this game is as addictive to play as the first one and ive gotten a few friends on board with this game and the first one and now its our go to competitive casual game to play together. for as addictive as the game is though, some of the new additions are just weird to me and im still flip floppy on how i feel about them.

the new characters are all a lot of fun, and the fact that theres a secret character in the game with disc man when you spin the stick in circles on the character select is really cool. some characters have supers that are a little bonkers but eventually you figure them out unless its the polish bodybuilder lady or disc man who i still dont really understand. at the same time some characters have supers that are just way too telegraphed and suck for that exact reason. these telegraphed ones are powerful when youve literally never played the game before, but they dont really ever work when youve played the game for a couple hours. the new mechanics are also a lot of fun too, but theyre also where i feel so conflicted about this game from a design standpoint. while mechanics like being able to strike the disc back before catching it or being able to jump and spike the disc down can feel cool to pull off they can just feel a little useless or way too hard to effectively use and in turn you just end up failing half the time you try incorporating them into your gameplay. not to say these moves have no practical applications at all, far from it, i think you can catch someone off guard with a spike or a well positioned strike every once in a while. the main issue for me is that it feels very easy to forget some of these additional mechanics when you're autopiloting to just using the standard throws and rolls all the time. considering how fast this game moves, when presented with many options it's easy to just default to the ones you know work the best and have been working the entire time, but it just sucks because it feels like due to the situational applications of these moves, it can sometimes feel hard to justify using them in those split second decisions you have to make. also, with the new stages, i think theyre all fine additions, nothing super crazy (except for casino that shits a meme and me and all of my friends hate it), but one thing that will drive me insane for the rest of the time that i play this game is the fact that some stages give 4 points for dropping the disc and some give 2. i get maybe from a competitive standpoint this gives players some options for stage counterpicks and strategy for some stages being more beneficial for certain types of players and matchups, but personally i just wish it was a consistent 2 points for drops on all of the stages with a little bit more variety in the layouts themselves because being able to sometimes get more points for dropping the disc than regularly scoring just feels so lame, especially when its a drop from just accidentally rolling past where the disc is gonna land

on the complete other side of the spectrum in terms of power, and its the one mechanic i have the most gripes with but also kinda like, there's the new super meter in this game that can really save your ass in a tight spot and it definitely adds a new layer to the game, but at the same time can feel stupid. for one, the offensive super is just a powered up version of your super that you can use whenever as long as it's full, even after the game resets when someone scores a point which just feels shitty because most of the time the supers in windjammers feel like they need to be earned and in this game you just have one button that does it for you whenever and better than the standard version. while super meter moves are flashy and cool, and not that hard to counter, it just feels a little unsatisfying at certain times. then, theres the defensive super which is easily the most powerful option in the game and also the most frustrating one for me to come to a conclusion on. while i do love the ability to catch a disc that flies past me by popping it up in the air or saving a disc that nearly dropped on the ground, it just feels like a get out of jail free card that makes the game way way too safe. since the defense super pops the disc up in the air, youre usually guaranteed a standard super, if not at least a return, or just any other option you choose like a jump or strike. the worst part of this super though is when both players have full meter and its just a test to see who uses it first, because if both players just use their defense supers on consecutive volleys, the second player that uses it just has an automatic advantage since the other person already used theirs first. this is one of the biggest headaches about this mechanic that leaves me uncertain on how to feel about the super meter as a whole and kinda makes the game feel a little more lame compared to the first when you think about some of the new additions

overall, even though i ripped into this game and broke apart why i do and dont love some of the aspects of it, its still fuckin windjammers and its a hype ass game. just sitting there with a friend cranking out short ass games that only last like 1-2 minutes each and going again over and over and over for the course of 2 hours is something i havent gotten to really feel with a competitive casual game like this in a while and it makes me happy to share an experience like this with other people. its extremely simple to pick up and getting a hang of the mechanics doesnt take too long so you can introduce this to anyone and theres a good chance youll get them invested in it. the big thing that just brings this game down a little bit is that when you're in the middle of or just finish a session of playing this game for a while you think about the game's balance and why it's maybe not the greatest it makes it hard to put it up there as an utterly perfect competitive game

edit:
i hate to make an edit to a review that's already as long as this one, but i just wanna say that some of what i couldn't make my mind up on i think i've come to appreciate more and ultimately like. that mainly goes for the jump-spike and strike/bunt mechanics as i think they actually have a pretty good place in this game.

the jump-spike is actually amazing for scoring easy points since the other player only has so much time to react and have the ability to pick up the disc since it's already flat on the ground. it's also a good way to get people to burn their super meters for a defensive super so they can pop the disc back up. you can also always jump and then just not spike the disc down too which is a nice little mixup to throw in there.

as for striking and bunting, considering the ruleset i play is 30 seconds first to 12 points, every second is extremely valuable, so much so that catching the disc can deny you the ability to throw the disc back since the animation can eat a second or two before you're able to throw it when the timer is about to run out. by having a move that makes it so that you can return the disc without having to catch it and waste precious time is genius. not to mention these mechanics greatly control the flow of the game as a well placed strike sends the disc back at full power and a bunt sends the disc at a very slow pace closer to the net on the opponent's side.

those are pretty much the main things i wanted to revise about this review. i think my feelings on the other mechanics are mostly the same, maybe a little less loose on some of the dislikes as its just a thing that you warm up to the more you play