Sifu is a game about overcoming adversity and bettering yourself in the process; I just wish it did a better job at helping you get there.
My enjoyment came in waves, from thinking it's the best thing ever into something totally bullshit and finally settling on really good wiht room for improvement.
The combat is an evolution of the Batman's Creed formula, with much more freedom (eventually) but much more punishing. Enemies have no qualms ganging up on you to make you mess up all your parries. Some of them attack with difficult patterns that you really have to learn; there's no "slow down time to react" here.
The hook to failure in Sifu is that when you "die" you get right back up, but you're a little older. Eventually you're too old and you die for real.
The problem is that failure is a distant fantasy until it's right up in your face. Fighting goons is usually a magic time, but once things start to go wrong the damage comes in so FAST that it's difficult to readjust before you die.
So chances are you'll need to play stuff over and over, which is fine if you enjoy it as much as I do.
Eventually you'll permanently unlock enough skills to allow you to deal with anything and really make that combat shine.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
It really needs a better training mode.
Sometimes the camera is dreadful and will get you dead quick.
The tutorial is bad, doesn't tell you about a few basic (and necessary) features and is bad at telling you the "why" behind the different strategies.
The bosses mostly blow.
The music is good, but I didn't find it ramp up enough for any of the big fights.
Closing:
Once I'd finished the game (and there is a "true" ending) I dind't have much to do except start over or do it again better, but the combat is so fun I really hope they add some sort of random challenge mode or Bloody Palace type deal.
My enjoyment came in waves, from thinking it's the best thing ever into something totally bullshit and finally settling on really good wiht room for improvement.
The combat is an evolution of the Batman's Creed formula, with much more freedom (eventually) but much more punishing. Enemies have no qualms ganging up on you to make you mess up all your parries. Some of them attack with difficult patterns that you really have to learn; there's no "slow down time to react" here.
The hook to failure in Sifu is that when you "die" you get right back up, but you're a little older. Eventually you're too old and you die for real.
The problem is that failure is a distant fantasy until it's right up in your face. Fighting goons is usually a magic time, but once things start to go wrong the damage comes in so FAST that it's difficult to readjust before you die.
So chances are you'll need to play stuff over and over, which is fine if you enjoy it as much as I do.
Eventually you'll permanently unlock enough skills to allow you to deal with anything and really make that combat shine.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
It really needs a better training mode.
Sometimes the camera is dreadful and will get you dead quick.
The tutorial is bad, doesn't tell you about a few basic (and necessary) features and is bad at telling you the "why" behind the different strategies.
The bosses mostly blow.
The music is good, but I didn't find it ramp up enough for any of the big fights.
Closing:
Once I'd finished the game (and there is a "true" ending) I dind't have much to do except start over or do it again better, but the combat is so fun I really hope they add some sort of random challenge mode or Bloody Palace type deal.