This is a seriously uninspired effort. Kirkhope's score lifelessly plods along, level design barely feels like a consideration, minigames and gimmicks are poorly constructed, and a general lack of polish plagues every corner. The story and characters are such nothings, there was no drama or triumph, and as a corporate satire (I guess?) it fails to say anything meaningful.
Even something as basic as visual conveyance is dreadful. Use "Sonars Splosion" to break glass... except sometimes when you need to roll through it. Pop the balloons? "Buddy Slam" (ground pound) doesn't work. Regular attacks don't work. Explosions don't work. Oh, you need to shoot sonar at them? There were at least a dozen occasions where I had no clue why my solution wasn't working, and the answer was never satisfying.
The jokes were often amusing in isolation, but exhausting in totality, self-referential to a fault and then some. The only things I can praise are the core controls (which still had inconsistencies), the sound design for collectibles and voices, the creative character designs, and the inherent enjoyability of collectathons. That last strength kept me playing to 100%, despite my better judgement.
Even something as basic as visual conveyance is dreadful. Use "Sonars Splosion" to break glass... except sometimes when you need to roll through it. Pop the balloons? "Buddy Slam" (ground pound) doesn't work. Regular attacks don't work. Explosions don't work. Oh, you need to shoot sonar at them? There were at least a dozen occasions where I had no clue why my solution wasn't working, and the answer was never satisfying.
The jokes were often amusing in isolation, but exhausting in totality, self-referential to a fault and then some. The only things I can praise are the core controls (which still had inconsistencies), the sound design for collectibles and voices, the creative character designs, and the inherent enjoyability of collectathons. That last strength kept me playing to 100%, despite my better judgement.