This is one of those games that's given me such a tremendous smile on my face while I played it.
My first reaction to this game was about the same as everyone else's: "This looks like a game that'd be made during the 6th Gen". Which isn't by any chance a demeaning thing, but a phrase of endearment. They literally don't make games like this anymore, especially with a big studio at the helm. And with a price tag of $30 USD, it's evident that this is a game made on a budget. But god damn, does it have a hard time showing that it is at times.
You have comic book visuals oozing with charm — a fantastic blend of 2D and 3D, with in-game animations working in tandem with the main gimmick of the game to emphasize that everything is to the beat. It's all energetic, lively, and REALLY fun to look at. Seeing some of these cutscenes had my jaw dropping at how nicely animated it was. There's a lot of heart and soul put into just the visuals, and it pays off stupendously!
The main gimmick of this game is that it's a rhythm action game. It's fairly forgiving on the timing, but rewards you with more stun and damage if you time your hits to the beat. It's probably the best version of this type of game I've seen. Not to mention just how complex this combat system is, with many different abilities and combos you can pull off. It's taken notes from the best character action games in the business, and has put it's own fun twist on it.
A lot of the game has you platforming, fighting, searching for collectable, upgrading and unlocking your abilities, mixed in with some really fun set pieces. There's times where licensed music is introduced, and it ends up feeling like an interactive music video with how it plays out. It uses a lot of simple rhythm game-esque prompts during sections like these, along with some rail grinding and dodging to the beat. It comes together so well and makes these moments stand out substantially.
I think some of the level design can be a bit uninteresting in some places. After a while in the Zanzo and Korsica areas, they tend to over stay their welcome with back-to-back hallways where they're just enemy battle pits. It reminds me of some of the weaker areas in Kingdom Hearts, actually. Luckily, the game makes it up with a lot of really solid boss fights. Mimosa is absolutely the standout here for me, not only is her theme amazing, but mechanically she was just a joy to verse. Roquefort has this insane amount of set pieces that's so visually unique and mechanically wonderful, and is emblematic of how much they really throw everything at the wall with some of these bosses. Kale is fucking hard with his final phase, and getting past him was so satisfying after I got it down. I played on Very Hard, and man, did the combat system get made the most out of with it.
The music has some standout moments, (it should given its a rhythm game) , but I would have liked it if there was a bit more variety to the very guitar heavy tracks in the game. Granted, it's all about a overly confident dork who wields a guitar — obviously it should have a guitar as it's center piece — but it would have been nice to hear different types of genres for boss themes and certain areas. It can also be a bit one note with it's rhythm, but this is kind of the drawback to being a game about rhythm combat. All of this doesn't really matter though, it's all so nicely put together.
The story itself is a very cornball story about some dumb ass who's in way over his head somehow bullshitting his way into breaking an entire tech conglomerate hellbent on mind controlling it's users. You got some fun, tropey characters, with some dumb jokes that had me giggling from time to time at how ridiculous it was. It charmed me, but I could see the cracks towards the end with the sort of rushed along "character's lowest point" arc for Chai, which is a bit of a shame, because the mini-game and the song were really nice. I'm assuming this is something that had to be moved along due to budget stuff. There's a few things like that in this game, and they even poke fun and acknowledge that with one of Kale's robots showing up during Korsica's end cutscene.
The amount of times I've stated out loud to myself "fuck, that's awesome" has been plentiful with this game. It can have some weak spots, sure, but it packs so much into such a nice experience that I can't help but appreciate it. This is the first character action game I've played where I really seemed to get the appeal of the genre a lot more, so it's honestly been a breath of fresh air. There seems to be more stuff to do in the game, so maybe I'll appreciate the game even more as I do that, but for now, I really, REALLY liked this game!
My first reaction to this game was about the same as everyone else's: "This looks like a game that'd be made during the 6th Gen". Which isn't by any chance a demeaning thing, but a phrase of endearment. They literally don't make games like this anymore, especially with a big studio at the helm. And with a price tag of $30 USD, it's evident that this is a game made on a budget. But god damn, does it have a hard time showing that it is at times.
You have comic book visuals oozing with charm — a fantastic blend of 2D and 3D, with in-game animations working in tandem with the main gimmick of the game to emphasize that everything is to the beat. It's all energetic, lively, and REALLY fun to look at. Seeing some of these cutscenes had my jaw dropping at how nicely animated it was. There's a lot of heart and soul put into just the visuals, and it pays off stupendously!
The main gimmick of this game is that it's a rhythm action game. It's fairly forgiving on the timing, but rewards you with more stun and damage if you time your hits to the beat. It's probably the best version of this type of game I've seen. Not to mention just how complex this combat system is, with many different abilities and combos you can pull off. It's taken notes from the best character action games in the business, and has put it's own fun twist on it.
A lot of the game has you platforming, fighting, searching for collectable, upgrading and unlocking your abilities, mixed in with some really fun set pieces. There's times where licensed music is introduced, and it ends up feeling like an interactive music video with how it plays out. It uses a lot of simple rhythm game-esque prompts during sections like these, along with some rail grinding and dodging to the beat. It comes together so well and makes these moments stand out substantially.
I think some of the level design can be a bit uninteresting in some places. After a while in the Zanzo and Korsica areas, they tend to over stay their welcome with back-to-back hallways where they're just enemy battle pits. It reminds me of some of the weaker areas in Kingdom Hearts, actually. Luckily, the game makes it up with a lot of really solid boss fights. Mimosa is absolutely the standout here for me, not only is her theme amazing, but mechanically she was just a joy to verse. Roquefort has this insane amount of set pieces that's so visually unique and mechanically wonderful, and is emblematic of how much they really throw everything at the wall with some of these bosses. Kale is fucking hard with his final phase, and getting past him was so satisfying after I got it down. I played on Very Hard, and man, did the combat system get made the most out of with it.
The music has some standout moments, (it should given its a rhythm game) , but I would have liked it if there was a bit more variety to the very guitar heavy tracks in the game. Granted, it's all about a overly confident dork who wields a guitar — obviously it should have a guitar as it's center piece — but it would have been nice to hear different types of genres for boss themes and certain areas. It can also be a bit one note with it's rhythm, but this is kind of the drawback to being a game about rhythm combat. All of this doesn't really matter though, it's all so nicely put together.
The story itself is a very cornball story about some dumb ass who's in way over his head somehow bullshitting his way into breaking an entire tech conglomerate hellbent on mind controlling it's users. You got some fun, tropey characters, with some dumb jokes that had me giggling from time to time at how ridiculous it was. It charmed me, but I could see the cracks towards the end with the sort of rushed along "character's lowest point" arc for Chai, which is a bit of a shame, because the mini-game and the song were really nice. I'm assuming this is something that had to be moved along due to budget stuff. There's a few things like that in this game, and they even poke fun and acknowledge that with one of Kale's robots showing up during Korsica's end cutscene.
The amount of times I've stated out loud to myself "fuck, that's awesome" has been plentiful with this game. It can have some weak spots, sure, but it packs so much into such a nice experience that I can't help but appreciate it. This is the first character action game I've played where I really seemed to get the appeal of the genre a lot more, so it's honestly been a breath of fresh air. There seems to be more stuff to do in the game, so maybe I'll appreciate the game even more as I do that, but for now, I really, REALLY liked this game!