Subsumed. Immersed, but not immersed in a world, immersed in a thrill. EVERYTHING IS SPRAWLING, it barely lets, up. Where games would you pause, rest, the game just ante ups. If MOP vocal bombastic energy were in a game it would become Sin and Punishment Star Successor. Its just adrenaline , and more important you contribute to it. Where other games make you feel like you on a thrill ride, your skill affects the feel of the thrill. Its that dynamism that takes the things I loved about Sin and Punishment 64 but makes it more impressive. Consider how in stage threee its the gact that parts of the death traps are propelling towards you in asidescrolling part and the only way is to shoot it in between shooting the enemies. Like You are pushing against the stage itself. In stage 3 there is a boss around movement and destroying blocks like a puzzle game in between shooting back at a giant monster. The entire boss battle is this big set piece around movement. It’s sprawling, it can be exhausting and I admit my reflexes are slow, so while I say its hard to keep track of all the bullets, it changes not the feeling that the immediacy of jumping back in to beat the boss that whooped you ? WOO. You don’t sulk in loss, its one of my fave elements. One of the things I havevn’t decided if its too exhausting.

Like in between boss losses, I am putting down the controller trying to redo sole self. In terms of my hand hurting because I AM ALL THE WAY IN. And when I say dynamism bosses FUSE AT THE END OF STAGES. The Komodo’s dragon boss with the switch?!? That’s real design, you have to damage the environment, can’t hover in the air, then get normal shooting galleries in between. I am a sucker for a hell of a set piece where you use your environment to damage your boss. Any moment of a boss that just gets more and more subbosses? Like that amazing boss births two other boss fights! It’s unrelenting pace is immaculate. This game is able to string together consistent action that the frenzy is perfect.

I think that the only thing that failed the game is me? I could only play on easy so I know that ending boss wasn’t as amazing as other set pieces because it should feel more stressed out, but I def couldn’t step up to the task. This is def a game I would replay because the best bosses are mind bending, the dual boss you faced before the main boss? It asks so much of you, so much to attend to. You can’t let up. The game is smart to only let up to give you a fun shooting gallery. You totally forget that between the bosses the normal moment rail shooting is so fucking awesome, that you wish there were just a few more . This game only lets up, to let you catch your breathe to give it your all again. This game is spectacular, if it’s end sequence only felt as special as the first, this game would be perfection

Reviewed on Dec 31, 2023


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