This is a great platforming game, imagine what if wario land 4 and sonic had a baby. That`s Pizza tower. You have all the moves from the start. three-grade dash, wall run, wall jump, grab&throw, shine spark... you name it. In addition, All stage have each gimmick moves, but nothing is annoying. And the escape sequence is a fantastic idea (from wario world 4), and this idea was executed very well.

It is that good ... except for the final battle. Each "stage boss battle" is not bad imo, Because usually this is just a nice pace breaker. But when it comes to the final battle, You would not use your crazy fast move. You will just wait and catch again and again and again. That`s the minus half star for me. Anything else?

It`s delicious.

Surprisingly, as an explorary action game(a.k.a metroidvenia), This game is not that good. Because exploration is quiet limitted, most of abilities are acquired in linear style. Does it mean that this game is bad? No, Not at all. This is a great puzzle-platforming game imo.

First of all, you already have slide, wall jump, dash in the first place. It is quiet satisfying to control Saragon, the protagonist, but also you can feel that early levels are already dangerous. As you get abilities in a certain order, you will be more agile so tailor-made levels are wating for you. It is hard to pull tricks out but it is very satisfying to do that. There is no rewinding time ability, but "time shadow" ability makes the stages of this game quiet unique, Also other abilities are very helpful in combat because of its utility.

I have to emphasize "the puzzle" part, too. This game is not just about knowing timing and execution(That kind of puzzle is also in this game though). But you have to actually read and watch and think about solutions, and use your ability to achieve it.

Combat is quiet fun, due to Saragon`s move has many potential. But it is not that engaging because enemies are not that fearful. It is mostly one or two in screen, maybe four at maximum. But Saragon is already very powerful, and with many amulets(a kind of perks) it is quiet easy to slay enemies.

Progression is, well, not that good. Your ability is usually handed over in a certain order, so you will not get a big change for exploraring out of "main way". Some upgrade currencies and amulets are there, but they are not a big game changer.

BUT, you will do extra explorar and extra challenge. Because it is intersting, tailor-made, satisfying obstacles.

Maybe it was a great game back then, but not anymore. I mean, It is still good, yet there are System shock2, F.E.A.R, Dead space nowdays. We`ve seen this industrial space environment with body horror and creatures so much.

P.S. I beat the female spider boss, got a plasma gun met lost souls and shutdown the reactor in Doom3.

Then I uninstalled it.

For foreigners, It is not so suprising that this game, which is made by former battle field team, is good or Okay at least. But to koreans it is very rare experience. A well-made non-p2w game? Published by Nexon? Maybe the turning point has come, our time to thrive.

Anyway, About an actual game, This game is a very chaotic arcade-y FPS game, and of course includes big destructions. Nothing is specialized, Guns are not that various like arena shooters, Damages are not that heavy like tactical shoooters, Classes have their characters but not that extreme.

But that makes the combat experience chaotic. All materials are there, so you will switch your tactics and attitudes toward situations, which means that making split-second decisions again and again. Usual matches are invovled around 3~4 teams, so all can become predators or preys anytime. Even you can wait, so others make themselve weaker for your sake.

Also, its level design is very good, so solid. Especially, About jump pad and zip-linese. This game`s charcter may not move like arena shooters`s one, but You can use many environmental hazards and travers tools so you don`t have to worry about to.

This game is a retro-style 3D platformer in its heart. It is also an exploration action game(a.k.a metroidvania), but the exploration is quiet exciting because "keys" are usually palced on a tricky seciton.

The "abilities(from your player character)" and "skill(from you)" are very different. You have to learn how to utilize your ability after getting it. so you can overcome some obstacles by "skill", not by "abillity". It would be an another wet dream for speed runners. Though It can make you self-lock somtimes.

Wandering around itself is good too, in a natural way. It dose not do things like "Yo, This is another block that you can`t access. Come back later" things. But thing is, I don`t prefer metroidvania structure. t would be better more linear structure, with progression system giving you abilities step by step. Or making it as a hub world, just like Mario 64.

For example, I was stuck in one platforming area, but I can`t tell whether This is my skill issue or lack of an essencial ability. Do I have to get other ability first? or Do I have to go through again and again? So, I have to check youtube playthrough(Sadly, It was my skill issue). I don`t wanna check those objects outside of the game.

One more, I warn you, Prepare a Pen and Paper for mapping. You don`t have to draw all the things grid by grid(and that wouldn`t be impossible). But, Don`t be like me. There is a major 5 keys for the last moment, and I had 4 keys. And my gamer instinction tells "Haha, I know where the last one would be. THE ALL THINGS BEGIN, STARTING PART OF THE MAP." As you assume, It was not the case. And because I have too many abilities to ignore intended path, I can not figure out how to get out of starting part, lol. So, Just make a little rough map. For god`s sake, I did 16hours for beating this game and I assume that 6 hours were spended for finding the right path.