StophJS

I am not seeing what others are evidently seeing with this game. I am absolutely the target market for this game, and it is a chore. The combat and the controls overall feel awful and the exploration is pure tedium. Originally gave it a 6, but as I'm sitting here thinking about it, it deserves lower.

This is a tough one. It's a fun game. But I just played a game where you play as a bug that moves much better than this ninja. It is neither a good Metroidvania nor a good platformer, but tries to be both. It's an arcade that has worn out its welcome before the end. And frankly, it feels like it could be made by AI.

Difficulty and internal balancing are an absolute mess. I've never actively hated a gaming experience so much.

In about 30 years of gaming, this is likely the most baffled I've ever been by a games reviews from critics and users. This game looks horrendous and have some of the most retrograde design I've seen since critically panned PS2 games. The story is so boilerplate and the characters still manage to talk endlessly about it. There is nothing fun about what little gameplay there is. This is the worst game I've ever paid full price for, hands down. I can hardly believe it's even made by a professional game studio, let alone an acclaimed AAA game. I'll never make assumptions based on reviews again.

Developers made their own bed with the horrible early reaction from players. I'll be the first to say it is downright offensive the state that this game was released in. Having said that, I am honestly a little blown away by this game. I'm a gamer in my 30s, and quit more games than I finish because there just aren't that many anymore that really, really float my boat. Games in recent memory that I got truly hooked on were Elden Ring, Hollow Knight and Cuphead. I considered Fallen Order to be mediocre in many ways. This game improves on Fallen Order in every conceivable way. I have hardly a negative thing to say about it apart from the fact that performance is not great. A month later, texture pop-in, some minor screen tearing and performance drops are a fact of life. Presentation-wise, the game somewhat pales in comparison to the likes of God of War: Ragnarok. However, there are some truly visually stunning moments as well. Gameplay here is freaking awesome, and despite being a somewhat narrative heavy game, this is a game you truly play. Guardians of the Galaxy, this is not. I have played most of the game dual-wielding on Jedi Master difficulty. Grandmaster would be doable. I'm not having much difficulty. I play this game very similarly to Sekiro, with attack rebound to R1. It's a rhythmic dance of parry, attack and doge, with some telekinesis thrown in. It's consistently satisfying, despite enemies offering up no loot. Movement is fun and free feeling, hugely improved over Fallen Order. The homeworld of Koboh and the way that it opens up as the game progresses ought to satisfy any Souls or Metroidvania fan. Worldbuilding is clever with characters you encounter in the wild who will then return to a saloon which is satisfying to watch as it grows. Sense of place and player impact on the world is significant and satisfying. The map is much more useful this time around and the lack of a compass, minimap or icons keeps the sense of exploration feeling organic. Characters and voice-acting are genuinely really good here. The script is good too. Not just by videogame standards. There are emotionally affecting moments, and organically funny stuff throughout. There is a literally a character names Skoova Stev, and it's genuinely fun and not an eyeroll. I'm giving this game a 9, because I would still love to see some actual gear and a bit more player customizability in the next installment. This game is really fantastic. i hope that they can release the next one with more polish.

What to say about this game... I platinumed it yesterday after having a hard time putting it down since I picked it up. The thing that drew me to it initially was the art design and nostalgia for that era of cartoon animation. I'm a 32 year old who grew up loving early Disney classics, so the game sort of had an in with me from the get go. Beyond the aesthetics, I found a deeply challenging and sometimes deeply frustrating game. But I found it to be fair, consistent, and learnable. That tipped the scales from frustration to a need to conquer it. The game has three modes, all in 2d side scroll: run and gun, air fight, and platforming boss fight. It is essentially a game of roughly 20 boss fights of increasing difficulty (with some exceptions), that requires you to learn the ins and outs of the bosses' behaviors, and adapt. By the time I had beaten the game on normal (let alone expert), I had died or hit the retry button about 230 times. And from what I gather, that's lower than average. However, the boss fights only last about two minutes in most cases. For anyone considering this game, be advised that it will be very frustrating to many gamers. It's brutally challenging and requires quick reflexes and constant reading of loads of information on the screen. To add to the potential frustration, many of the projectiles and hazards launched at you are randomly generated. But with persistence, it is almost a certainty you will learn the general patterns of the bosses and levels, and increase your chances of succeeding. The music, sound design and visuals of this game cannot be praised highly enough. There is great care and attention to detail, and a truly memorable and varied score. However, given the hectic nature of the game, it is inherently difficult to enjoy the quality work that went into the visual aspects of the game. One of my favorite aspects of the aesthetic was the ability of the art designers to blend the pleasing and cute with the creepy. Many bosses will present you with downright creepy gestures and shifts in animation, and small audio cues to go along with them. I found this very welcome, and also true to form for animation of the era this game is intended to emulate. As far as controls, this game is perfectly playable. The controls are tight and responsive, as they must be. I would strongly advise any player to take some time at the outset of the game to map controls in a manner that makes sense to them. It's extremely important to be able to shoot, jump and dash in simultaneously or in quick succession comfortably. I settled on mapping fire to R1, Jump to X, and Dash to Circle. Movement was set to d-pad. That worked well for me. For the other functions it is not nearly as important how they are mapped, so long as you can remember them and use them on the fly. There is one peculiar function in this game that I almost never used. Others will certainly disagree. There is a "lock" function which will hold Cuphead in place, allowing you to aim at angles using the joystick or d-pad. However, it is locked to 8 directions which feels extremely prohibitive in this game. The idea of locking our hero in place to fire at a 45 or 135 degree angle never seemed enticing to me. Cuphead can always shoot up or down without this function, and that ability is crucial. Cuphead provides amazing visuals drawing from the earliest in animation, a great big band and jazz score, and extremely fun and challenging gameplay to boot. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was certainly mine and it should be for anyone who enjoys this style of game.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]