Cortito, divertido y difícil. De los platinos que más he disfrutado de este año
Nice game with terrible, horrendous even, padding. Would not recommend. Especially full price.
honestly ended up pleasantly surprised by this game, i didn't think it'd be bad exactly but didn't think it'd be genuinely really solid. aside from a few flaws (most notably: enemy placement is seriously ridiculous in later stages, i found myself frequently having to take hits just to proceed) it's pretty well-designed all around, and i'm glad there's more dev studios out there besides inti creates pumping out 2D action games like this
To be brief, this game is a waste of potential, yet it manages to be really enjoyable. It's all thanks to your great move set and the core mechanic of rewinding time.
Had its writing and level design had been on par with its mechanics, it would have been absolutely brilliant. As it stands, the world that surrounds you is truly bereft of any uniqueness or personality.
I had hoped to finally find another worthy succesor of MegaMan Zero, and in some ways it is, but to my dismay the Gunvolt games are still the only thing to come close in terms of polish and cohesion.
Oh well, at least the music is quite good.
Had its writing and level design had been on par with its mechanics, it would have been absolutely brilliant. As it stands, the world that surrounds you is truly bereft of any uniqueness or personality.
I had hoped to finally find another worthy succesor of MegaMan Zero, and in some ways it is, but to my dismay the Gunvolt games are still the only thing to come close in terms of polish and cohesion.
Oh well, at least the music is quite good.
This game, oh my god. It's another game I got on a whim, this time because it came in a 2 for 1 pack with Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger ix 2, I don't recall seeing anything about it aside from a trailer some months back and maybe some screenshot, but I got it just because it looked good and I'm VERY glad I did.
First of all the sprite work is beautiful, this game looks amazing, it's colorful and flashy, with plenty of character, and I loved every bit of the game's design. If you're familiar with the type of work Inti Creates does, then you'll love the work GemDrops did with this game because it's very close to it in a lot of ways.
Music is very Mega Man X-like, it's really good and keeps up well with the pace. The voice acting sadly is japanese only, despite it sounding well enough, I really would have liked to hear an english dub of this game.
The controls and the story kinda go hand in hand, the rewind feature in the title is not only just for gameplay, but is also part of the story. For the gameplay, you have one hit until you die, but you are given a 3 second rewind to fix any platforming or combat mistake you made, something like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and I'll say the game does ramp up pretty hard in the second half of the game, so you'll need to learn patterns and keep them in mind.
The only downsides of the game I feel are, it does kinda suck that you do find yourself repeating the same set of levels twice for a story reason, though it's made much harder, but the game doesn't have a lot of levels to begin with so that becomes a slight annoyance, and DLC could fix that, but the DLC out at the moment is close to $8 dollars for an extra character each two extra levels/story bits to them, which I can't really say is worth that value for me.
Despite all that, I absolutely loved this game, would have loved more levels instead of the repeats, but it was fun and quite the challenge.
First of all the sprite work is beautiful, this game looks amazing, it's colorful and flashy, with plenty of character, and I loved every bit of the game's design. If you're familiar with the type of work Inti Creates does, then you'll love the work GemDrops did with this game because it's very close to it in a lot of ways.
Music is very Mega Man X-like, it's really good and keeps up well with the pace. The voice acting sadly is japanese only, despite it sounding well enough, I really would have liked to hear an english dub of this game.
The controls and the story kinda go hand in hand, the rewind feature in the title is not only just for gameplay, but is also part of the story. For the gameplay, you have one hit until you die, but you are given a 3 second rewind to fix any platforming or combat mistake you made, something like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and I'll say the game does ramp up pretty hard in the second half of the game, so you'll need to learn patterns and keep them in mind.
The only downsides of the game I feel are, it does kinda suck that you do find yourself repeating the same set of levels twice for a story reason, though it's made much harder, but the game doesn't have a lot of levels to begin with so that becomes a slight annoyance, and DLC could fix that, but the DLC out at the moment is close to $8 dollars for an extra character each two extra levels/story bits to them, which I can't really say is worth that value for me.
