I think this should have gone back to the top down style of 1 &2, because as is this is a very compromised experience. It has a lot of cool ideas, like multiple playable characters and the recruitment system, but they're all done poorly and bog down the game. Environments are tiny, but enemies sight range hasn't been changed so you'll find yourself getting spotted by a dude on the entire other side of the map and theres not a whole lot you can do about it. The story is boring and I'm not a fan of the random inclusion of the 3 codec crew.
It's ok. The constant references are cool, and the base platforming is rock solid, but the gimmicks (especially the monkey part) can get annoying. Its also incredibly short, running at only about 2 hours. Obviously this isn't a huge problem since you're not paying anything to get it, but don't expect it to keep you interested much longer than how long it'll take for a bigger and better game to download and install.
It's a Kaga game alright! The story and characters are interesting, the gameplay is more limited than contemporary Fire Emblems, and theres dumb BS in places. However Kaga has gained some leniency in his years, so it's not nearly as absurd as something like Thracia 776 and there are a lot of little QOL improvements. As someone who has nightmares of trying to prepare for Thracia's final battle, the ability to easily swap unit's map positions is a godsend. You can save every 5 turns for free, which gives battles an interesting natural ebb and flow as you take riskier actions soon after the 5th turn and slowly reduce the riskiness until you get to save again. Villagers are no longer useless, and usually tell you about any obtuse solutions Kaga has cooked up. The Unit Roster tells you all units that you can talk with, including enemies which helps with recruitment. There are still some Kaga moments though, like invisible enemies that can sextuple you and ignore defense, or Sigfried/Hilda/Lianka's recruitment, but theres nothing anywhere close to the level of Tearring's Ballistae or Thracia's fog of war/sleep staves/everything. A fun little game for only 20$.
If you're expecting something conventionally fun, you wont find anything of the sort here. The controls are bad and the gameplay is boring. It has a chill vibe, but that can get counteracted by the frustration often involved with the controls. Its price is low enough and its short enough that if you think theres a chance you'll like it you should take a shot at it, but I didn't enjoy it at all.
Legit the only bad Metroidvania I've ever played. The jump is way too high and way too floaty with no way to short hop which leads to a lot of times accidentally jumping on a platform you don't want to be on when fighting enemies, a bunch of otherwise easy enemies that take way way too many bullets to kill, the ship controls are garbage, super linear for a "Metroidvania",gun **** and isn't fun to use, the sub constantly sinking makes fighting in it annoying, secrets hidden behind illusory walls. Its just a **** game. If you want a good cheap Metroidvania on Switch play Spooky Ghost Dot Com, or if you're willing to spend a bit more then try Hollow Knight, the greatest Metroidvania ever created. But under no circumstances should you get this one.
Is it bad? Yeah, its really bad. However its bad in the same way that The Room is bad, where there are so many obvious flaws and weird decisions behind it that it loops around to being enjoyable again. If you go in expecting a great Devil May Cry game you're going to be massively disappointed, but if you go in not intending to take it serious at all its great fun. Its short length and very easy gameplay help it go down smoothly and prevent any of the oddities from grinding you too hardly. 4/10 as a game, but 8/10 as an experience.
Has a couple of glaring issues like horrific draw distance, short length (it took me about 2 hours to beat with multiple game overs), the story feeling like an abridged version of something much bigger, and level 6 being very bad, but you know what? It looks gorgeous and its pretty damn fun, and thats really all I was hoping to get out of it when I started it. I wouldn't suggest you go out and spend 60$ on it or something, but its a nice game to emulate if you just want something to blow through in an afternoon.
It was really fun! I took a chance on it for 2.50 since it reminded me of Cave Story and I wasnt disappointed. The controls were tight, the bosses were fun and the areas were interesting. The difficulty is high, but never to the point of frustration. Runbacks are quick due to a lack of load times and a compact map. It's a very competent Metroidvania, which is honestly all you can ask for for only 2.50. However its not all great. The gun is slow firing, weak, and has basically no range. Worst of all, there's no way to upgrade any of those characteristics. It's also short, even for a Metroidvania, clocking in at only 2 hours for my first playthrough. Its a fun 2 hours, but if you're looking for something as beefy as Hollow Knight you're definitely not going to find it here. All in all however these problems are relatively minor, and I wholeheartedly recommend this game.
I adore Sonic. As a series all of the 2d titles are among my top 50 favorite games ever. Sonic 3 and Knuckles was my favorite platformer of all time. Until this came out. Holy cow where do I start. The music is incredible, the levels are impeccably designed, the time trial mode adds hundreds of hours of replayability to the game, and its just fun. Even the worst levels are still fun to play, which isnt something i could say about any other sonic
