Data Wing is a stylish, fun, and relaxing 2D racer that emulates much more than just its initial genre.
Gameplay
Data Wing takes the expected idea of what a 2D racer should be and constantly twists and turns it into whatever genre it thinks it wants to be. That may not be the best explination, but once you begin playing, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The game begins with a very simple idea of accelerating the closer you are to walls and continuously builds upon it as the game progresses. Eventually you’ll feel like you’re bouncing between platformers, adventure games, and time trials. Somehow, Data Wing manages to make all of these different ideas work seamlessly with the rest of the gameplay, making nothing feel out of place.
Story
Surprisingly, Data Wing manages to implement a pretty fun story into a 2D racer. It’s relatively short, so I won’t go into it here, but it helps to move the game along and maintain a consistent pace until the end. The story in Data Wing isn’t extremely impactful and feels a bit cheesy at times, but is delivered in a way that matches the over theme of the game, leaving me overall satisfied with this aspect.
Art
Data Wing aims for a certain asthetic and nails it in every aspect. The art is very simple in terms of characters and obstacles, but changes depending on the context, leaving me always interested in what was coming next. Similar to something along the lines of Superhot, Data Wing provides a small amount of art, extremely well.
Sound
There is no voice acting in Data Wing and the sound affects are standard at best, but the music is outstanding. The soundtrack can be found on Spotify and Apple Music if you’re interested (and you should be interested). Data Wing provides a series of jazzy Synthwave tunes that leave the player feeling relaxed through the entire experience. The only aspect I would want changed would be to have the music change depending on the level. It seems like every song plays in every level, which allows for variety, but lacks in impact.
Controls
I occasionally experienced a bit of latency, but generally it was fine. It’s 2 buttons, you should be able to figure this one out.
Note: Review originally written in 2019
Gameplay
Data Wing takes the expected idea of what a 2D racer should be and constantly twists and turns it into whatever genre it thinks it wants to be. That may not be the best explination, but once you begin playing, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The game begins with a very simple idea of accelerating the closer you are to walls and continuously builds upon it as the game progresses. Eventually you’ll feel like you’re bouncing between platformers, adventure games, and time trials. Somehow, Data Wing manages to make all of these different ideas work seamlessly with the rest of the gameplay, making nothing feel out of place.
Story
Surprisingly, Data Wing manages to implement a pretty fun story into a 2D racer. It’s relatively short, so I won’t go into it here, but it helps to move the game along and maintain a consistent pace until the end. The story in Data Wing isn’t extremely impactful and feels a bit cheesy at times, but is delivered in a way that matches the over theme of the game, leaving me overall satisfied with this aspect.
Art
Data Wing aims for a certain asthetic and nails it in every aspect. The art is very simple in terms of characters and obstacles, but changes depending on the context, leaving me always interested in what was coming next. Similar to something along the lines of Superhot, Data Wing provides a small amount of art, extremely well.
Sound
There is no voice acting in Data Wing and the sound affects are standard at best, but the music is outstanding. The soundtrack can be found on Spotify and Apple Music if you’re interested (and you should be interested). Data Wing provides a series of jazzy Synthwave tunes that leave the player feeling relaxed through the entire experience. The only aspect I would want changed would be to have the music change depending on the level. It seems like every song plays in every level, which allows for variety, but lacks in impact.
Controls
I occasionally experienced a bit of latency, but generally it was fine. It’s 2 buttons, you should be able to figure this one out.
Note: Review originally written in 2019