Despite all that, I absolutely loved this game, would have loved more levels instead of the repeats, but it was fun and quite the challenge.
Time rewind mechanics are great. MegaMan X-like mechanics are great.
Cogen is not.
Cogen has the aesthetic of a classic fast action platformer and that makes the gameplay very jarring. The running feels slow, like you're moving through mud and the 3-hit combo is the antithesis of fast-paced, exciting combat. I don't know why these types of games ever use them.
The time reversing is a cool idea but it's annoying in practice. everything kills you in one hit, but no problem,you can just reverse time, right? No, you have a very limited amount of reversing and you have to use it to traverse the world and activate platforms. So if you've just used a time reversal to activate a platform, you'd better make sure to not even touch that tiny enemy with your toes or it's back to the checkpoint.
Wall slide and wall jumps are needlessly restrictive and the movement doesn't feel smooth in any way.
Cogen is not.
Cogen has the aesthetic of a classic fast action platformer and that makes the gameplay very jarring. The running feels slow, like you're moving through mud and the 3-hit combo is the antithesis of fast-paced, exciting combat. I don't know why these types of games ever use them.
The time reversing is a cool idea but it's annoying in practice. everything kills you in one hit, but no problem,you can just reverse time, right? No, you have a very limited amount of reversing and you have to use it to traverse the world and activate platforms. So if you've just used a time reversal to activate a platform, you'd better make sure to not even touch that tiny enemy with your toes or it's back to the checkpoint.
Wall slide and wall jumps are needlessly restrictive and the movement doesn't feel smooth in any way.
So I guess the best way to start this off since I effectively 100%ed this game it has to have done something right. The only thing I didn't do outside of achievments is get all the terminals.
Cogen: Sword of Rewind was a game I discovered exists the way probably most people did which was the main character appearing in Luminous Avenger iX 2 and well a few weeks after I got the normal ending of that game I basically said screw it I need something to scratch that platformer itch and played the demo and I was hooked.
Cogen is a fast paced hack and slash 2D platform with a pretty major twist. You die in one hit. okay that's not that interesting I guess. What is though is that the player has the ability to rewind time up to the number of seconds avalible in the Ouroboros gauge (which maxs out at 3 seconds and regenerates when not in use) similairly to the rewind function on the megaman legacy collections. Although unlike those games the entire game is built around it. leading to a pretty challenging game (at least for a casual platformer player) that never truely feels punishing.
Well except when the devs feel like dick punching you which they do almost constantly since they know they can get away with it. Which I actually kinda like since it's nice to play a game that's not afraid to do that every so often.
Now other then preventing deaths the system is only really used for a few few things this is mainly because of something I'll get to in a bit. For example you can use it to make certain platforms solid or power them. So you can easily argue they didn't do as much as possible with it which I can agree with. However is has one application I haven't seen anyone talk about here and that's preforming almost speedrun style trick with it.
Basically Kohaku (our protagonist) has both a double jump and an air dash and rewinding time just so happens to reset those. Meaning if you know what you're doing you can almost cheese various platforming challenges and it's a blast and extremely useful in the second half of the game where the Ouroboros system doesn't recharge and in some of the DLC stages.
The story is honestly not the best written and in fact sometimes doesn't make sense however it clearly doesn't take itself very seriously (at least until the second half) and the character writing is great. I genuinely enjoyed the characters and the game got a good laugh out of me several times with it's fairly snarky sense of humor.
However there is one thing that does annoy me a fair amount and that's how much of the game is DLC. Now it's nowhere near as bad as you'd think as the content is quite substantial with with each of the 3 include an new character which can be used in base game levels and 3 new stages each. Now my main issue is that this was day 1 DLC that could have easily just been in the base game. but I digress at least it give you a good amount of content.
