+great character designs by Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow. Kosuke Fujishima of Oh My Goddess worked on this one as well
+cinematics hold up well, this is one of the first games I can think of that made the link between cel shading and anime designs that we commonly see today
+interesting pseudo-tank controls that emphasize careful approaches
+lots of movement options including jumping, running, dash evasion, and quick 180 turnarounds
+mowing down enemies is a blast, and taking out enemies in close combat by sweeping them with your own coffin also rules
+halo-esque regenerating shield system was a good choice considering the chaos during battles
+continue system is forgiving by giving you more "demolition shots" (super attacks) to use on every death
+some very solid boss design in the second half of the game
-level design is bland. it's a lot of walking forward and mashing square, with little enemy variety until the endgame
-certain mechanics are unresponsive, including the quickturns and lock-on system that are essential in most boss fights
-early game bosses are pushovers, some of which can be killed by a single demo shot
-there's no handgun variety through the game. supposedly you can unlock more demo shots but I never saw these while playing (perhaps I am just bad...)
-apparently there's a fatality system too during the boss fights? again, the game is very opaque about this so I was never made aware that this was a possibility
-the plot is pretty hard to follow, though I don't mind this as much because it's unobtrusive and well-animated
-rather short, at under 2 hours long. this may be for the best considering the lackluster stage design
-a certain boss at the beginning of the final level has a desparation attack where he hides from you while healing himself. not a great mechanic in a game with such limited mobility
I had fun playing this in 30 minute spurts here and there, and this would probably be very easy to binge in its entirety as well. it's a very unique third-person shooter, and what it lacks in content is makes up for in style and sheer fun
+cinematics hold up well, this is one of the first games I can think of that made the link between cel shading and anime designs that we commonly see today
+interesting pseudo-tank controls that emphasize careful approaches
+lots of movement options including jumping, running, dash evasion, and quick 180 turnarounds
+mowing down enemies is a blast, and taking out enemies in close combat by sweeping them with your own coffin also rules
+halo-esque regenerating shield system was a good choice considering the chaos during battles
+continue system is forgiving by giving you more "demolition shots" (super attacks) to use on every death
+some very solid boss design in the second half of the game
-level design is bland. it's a lot of walking forward and mashing square, with little enemy variety until the endgame
-certain mechanics are unresponsive, including the quickturns and lock-on system that are essential in most boss fights
-early game bosses are pushovers, some of which can be killed by a single demo shot
-there's no handgun variety through the game. supposedly you can unlock more demo shots but I never saw these while playing (perhaps I am just bad...)
-apparently there's a fatality system too during the boss fights? again, the game is very opaque about this so I was never made aware that this was a possibility
-the plot is pretty hard to follow, though I don't mind this as much because it's unobtrusive and well-animated
-rather short, at under 2 hours long. this may be for the best considering the lackluster stage design
-a certain boss at the beginning of the final level has a desparation attack where he hides from you while healing himself. not a great mechanic in a game with such limited mobility
I had fun playing this in 30 minute spurts here and there, and this would probably be very easy to binge in its entirety as well. it's a very unique third-person shooter, and what it lacks in content is makes up for in style and sheer fun