a weapon. This is your chance to become the kite knight the world (and Nino) needs right now.