But I really can't complain when the characters and stages are very fun well besides playing as Yuji I did not like his playstyle at all. But hey Copen from Gunvolt is here and while he's not quite 1 to 1 with Avenger iX 2 he's still a blast if overpowered. Although I'd argue another character might actually be better due to their damage output.
Anyways I enjoyed it a lot and while it could have done more with the rewind feature and the second half basically being hard mode for the first half DMC 4 style being kinda lame. As well as the day 1 DLC. I had a great time with it and would recommend picking it up.
Although you might want to wait for a sale cuz of the DLC
Cogen: Sword of Rewind was a game I discovered exists the way probably most people did which was the main character appearing in Luminous Avenger iX 2 and well a few weeks after I got the normal ending of that game I basically said screw it I need something to scratch that platformer itch and played the demo and I was hooked.
Cogen is a fast paced hack and slash 2D platform with a pretty major twist. You die in one hit. okay that's not that interesting I guess. What is though is that the player has the ability to rewind time up to the number of seconds avalible in the Ouroboros gauge (which maxs out at 3 seconds and regenerates when not in use) similairly to the rewind function on the megaman legacy collections. Although unlike those games the entire game is built around it. leading to a pretty challenging game (at least for a casual platformer player) that never truely feels punishing.
Well except when the devs feel like dick punching you which they do almost constantly since they know they can get away with it. Which I actually kinda like since it's nice to play a game that's not afraid to do that every so often.
Now other then preventing deaths the system is only really used for a few few things this is mainly because of something I'll get to in a bit. For example you can use it to make certain platforms solid or power them. So you can easily argue they didn't do as much as possible with it which I can agree with. However is has one application I haven't seen anyone talk about here and that's preforming almost speedrun style trick with it.
Basically Kohaku (our protagonist) has both a double jump and an air dash and rewinding time just so happens to reset those. Meaning if you know what you're doing you can almost cheese various platforming challenges and it's a blast and extremely useful in the second half of the game where the Ouroboros system doesn't recharge and in some of the DLC stages.
The story is honestly not the best written and in fact sometimes doesn't make sense however it clearly doesn't take itself very seriously (at least until the second half) and the character writing is great. I genuinely enjoyed the characters and the game got a good laugh out of me several times with it's fairly snarky sense of humor.
However there is one thing that does annoy me a fair amount and that's how much of the game is DLC. Now it's nowhere near as bad as you'd think as the content is quite substantial with with each of the 3 include an new character which can be used in base game levels and 3 new stages each. Now my main issue is that this was day 1 DLC that could have easily just been in the base game. but I digress at least it give you a good amount of content.
But I really can't complain when the characters and stages are very fun well besides playing as Yuji I did not like his playstyle at all. But hey Copen from Gunvolt is here and while he's not quite 1 to 1 with Avenger iX 2 he's still a blast if overpowered. Although I'd argue another character might actually be better due to their damage output.
Anyways I enjoyed it a lot and while it could have done more with the rewind feature and the second half basically being hard mode for the first half DMC 4 style being kinda lame. As well as the day 1 DLC. I had a great time with it and would recommend picking it up.
Although you might want to wait for a sale cuz of the DLC
It's basically a beautiful PS1 action game made in Unity in 2022. Looks great and feels very good to play. The rewind feature is pretty fascinating. At times it makes you feel invincible and at other times you can kind of screw yourself over with it.
Cogen: Sword of Rewind is a game i never heard of until Inti Creates brought it up. See, appearently they decided to collab with Gemdrops Inc to promote the release of both of their games and it was honestly pretty neat to see. Both Luminous Avenger iX 2 and Cogen came out on the same day, both featured the other game's protagonist as DLC physical only DLC in the case of iX 2 and both games have a pretty similar aesthetic and both are definitely taking inspiration from Mega Man Zero to a degree. When i first saw footage of Cogen, i was worried it was gonna be a Gunvolt clone. The demo alleviated those fears and after finishing the full game, i can say it stands on it's own.
