I can't believe I dodged this as a playstation kid in the late 90s/early 2000s. Is this the first 2.5 D game? It uses it meaningfully, in ways i havent seen since by interacting with the back and foreground. The level design starts off a little simple, but really amps up quickly. The bosses also start fairly dull but get really interesting. One fight towards the end in particular has you attacking the boss, dodging impervious enemies all while trying to step on each tile of the floor a couple of times to move the phase on. It's a great little microcosm of the juggling act it has you perform that makes the platforming in this game fun so often.
On top of that, thi game has some of the strongest, most definitively ps1 vibes I
ve ever seen and heard. The ost is nut, weird polyrhythms, skung bagpipes and high upbeat eergy all the way through.
I beat it while skipping a lot of the cutscenes and immediately decided to replay it more slowly.