272. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo, Switch, 2019)

Right on the back cover, Sayonara Wild Hearts describes itself as a video game pop album, and that's not a terrible description. The story is an abstract tale of heartbreak with a tarot card theme and a Sailor Moon vs motorcycle gangs kind of vibe. Purple and pink and blue are front and center, coupled with a nice low poly aesthetic gives the game a distinct visual style, possible more so than any other game I've played this year.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is broken up into levels, many of which are reminiscent of a good Sonic Adventure level, but much more polished and forgiving. You are racing down a highway (or other multi-lane tunnel) and have to collect as many flashing hearts as you can. There are also hard-to-reach bonus icons and the game gives you extra points for moving close to dangerous obstacles without hitting them. The sense of speed eclipses 3D Sonic games at times, but Sayonara Wild Hearts manages to be both easier and more fun as a result.

In addition to the track-based elements, there are also rhythm-based button presses for jumps or fight sequences that are about 10 times more forgiving than something like Parappa the Rapper.  Later levels continue to mix up the gameplay, and feel inspired by games as far reaching as Kuru Kuru Kururin or Panzer Dragoon. Sayonara Wild Hearts is always exciting / changing: some levels are less than a minute long, others are many minutes and have huge gameplay shifts. I played through more than half of the game in one sitting, just because I was having such a good time and not getting bored.

Sayonara Wild Hearts never makes its content inaccessible, while still offering challenge and replayability for high scores. There is a very nice rewind mechanic that encourages mastery while not feeling punishing. If you fail several times in the same part, the game even asks if you would like to skip it. One of the best parts is that playing through the whole game only takes about an hour and a half (is it a pop album after all), and I love me a short game.

5/5, a real looker that admirably blends music and action