The actual gameplay of Cogen is pretty sweet. If you've played Mega Man Zero, it's basically the same deal but with a few neat additions. For starters, our heroine Kokaku can actually deflect certain projectiles and send them back at the enemy, wielding her sword as if it were a lightsaber. This is something Zero couldn't do despite wielding an actual lightsaber. Because deflecting back enemy projectiles will always be based, i was onboard with the fundamental gameplay of this game. Kohaku's real gimmick is her ability to rewind time and it plays out interestingly in this game. Technically, you can't take any hits. If you get hit, you die and the game marks it up on the counter. When you die, you can rewind time up to three seconds and try again and your time rewind meter effectively serves as your HP bar. As long as you have one full second, you'd have a chance to turn things around. If you die and your time rewind meter is empty, it's back to the checkpoint for you. In addition, you can also use the time rewind for some extra movement, as it refreshes your jumps and air dash. There's not a whole lot of opportunity to use this, especially in the game's hard mode, which limits the recharge of the meter, but it was nonetheless fun to do.
However, while the time rewind mechanic is cool, it also is kinda used to justify some bullshit level design. I would get hit by shit i couldn't see coming just for there to be an excuse to Bites the Dust. For the record, it is possible to beat every single stage without rewinding at all if the in-game achievements are anything to go by but you'd definitely have to have foresight for that. In addition, much like Luminous Avenger iX 2, the game locks a chunk of the story behind hard mode. Unlike iX 2, there is no lives system in hard mode, the only limitation is the fact that you're limited in your rewinds unless you collect pickups or pass through checkpoints and recharge points. Basically, while the decision to force the player to replay the game on a harder difficulty to see everything is cringe, it's better in this game. And there is a hard mode exclusive level at the end too so that's nice.
As far as the characters and writing, it's pretty basic but it's fine. Kohaku is a bundle of infectious optimism that reminds me of Firis from the Atelier series. Which is to say, i like her. Kohaku also just hard carried the entire cast, as the other characters by themselves are pretty one-note and are only helped by their interactions with Kohaku. There is mid-stage dialogue, similar to the first two Gunvolt games, but there's nowhere near enough of it, so it made me wish that the game at least had the base convo feature that all the Gunvolt games have.
Paying $25 for this game and an additional $9 each for the DLC character stories is.....kinda a lot for this short game. $25 is how much Luminous Avenger iX 2 costs but at least it's justified by being the first self-published Inti Creates game with an English dub and the replay value is honestly much better. Cogen is a fun game and i'd recommend it to anyone who likes Mega Man Zero or Azure Striker Gunvolt (or both) but for $25.....maybe wait on a sale for that. Or if you're playing on Switch, use gold coins for a discount like i did. I do plan to at least get the Copen DLC because of course i will.
The actual gameplay of Cogen is pretty sweet. If you've played Mega Man Zero, it's basically the same deal but with a few neat additions. For starters, our heroine Kokaku can actually deflect certain projectiles and send them back at the enemy, wielding her sword as if it were a lightsaber. This is something Zero couldn't do despite wielding an actual lightsaber. Because deflecting back enemy projectiles will always be based, i was onboard with the fundamental gameplay of this game. Kohaku's real gimmick is her ability to rewind time and it plays out interestingly in this game. Technically, you can't take any hits. If you get hit, you die and the game marks it up on the counter. When you die, you can rewind time up to three seconds and try again and your time rewind meter effectively serves as your HP bar. As long as you have one full second, you'd have a chance to turn things around. If you die and your time rewind meter is empty, it's back to the checkpoint for you. In addition, you can also use the time rewind for some extra movement, as it refreshes your jumps and air dash. There's not a whole lot of opportunity to use this, especially in the game's hard mode, which limits the recharge of the meter, but it was nonetheless fun to do.
