Finally playing this because there's word that its online services will go away on the 19th, although no one knows that that means and it hopefully won't affect the PC version, since it's not published by EA (anymore).
Anyway, it's real fun! Just a solid Commando-like grounded bullet hell-lite. I only played the Prologue, which is longer than the name suggests with 5 stages. I like the enemy army design with their steampunky gliders and balloon mines and flamethrower grunts and rocket towers that wind up out of the earth. The stages are a smooth continuity of set pieces; you're moving through your home base after completing training as it falls under attack and then crossing landscapes to take the fight to the enemy. I was very impressed by the sounds of tank and troop movement and explosions all around me. I also like how much impact permanent weapon upgrades have; you definitely feel a difference in their power, but they also have improved visuals. The grenade in particular seems great, changing from just a basic grenade that you can toss anywhere (which can be very useful when the terrain makes it difficult to approach multiple enemies safely) to some kind of multi-missile strike.
On the complaints side, sometimes it can be hard to tell which way you're supposed to move next until you start headed in the right direction, and other times the camera (or, rather, the hard frame of the screen that has moved with you along a set track) can get into a position that prevents you from avoiding damage--although that's player fault to some extent since you should be planning for it (this really only happened to me early on). Fire attacks can also be indistinct and frustrating to dodge. That's it, really.
I'm curious to see tomorrow what things are like in Chapter 1 because the Prologue ends on a pretty dramatic change. I mean, the storytelling is as basic as it gets aside from the action around you that provides context for the stages, but the status quo has certainly changed and I expect to be fighting entirely different enemies from now on. Wouldn't it be something if each of the 5 chapters had such a big difference?
