I truthfully was not ready for how much of a direct upgrade this game was over the first. Now given full control to make whatever game they want Inticreates immediately capitalizes on this by creating an entirely unique entry that blows the first game out of the water for me. This game follows immediately after the ending to 1 where Jason and Eve created a new Sophia to travel space and try to find a cure to Eve's constant mutantification.

The sidescrolling gameplay in Sophia is a lot more refined in this game, giving you a new energy bar that doesn't automatically recharge (unless you run full out of energy) and can be charged by falling far distances without hovering, which removes a lot of the frustration of the first game where at some points you just had to sit there and wait for your energy bar to recharge. In the 3d section a lot has changed, with Jason getting a few tool changes to his gun levels that fall more in line with Megaman Zero. Wave has also had a nerf in this game so it gets weaker when spammed which gives incentive to try out other weapons, but it's still pretty strong on its own right anyways. Both segments have new QoL in the form of Fred who will now create wormholes to take you out of a dungeon when you finish it or warp back to the Sophia in a sidescrolling section so you don't risk getting softlocked or immediately killed by outside enemies.

By far the best parts of this game for me is the new layout of exploring, characters, and story. Instead of going through one giant web of connected zones with a bit of backtracking the game is broken up in sectors on a world map now, with a major planet in each sector to replace the Zones of the previous game and some bonus smaller planets that are usually mini challenges to get some optional upgrades. There are also some new MA pilots and I adore all of them for different reasons, plus it's just fun to see what MA's they pilot. And finally the story starts off strong and only gets better as time goes on, with all the cool fights building up to a climax in the final battle that genuinely gives me chills because of how cool the whole segment is.

If I had one gripe, it's once again the fact you need to do some extra work to get the true ending. It's not nearly as bad as 1, only requiring 3 items, but it is pretty easy to miss them if you don't know what to look out for. If you don't mind a small hint, you start the process to get them all by going back to a planet with a MA pilot after finishing the story objective there to start a new sidequest.

Overall, if you even so much as enjoyed the first game a little bit you'll absolutely love this game. It really endeared me to Jason and Eve in particular, but also a 3rd character you'll meet in the journey across space :).

Reviewed on Jan 27, 2023


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