However, while the time rewind mechanic is cool, it also is kinda used to justify some bullshit level design. I would get hit by shit i couldn't see coming just for there to be an excuse to Bites the Dust. For the record, it is possible to beat every single stage without rewinding at all if the in-game achievements are anything to go by but you'd definitely have to have foresight for that. In addition, much like Luminous Avenger iX 2, the game locks a chunk of the story behind hard mode. Unlike iX 2, there is no lives system in hard mode, the only limitation is the fact that you're limited in your rewinds unless you collect pickups or pass through checkpoints and recharge points. Basically, while the decision to force the player to replay the game on a harder difficulty to see everything is cringe, it's better in this game. And there is a hard mode exclusive level at the end too so that's nice.
As far as the characters and writing, it's pretty basic but it's fine. Kohaku is a bundle of infectious optimism that reminds me of Firis from the Atelier series. Which is to say, i like her. Kohaku also just hard carried the entire cast, as the other characters by themselves are pretty one-note and are only helped by their interactions with Kohaku. There is mid-stage dialogue, similar to the first two Gunvolt games, but there's nowhere near enough of it, so it made me wish that the game at least had the base convo feature that all the Gunvolt games have.
Paying $25 for this game and an additional $9 each for the DLC character stories is.....kinda a lot for this short game. $25 is how much Luminous Avenger iX 2 costs but at least it's justified by being the first self-published Inti Creates game with an English dub and the replay value is honestly much better. Cogen is a fun game and i'd recommend it to anyone who likes Mega Man Zero or Azure Striker Gunvolt (or both) but for $25.....maybe wait on a sale for that. Or if you're playing on Switch, use gold coins for a discount like i did. I do plan to at least get the Copen DLC because of course i will.
This review contains spoilers
Dropped when the game told me to "play everything again except you can't use the main mechanic as a crutch and you have to collect the memory fragments to complete the game".
Yes yes I get this is a git gud type of game but that is not my issue with Cogen. While the games core gameplay is a blast when you master it and the early levels can be brutal this game completely lost me in the design choices department.
Before I get into what ultimately ruined this game for me I will first talk about the good stuff. Art was great and gameplay was great! this game has a unique rewind system where if you get hit you are able to rewind time and you have 3 seconds of use for this skill. Once you run out of those 3 seconds you will game over if you get hit unless you wait for the meter to refill and honestly I really enjoyed this system it was cool.
BUTTTTTTT
After level 5 the game makes you replay those same exact levels all over again with just more enemies that are tougher and without being able to recharge your rewind time. On top of all that you are forced to grab all these red orbs from each level to get to the last level which all in all made the 2nd half of the game DREADFUL and simply ruined a lot for me. It is lazy design and maybe it would have helped if the level design of the 5 levels were good but they are not good. On top of a terrible second half and terrible level design the story isn't anything good it just gets the job done but I did not care about at all about any of the characters and situation.
All in all this game is wasted potential because if they can take this gameplay and attach it to a game that has good level design and doesn't force you to replay the same damn levels again then that game can be amazing but this one isn't.
Before I get into what ultimately ruined this game for me I will first talk about the good stuff. Art was great and gameplay was great! this game has a unique rewind system where if you get hit you are able to rewind time and you have 3 seconds of use for this skill. Once you run out of those 3 seconds you will game over if you get hit unless you wait for the meter to refill and honestly I really enjoyed this system it was cool.
BUTTTTTTT
After level 5 the game makes you replay those same exact levels all over again with just more enemies that are tougher and without being able to recharge your rewind time. On top of all that you are forced to grab all these red orbs from each level to get to the last level which all in all made the 2nd half of the game DREADFUL and simply ruined a lot for me. It is lazy design and maybe it would have helped if the level design of the 5 levels were good but they are not good. On top of a terrible second half and terrible level design the story isn't anything good it just gets the job done but I did not care about at all about any of the characters and situation.
