[Pros]
-Aside from the slow intro, the game has no downtime. It surely is action-packed.
-The continue system of this game is not only conceptually intriguing but also shows the evolution of arcade games' continue system. It makes people WANT to master the older levels, but with their own phase.
-defensive options(dash, block, perfect parry, weaving&short-jumping) are varied and each has its own clear merits.
-perfect parry has a really short window, which means it's not easy to always rely on it. It also means that people won't likely go with one single method to deal with every problem.
-Environmental hazards (fall-death, stair-fall, wall-crash, throwable objects) are the true king of the grand game design. Every countermeasure and combo you will make is chosen, or amplified by these objects. You can engage in the fight against defensive enemies by kicking the bottle or chair to destroy their position and punish. You can throw the enemy off the ledge or stair by using throwing and sweep attacks. Since there are a lot of dangerous enemies coming toward you at the near-end level, this environment manipulation becomes the main ammunition of your gun. And I really love the chaotic situation I can pull off with that.
-Healing system is simple but very fitting to this game.
-There's a hidden spare-the-boss mechanic in this game, which is kinda gimmicky, but it also makes you have an additional goal that changes your strat. (you have to destroy their structure twice in their second phase before their health goes down to 0) Pretty neat I should say.
-Not related to the mechanics, but the third and fourth levels are truly eye-festival. The art direction is fantastic.
[Middle ground]
-Yes, this game's combat system is entirely built upon automatic move assists like gliding enemies and kinda inconsistent tracking speed, but most of the time they can be negated by good positioning. I wish the vertical attacks didn't track the players tho.
-There aren't many enemy types, but the normal goons themselves can change their attack patterns by holding the weapons lying around(I know it's a classic AI behavior that has been made since the older beat-em-up games, but it's still fantastic), and some random super-saiyan mode can stir the arena in a fun way. (Imagine the devil transformation from God Hand, but much more lenient) So, yeah, even with the low amount of enemy variety, the arenas are pretty dynamic. Though I wish there were more champion enemy types.
-Bosses are pattern-heavy and very punishing when we interrupt their combo(which is why they seem kinda restrictive), but the defensive options and countermeasures alone can make some variations in the gameplay. For example, It is possible to destroy the structure meter of Botanist's 1st phase with the weave-punch-wall-throw combo since there are many walls in the boss arena. Surprisingly not many people didn't use that. Also, many people consider that the third boss is meant to be played with the waiting-game strat, but I realized that the structure damage she gives is quite low, so I dealt with the first phase with full-on perfect parry strat which is quite similar to Sekiro. I think some people can deal with her with constant weaving&short-jumping, which is kinda impressive in a sense. What I'm saying is, the bosses are not that DEEP in the whole action game spectrum, but they surely accept different playstyles.
[Cons]
-I think some enemy attack patterns are frustrating to deal with because of the lack of telegraphs. Note that I'm not a Fighting Game enthusiast tho.
-Yeah it is realistic that punching people irl doesn't make a bomb sound, but even considering that, the sound feedback should have been more explosive.
-The Second Boss is unnecessarily punishing considering that he is still an early game boss and the patterns themselves are quite simple.
-Honestly, The skill tree exists for the skill tree's sake. all the combat moves should have been opened from the start and only non-permanent-stat-boost from the dragon statue should have remained in this game.
-Camera collides with the wall, which can lead to some unmanageable stuff like the things in God of War Reboot.
-I hated the final boss for being too fast and hard-hitting while also providing only a small amount of window for us to express the offensive moves.
Overall, I can give this at least 4/5 for the pure enjoyment I got from this game. But I have to say, I could have loved it even more if they fixed the Cons.
-Aside from the slow intro, the game has no downtime. It surely is action-packed.
-The continue system of this game is not only conceptually intriguing but also shows the evolution of arcade games' continue system. It makes people WANT to master the older levels, but with their own phase.
-defensive options(dash, block, perfect parry, weaving&short-jumping) are varied and each has its own clear merits.
-perfect parry has a really short window, which means it's not easy to always rely on it. It also means that people won't likely go with one single method to deal with every problem.
-Environmental hazards (fall-death, stair-fall, wall-crash, throwable objects) are the true king of the grand game design. Every countermeasure and combo you will make is chosen, or amplified by these objects. You can engage in the fight against defensive enemies by kicking the bottle or chair to destroy their position and punish. You can throw the enemy off the ledge or stair by using throwing and sweep attacks. Since there are a lot of dangerous enemies coming toward you at the near-end level, this environment manipulation becomes the main ammunition of your gun. And I really love the chaotic situation I can pull off with that.
-Healing system is simple but very fitting to this game.
-There's a hidden spare-the-boss mechanic in this game, which is kinda gimmicky, but it also makes you have an additional goal that changes your strat. (you have to destroy their structure twice in their second phase before their health goes down to 0) Pretty neat I should say.
-Not related to the mechanics, but the third and fourth levels are truly eye-festival. The art direction is fantastic.
[Middle ground]
-Yes, this game's combat system is entirely built upon automatic move assists like gliding enemies and kinda inconsistent tracking speed, but most of the time they can be negated by good positioning. I wish the vertical attacks didn't track the players tho.
-There aren't many enemy types, but the normal goons themselves can change their attack patterns by holding the weapons lying around(I know it's a classic AI behavior that has been made since the older beat-em-up games, but it's still fantastic), and some random super-saiyan mode can stir the arena in a fun way. (Imagine the devil transformation from God Hand, but much more lenient) So, yeah, even with the low amount of enemy variety, the arenas are pretty dynamic. Though I wish there were more champion enemy types.
-Bosses are pattern-heavy and very punishing when we interrupt their combo(which is why they seem kinda restrictive), but the defensive options and countermeasures alone can make some variations in the gameplay. For example, It is possible to destroy the structure meter of Botanist's 1st phase with the weave-punch-wall-throw combo since there are many walls in the boss arena. Surprisingly not many people didn't use that. Also, many people consider that the third boss is meant to be played with the waiting-game strat, but I realized that the structure damage she gives is quite low, so I dealt with the first phase with full-on perfect parry strat which is quite similar to Sekiro. I think some people can deal with her with constant weaving&short-jumping, which is kinda impressive in a sense. What I'm saying is, the bosses are not that DEEP in the whole action game spectrum, but they surely accept different playstyles.
[Cons]
-I think some enemy attack patterns are frustrating to deal with because of the lack of telegraphs. Note that I'm not a Fighting Game enthusiast tho.
-Yeah it is realistic that punching people irl doesn't make a bomb sound, but even considering that, the sound feedback should have been more explosive.
-The Second Boss is unnecessarily punishing considering that he is still an early game boss and the patterns themselves are quite simple.
-Honestly, The skill tree exists for the skill tree's sake. all the combat moves should have been opened from the start and only non-permanent-stat-boost from the dragon statue should have remained in this game.
-Camera collides with the wall, which can lead to some unmanageable stuff like the things in God of War Reboot.
-I hated the final boss for being too fast and hard-hitting while also providing only a small amount of window for us to express the offensive moves.
Overall, I can give this at least 4/5 for the pure enjoyment I got from this game. But I have to say, I could have loved it even more if they fixed the Cons.