Incredibly overhyped.
It’s an improvement over Sonic 1, but not really by that much outside of technical improvements like graphics and music. It’s still a baseline level of fun that’s constantly interrupted by frustrating bullshit because you can’t see more than 2 feet ahead of Sonic. You either go fast and get hit by an enemy or fall into a pit that you couldn’t have possibly reacted to, or crawl through levels just in case you’re about to walk into a death trap. I get that these games are meant to be replayed and mastered, but I think a game should be fun overall throughout the first playthrough, and this game design is just too frequently unfair to be considered that.

A lot of this game is just harder for the sake of being harder, forcing memorization rather than skill. The special stages past maybe the first two are basically impossible unless you grind them over and over again (which is not possible due to the method you access them), and the death egg zone is maybe one of the most punishing final stages in any game for little to no reason, two bosses that both are incredibly fast and require understanding of patterns and memorization to beat, and you don’t get to make a single mistake. If you run out of lives, time to play the whole game again. There’s a reason games nowadays allow you to try a challenge over and over again, because being forced to go back and repeat what you’ve already done isn’t difficult, it’s just tedious.

A lot of this game is just tedious, which is unfortunate, because the gameplay is somewhat fun, but it’s like the game designers don’t want you to have fun, and constantly make levels exhausting to go through. It’s slightly more fun for the most part than Sonic 1, but it’s way harder for little to no reason.

Short and sweet, although the length seems due to the combat, while very fun and rewarding, not having much depth to it. This feels almost like a prototype for this kind of combat, as it's pretty enjoyable, but everything else lacks meat on its bones.

There's little combat customization, the skill tree appears to be the solution but it's so small and the changes aren't drastic enough to warrant being called customization.

The story definitely existed, and while I enjoyed the moment-to-moment story beats of helping the siblings and overcoming their fears, the overarching narrative was vague and uninteresting.

The boss fights are where the game shines, very much akin to soulslike-designs, although much more forgiving. Predicting their patterns and parrying their hits is satisfying, and the addition of the trials mode makes mastering those fights a lot of fun. The challenge mode was a little too much for me, those purple attacks that must be dodged just throw me off too much, but I'm glad its an option for those that want even more out of the game. But again, because of the lack of combat depth, it's just about mastering the very simple system, rather than experimentation, which is somewhat disappointing.

It is a gorgeous game, the usage of color is great and I especially liked the illusory garden area. I also appreciate the spectacle of the fights mixed with this art style, it's exactly what I love about flashy action.

Overall, a good core gameplay loop, but needed way more depth in other areas to be really great.

As a newcomer to the series, I really tried to enjoy this game. But it seems that you need an intricate understanding of this game to even have fun playing it. I found myself so consistently frustrated by the unresponsive, rough controls, the lack of any clarification on systems, enemy weaknesses or resistances, or even just what was going on 90% of the time.

I played this game for at least 6 hours and could not tell you a damn thing about the story other than what’s shown in the opening cutscene. Everyone praises the aesthetic, and sure, it is a good looking game with a pretty engaging setting. But this comes with the cost of never explaining anything that’s going on, with cutscenes exclusively being used for bosses to gush about how unbelievably strong Dante is.

The gameplay just doesn’t feel good, Dante is sluggish and his moves often lock onto enemies completely out of your control. Bosses are what showcase why this game is so frustrating; Dante has few, if any, defensive options, leading you to be forced to get up close and personal with enemies. This works for normal encounters, as it becomes about beating them to the punch. This does not work for bosses who don’t stagger, being aggressive with them isn’t an option as they’ll just eat it and then blast you to smithereens. And playing defensively doesn’t work because Dante is just so damn frustrating to control.

I put this game down once I hit the roadblock of Nightmare 1, and it really disappointed me because I had heard so much positive word of mouth about this series, including this game. But when I am consistently getting my ass handed to me with no clear way of improving, the game leaving me high and dry in terms of ANY information, and having to look up guides for every single boss in the game, I just can’t keep slogging through this mess. For the masochists that have studied and honed their skills at this game, I’m glad that they can appreciate it and have fun with the game still. But the fact is, this game is incredibly dated and only remembered fondly because of people who grew up with it, and were essentially stuck with it. I’m hoping to god I enjoy 3-5 more, as this is not a good first impression whatsoever.

If you could only play one game for the rest of your life, this is a very wise choice.

ARR constantly weaves in the main story with tedious sub-plots before it gets back on track, which gets very annoying, but you don’t really need to pay attention and the last third of the story is paced much better.

Might’ve liked it less if this wasn’t my first MMO, but as an introduction to the genre and with its INSANELY ADDICTING gameplay, it more than made up for the bulk of its meandering quests, and the important questlines have the great set pieces and presentation that I expect from square enix.

Overall, I can’t wait to continue this journey.

An incredibly fun, beautifully brutal hack n slash
The art style is wonderful and really sells the tone of the game, which is over the top and violent, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. The dark comedy very effectively retains that tone, best illustrated through the announcers, who make sure to always add a grain of salt to whatever’s going on. The action is actually enhanced by the Wii’s motion controls, in a way that it’d be less fun without them. Overall super satisfying gameplay, fun story, and bangin’ music.