All in all this game is wasted potential because if they can take this gameplay and attach it to a game that has good level design and doesn't force you to replay the same damn levels again then that game can be amazing but this one isn't.
I game that looks good and controls very well. The game sadly lacks good-level design and enemy placement. The difficulty is mitigated by the rewind feature that could have been much better implemented. The action is top-notch and is what keeps this game as a 7 but it realistically could be a 9/10 game if they polished it up.
this owns
feels great to play, rewind mechanics are used in interesting ways, writing is entertaining
feels great to play, rewind mechanics are used in interesting ways, writing is entertaining
COGEN: Sword of Rewind can be summed up in two words: "skill issue". It's an absolute blast once you learn how to exploit the Ouroboros System, which lets you rewind whenever you'd like, but getting there isn't easy! The tutorial covers only basic concepts; later stages are mercilessly difficult, even if you're doing everything right. The most frustrating aspect is its difficulty curve - while there's a gradual increase in challenge as the game goes on, you'll still get thrown straight into extremely difficult segments without any prior warning.
That said, COGEN's combat feels fast and fluid enough that even a beginner could grasp the basics within minutes, provided they have patience for experimentation (and lots of free time). Unfortunately, it doesn't take long until things start feeling unfair after you master the core mechanics, thanks to some unintuitive design decisions. There's just not much variety when it comes to enemy types, meaning your skills aren't really being tested beyond learning how to deal damage efficiently. Most enemies die easily, which is "solved" by forcing the player to deal with a shitton of them at once, the optimal way to deal with these encounters simply being camping one side of the screen and using their own attacks against themselves. Boss fights don't pose much of a threat unless you screw up repeatedly - though the few difficult bosses present absolutely require memorizing attack patterns. This might seem nitpicky, but I couldn't help but feel that this game had the potential for something special, especially given its beautiful graphics and interesting concept, but falls short because of poor pacing with an excuse plot and forgettable enemies.
It has all the trappings of a classic retro-style action game: good music, cute sprite artwork, catchy stage themes. But while those aspects do add to the fun factor, the experience is marred by uneven difficulty spikes and other frustrating design choices, making it hard to recommend.
If you've got nothing else on your plate and enjoy 2D action with slashin' and dashin', give COGEN a try.
...Also the DLC is stupidly overpriced. 3 character DLCs, each at $7.99. At the very least, they massively differ in playstyle from Kohaku with some interesting mechanics.
That said, COGEN's combat feels fast and fluid enough that even a beginner could grasp the basics within minutes, provided they have patience for experimentation (and lots of free time). Unfortunately, it doesn't take long until things start feeling unfair after you master the core mechanics, thanks to some unintuitive design decisions. There's just not much variety when it comes to enemy types, meaning your skills aren't really being tested beyond learning how to deal damage efficiently. Most enemies die easily, which is "solved" by forcing the player to deal with a shitton of them at once, the optimal way to deal with these encounters simply being camping one side of the screen and using their own attacks against themselves. Boss fights don't pose much of a threat unless you screw up repeatedly - though the few difficult bosses present absolutely require memorizing attack patterns. This might seem nitpicky, but I couldn't help but feel that this game had the potential for something special, especially given its beautiful graphics and interesting concept, but falls short because of poor pacing with an excuse plot and forgettable enemies.
It has all the trappings of a classic retro-style action game: good music, cute sprite artwork, catchy stage themes. But while those aspects do add to the fun factor, the experience is marred by uneven difficulty spikes and other frustrating design choices, making it hard to recommend.
If you've got nothing else on your plate and enjoy 2D action with slashin' and dashin', give COGEN a try.
...Also the DLC is stupidly overpriced. 3 character DLCs, each at $7.99. At the very least, they massively differ in playstyle from Kohaku with some interesting mechanics.
Im sorry chief, this game isnt my thing.
