a nice bit of backstory for blade wolf, but the levels leave a lot to be desired (especially the platforming segment) and the controls have the same issues as sam's dlc. the dlc's end boss is at least unique, but there was a lack of variety in its attack patterns and the overabundance of health items made it feel pretty braindead by the end. it doesn't help that blade wolf's ground heavy attacks are slow, wide swipes meant for crowd control, which really messes with the flow of combos. like sam's dlc, i'd be disappointed if i had paid for it, but it's free with the steam version so. if you really like the main game and don't mind some Clunky Dog Gameplay, it might just be worth an hour of your time.

gentrified beatmania. once you get past the unskippable tutorial that treats you like you've never played a game before, the basic gameplay is inherently fun, but it's all lined with aggressive monetization and design decisions that either blatantly or subtly support that monetization. things like being able to continue a failed track with gems, having songs locked behind what is essentially a gacha system, etc. i'm not sure if this was on purpose, but the audio synchronization has a 30ms delay by default, which ????? it's all strange and is clearly intended for a more casual and less fugal audience. the catalogue of tracks is all mainstream music that has the occasional banger, so unless you're completely allergic to modern pop, it should work for whatever taste in music you have. that said, it's dumb, thumb-friendly fun. it's simplified beatmania, you can't really mess up the base gameplay that bad. i'm still on the lookout for an alternative, though.