im an ATB enjoyer so this games combat was very cool, pseudo turn based rpg but u can move around

the modding shit is so good, stuck with the sg550 and cm protector ever since i got them and didnt wanna switch off, thankfully this game lets u put cool bonuses from other equipment onto equipment you like to use more.
2x RoF double command quickdraw sg550 and autoheal hp up stiff resist cm protector both pumped with 12093823 boosts makes for fun times

final stretch of the game was hype af and boosted my rating by 0.5 star

as a big sly fan since childhood i think this is the most disappointing game ever for me, but even so it still has a few positives

the presentation (i especially love the health bars in this game so much and the animations, both cutscenes and actual ingame animations) and content (buncha collectibles) are at their highest in this game, but then on the other hand the jobs are pretty boring, theres a fuckton of hacking minigames for some reason and the upgrades other than the few classics like paraglide and silent obliteration are so whatever, not to mention the gameplay wasnt as snappy as the other 3 games, everything is so floaty and awful to control, you just slip off of things constantly in a stealth platformer like wtf, how do you go and make a sly game then make it laggy, floaty and with annoying input delay.

since the gimmick is time travel the worlds are pretty diverse and interesting, i really liked the selection they went with, but then the level design is forgettable and nothing to write home about which is such a shame

the cooper ancestors are very colorful and endearing characters (tennessee kid my beloved) but then my biggest gripe comes in, the way they wrote the old characters was a huge step backwards, the development that theyve built for 3 games was just gone for almost every single returning character (dimitri was still good old dimitri). also playing the ancestors feels worse than playing sly because his upgrades dont transfer over to them.

all in all this game is still worth checking out if u like sly imo, you can tell the devs REALLY tried making a good game and not a cashgrab, but dont go in with the highest of hopes. (edit: forgot to mention this game has one of the worst final boss fights in maybe all of gaming)

this is one of the games ive always been the most disappointed that it sucked, my favourite KH story, good characters, amazing ost, good choice of disney worlds. the problem is that the gameplay fucking sucks, janky floaty mess where on crit mode every enemy is a damage sponge. many commands and formchanges just leave you vulnerable when you do them too.

but then i discovered this https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomheartsbirthbysleepfinalmix/mods/31

these tweaks have actually made the game so much more enjoyable and playable its crazy, changed the flow of using commands and formchanges and even basic combos and on critical mode you get more damage so youre not fighting a boss for 20 minutes. this was my first time playing this game in over 10 years and i still teared up at some moments. amazing nostalgic trip.

i recommend that any kh fans who liked things about this game but hated actually playing it to get this mod and try it out again.

(and get this mod too https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomheartsbirthbysleepfinalmix/mods/15)