But i swear this game as just so much potential, and this potential is reached at level 3 and in the two special stage...but, other than that, this game is a worse than megaman x, a game that i already dont like:
Let me explain why i think this way: the gimmick of this game is to go back in time for puzzle or combat purpose: super idea in concept, but in practice, i majorly used this gimmick as hitpoint, and thats it: like, how? Well, thats just because the level design, overall, wasnt well built around this gimmick: its really barely useful in the game, except in level 3 and in the two special level, but other than that...meh...
The other 4 level are just bland level just filled with generic enemy and...wait...did i said only 4? THERE IS ONLY 7 ORIGINAL LEVEL IN THIS GAME? AND FIVE OF THEM ARE REPEAT WITH LITTLE CHANGE AND ARE NECESSARY TO BEAT THE GAME? THATS ACTUALLY WORSE THAT THE N.VERTED LEVEL IN CRASH 4, BECAUSE, AT LEAST, YOU DONT NEED TO COMPLETE THEM TO REACH THE CREDIT. and thats the two biggest problem of this game: underused mechanic and pading...but even then, im not over
You want to know why i didnt want to use the time mechanic and only using them as hitpoint ? Cause, sometimes, the game just randomly decided to put bullshit over bullshit for no reason...but hey, at least, the mechanic recharge after use, right? NO, YOU IDIOT, ITS NOT CASED IN THE SECOND PARY OF THE GAME...and the most emblematic part of this problem are the two final boss: daddy (i call him how i want, shut up) his pattern are just stupid, especially in the rematch...but the other boss arent like that, dont worry, they all have problem: first boss is just boring, 2 boss would have been alright if, in the second face, you couldnt have been randomly trapped and doomed by the pattern of the squishing obstacle, boss 3 is by far the best, but his second face isnt that enjoyable. Boss 4 is annoying as hell, with his stupid orb. And the kohaku's clone...is kinda cool actually
For the rest, the music is great, as for the character ( except the boring and dumb antagonist/daddy) the story is heh, and the pixelart is nice and all, but the location are just...uninteresting
I wished the game was more like stage 3 or tge two bonus stage
But i swear this game as just so much potential, and this potential is reached at level 3 and in the two special stage...but, other than that, this game is a worse than megaman x, a game that i already dont like:
Let me explain why i think this way: the gimmick of this game is to go back in time for puzzle or combat purpose: super idea in concept, but in practice, i majorly used this gimmick as hitpoint, and thats it: like, how? Well, thats just because the level design, overall, wasnt well built around this gimmick: its really barely useful in the game, except in level 3 and in the two special level, but other than that...meh...
The other 4 level are just bland level just filled with generic enemy and...wait...did i said only 4? THERE IS ONLY 7 ORIGINAL LEVEL IN THIS GAME? AND FIVE OF THEM ARE REPEAT WITH LITTLE CHANGE AND ARE NECESSARY TO BEAT THE GAME? THATS ACTUALLY WORSE THAT THE N.VERTED LEVEL IN CRASH 4, BECAUSE, AT LEAST, YOU DONT NEED TO COMPLETE THEM TO REACH THE CREDIT. and thats the two biggest problem of this game: underused mechanic and pading...but even then, im not over
You want to know why i didnt want to use the time mechanic and only using them as hitpoint ? Cause, sometimes, the game just randomly decided to put bullshit over bullshit for no reason...but hey, at least, the mechanic recharge after use, right? NO, YOU IDIOT, ITS NOT CASED IN THE SECOND PARY OF THE GAME...and the most emblematic part of this problem are the two final boss: daddy (i call him how i want, shut up) his pattern are just stupid, especially in the rematch...but the other boss arent like that, dont worry, they all have problem: first boss is just boring, 2 boss would have been alright if, in the second face, you couldnt have been randomly trapped and doomed by the pattern of the squishing obstacle, boss 3 is by far the best, but his second face isnt that enjoyable. Boss 4 is annoying as hell, with his stupid orb. And the kohaku's clone...is kinda cool actually
For the rest, the music is great, as for the character ( except the boring and dumb antagonist/daddy) the story is heh, and the pixelart is nice and all, but the location are just...uninteresting
I wished the game was more like stage 3 or tge two bonus stage
unlike the string of messy 2D action games i've just played, this one is messy in a way that makes it really quite difficult to write about
the centre of COGEN: Sword of Rewind is a metered time reversal mechanic that i loved when it was in prince of persia, and it's this game's greatest strength. it's also the game's greatest weakness but, not so commonly: the game gives you direct control over when it swaps from one to the other.
