I’m just gonna say this up front, I am not someone that likes to listen to pop music being more of a rock/metal guy myself. Sayonara Wild Hearts however had me swaying along to the pop beat as I zoomed through its brightly neon colored levels trying to collect as many points as I could! Sayonara Wild Hearts is a striking game both in visuals and audio. The whole experience is centered around the music and the visual style really accentuated this. with bright vibrant colors during higher beat moments and the darker hues used during slower segments.
The game starts off with our character following a magical butterfly while riding a long board. As we chase the butterfly it moves back and forth across the screen to where hearts need to be collected. This increases our score and the higher the score the better ranking we get at the end of a run. Upon completion of this tutorial level the game really picks up pace as our character has discovered their true form of “The Fool.” I soon found myself barreling down streets on a fast motorcycle with heart pieces zipping by I could only dream of picking up. As I progressed further into the game I soon found myself up against a trio of enemies that I had to defeat with perfectly timed button prompts.
My hands on demo at E3 only lasted about 5 levels but the experience was definitely one of the most unique I had during the entire show. I can easily see Sayonara Wild Hearts becoming a huge game for score attack players with so many hearts requiring the utmost perfect timing in movement to obtain. The game will be launching later this year for the Nintendo Switch so keep an eye out for it!
