A bit of a mixed bag. The gameplay is very sold, feels like a more polished version of the gameplay from the first 2 games outside of some changes I'm not a fan of the much I.E. the smaller weapon limit. It has that RAGE engine heaviness but it doesn't feel as animation bound as most other Rockstar games from the HD era onwards. you can definitely tell there were a lot of people at Rockstar that were happy they could finally get to make a linear game and not an open world one, there are a lot of good set pieces.

The writing I'm not really a fan of though, feels very "Rockstar game" and doesn't really have the charm of the first two games. It's mostly carried by James McCaffrey's performance.

Really solid 2D action platformer. Definitely think it's pretty impressive that they implemented 7 different characters that don't really feel like they overlap too much in their abilities and still manage to have their niches when you can switch between them all at will.

Played through the 1st, 2nd and Final episodes back to back without really much fatigue of going through the same levels, each one has enough alternate pathways only certain characters can access so each time going through them felt different to the first.

Enjoyed it a fair bit. Comparing it to Ico I think it has some areas where it does better and some where it fairs worse. Better in that I think it does do a better job selling the bond between the boy and Trico with him being integral to traversal and most puzzles, but it comes with the downside of you feeling like you have to wait on Trico to do something a lot of the time.

Whereas in Ico if you needed Yorda somewhere you could just quickly lead her there. also found the constant control pop ups annoying since it kind of defeats the purpose of the lack of UI, as far as I could tell there was no way to shut them off and I still kept seeing them right up til the end of the game.

Pretty cool shmup with a pretty sick artstyle. Game has a really in depth tutorial so it's a pretty decent entry point in the genre and the original modes that let you upgrade your ship with more powerful weapons you grab through the stages add a bit more longevity than just going through the arcade mode.

The chronicle mode is pretty cool but can get a little tedious after a while as it has a lot of stages and it can take a while to get to where you last were. The games levelling can also make the difficulty feel uneven as it gives you a pretty big powerup that can make a portion of the game feel easier as the game ramps back up to match the new power level of your ship.