The story of Kolibri is a ridiculously complicated one and is something I’m glad is only mentioned in the instruction booklet and not the game. A crystal that has fallen to Earth, preserves all of Mother Nature until it is replaced with a dark crystal which begins to sap all the energy out of the Earth. As the dark crystal hits Earth in the form of a meteor, Kolibri gains all the power from the previous crystal giving him the strength to take on the evil of the dark crystal. The word ‘bizarre’ comes to mind.

Either way, the scene is set. The game is booted and a wonderful piece of artwork displaying the 32X’s superior colour palette kicks the game off on a high. When gameplay begins you realise that the previous piece of art actually sets the quality of the graphics in the actual game. The graphics are stunning and anyone who’s ever experienced the power of the Amiga will instantly see where this game takes its’ inspiration from. Anyone who’s ever played Agony will instantly recognise a similarity between the 2 games’ animal-related shmup action.

But where those 2 games differ is their use of exploration. Agony is a side-scrolling affair which literally has you take on anything that moves. Kolibri gives the player a much larger playing field which must be explored in all directions so that Kolibri can destroy as many of the insects which have taken refuge in the flowers the humming-birds need to survive. When all the flowers are taken back the level is completed.

It’s a simple concept that only gets more complicated when a huge selection of weapons are thrown into the mix. Homing attacks, wide shots, standard shots, spray attacks and more will rear their head almost everywhere you go. This is one of the game’s big flaws as it’s almost impossible to know which type of attack you’ll be collecting as they all look so similar until you use them. You’ll also find yourself accidentally picking up different attacks by accident which makes gameplay in the more crowded areas even more irritating than it should be.

The other big problem with the game lies with the large playing areas. Where the exploration element would have been nice in a game that wasn’t as crowded and fast moving as Kolibri’s, these 2 things prove to be greatly aggravating when enemies fly straight into you without giving you time to react. Luckily, the game gives you a health system (which is hard to judge without a health display on screen) which is all too rare in shmups.

For all its’ faults, Kolibri is an aesthetic masterpiece with some extremely original gameplay elements that make it stand out above most of the games on the 32X. It’s just a bit of a shame that it’s more style of substance.