because this team had a lot of Big Ideas for what you could use a time-bending meter for, and they're very compelling! spending a time-reversal gauge to make a platform appear feels natural, and it's even cooler when you do it mid-combat to create cover or a new tactical opportunity. but because the game still needs you to actually want to use the rewinds, you always die in one hit. and since you always have to create these platforms or spawn these blocks, the game will very regularly funnel you into high-stress scenarios where one mistake is instant death because your meter is all tied up making the level work.
whenever i was able to dynamically adapt an action plan to a room that changed every time i rewound from a sudden death, it felt amazing. if that had happened more than three times, this would be a truly excellent action game. unfortunately what's here is pulled in just slightly too many directions to really shine. feels like a fundamental conflict between skill-testing action balanced for one-hit kills and variable access to the mechanic that balances them
but god i love this game's corny-ass music and even if the plot's total bobbins the dialogue is actually very charming. i'd almost forgotten what that was like
the centre of COGEN: Sword of Rewind is a metered time reversal mechanic that i loved when it was in prince of persia, and it's this game's greatest strength. it's also the game's greatest weakness but, not so commonly: the game gives you direct control over when it swaps from one to the other.
because this team had a lot of Big Ideas for what you could use a time-bending meter for, and they're very compelling! spending a time-reversal gauge to make a platform appear feels natural, and it's even cooler when you do it mid-combat to create cover or a new tactical opportunity. but because the game still needs you to actually want to use the rewinds, you always die in one hit. and since you always have to create these platforms or spawn these blocks, the game will very regularly funnel you into high-stress scenarios where one mistake is instant death because your meter is all tied up making the level work.
whenever i was able to dynamically adapt an action plan to a room that changed every time i rewound from a sudden death, it felt amazing. if that had happened more than three times, this would be a truly excellent action game. unfortunately what's here is pulled in just slightly too many directions to really shine. feels like a fundamental conflict between skill-testing action balanced for one-hit kills and variable access to the mechanic that balances them
but god i love this game's corny-ass music and even if the plot's total bobbins the dialogue is actually very charming. i'd almost forgotten what that was like
Ngl, it is mostly carried by how good the movement and quick rewind mechanics are. Helps that the second half is an actual challenge to most casual platformer players (like me) worth the frustration of figuring the patterns out and actually executing them. Otherwise pretty jank and/or average
My only real issue with this game is that it pads the runtime by forcing you to replay what you just did on a harder difficulty. Now that may sound bad, but the game is super short and the levels are different enough that it feels fresh. (Though I did play the second half a couple days later, so that may have had something to do with it.)
Aside from that, it's great! The characters are all fun and likable, especially Kohaku, who is infectiously upbeat. ALL the writing is top-notch, I burst out laughing a dozen times, it's fantastic. And it just felt great to play. The time rewind mechanic isn't used to its full potential, but I think it works well enough.
Anyway, Kohaku survived a plane crash because "it felt like the thing to do". 9/10.
Aside from that, it's great! The characters are all fun and likable, especially Kohaku, who is infectiously upbeat. ALL the writing is top-notch, I burst out laughing a dozen times, it's fantastic. And it just felt great to play. The time rewind mechanic isn't used to its full potential, but I think it works well enough.
Anyway, Kohaku survived a plane crash because "it felt like the thing to do". 9/10.