Travis Strikes Again Complete Edition:
I think a lot of your enjoyment hinges on one very important thing, how much you care about Suda51's work. There are so many things you just wouldn't know if you hadn't looked into him or already played his past games previously. There's a reference to his kinect game where you play as a baseball star who has to fend off evil carnival forces even if it was just for a single line. The way Suda weaves all of his games into this one is honestly a sight to behold. All of this would have slipped my mind if it wasn't for my friend who did know a ton about Suda, and there was still stuff that he missed that I got to find out after I played. As someone who hasn't played any Suda games before I was really brought in by the dialogue/story which is mostly done through visual novel format. They were absolutely my favorite parts of the game. They had pretty funny writing, a ton of entertaining scenes, and an interesting story to boot. Maybe it's just cause I've been playing Kingdom Hearts but the dialogue was such a breath of fresh air cause it felt like it was written by humans. This also carries over for the bosses, who are all interesting characters in their own rights and share interesting interactions with Travis. The bosses were by far the best part of the gameplay, with pretty interesting phases and actually got you thinking a little. Sadly not something I can really say about the regular gameplay, which definitely gets dragged out a bit longer then it should. You only have two attacks along with your super and they don't feel fantastic to use. Having your supers get stronger the more you use them without getting hit sounds like a pretty good idea on paper but a few enemies don't get flinched and you can't really act out of your attacks so a lot of the time you have to get hit if you wanna deal any damage. Or at the very least that's how it felt.
Not that it matters much since the game is pretty easy with 2 players, as dying doesn't really have a consequence. The only thing saving the combat are the chips (all gundam references cause why not) which are abilities that you can mix and match as you like. Definitely not a game that I could play in one sitting, though in multiple it's fine. The level settings were interesting enough until the last one where it's the same blocky location the entire way through. Even despite the middling gameplay the charm of the game absolutely won me over, as almost everything else is great. The music is really amazing, along with the sound effects, the presentation changes with each level representing different genres and styles, hell even the save spots are cool looking. The story seems really weird and only about Travis' journey through the past and how he confronts it but a little digging will show a lot more behind the scenes, like a massive government conspiracy to only name one. Similarly to how the game on the surface has a lot of random characters that appear for one textbox then disappear never to be seen again, but with a little digging you'll see how these characters have their own stories and games that they come from. This game is absolutely not for everyone, but like all of Suda's games they aren't exactly meant to be. If you have any interest in his work this game serves as a hub to explore a ton of his past properties, if you don't really care that much all you'll find is a mediocre hack and slash with some good writing here and there. For me personally the passion that the game has for past properties made me sure that I will absolutely by coming back for more Suda sooner rather than later.
7/10
I think a lot of your enjoyment hinges on one very important thing, how much you care about Suda51's work. There are so many things you just wouldn't know if you hadn't looked into him or already played his past games previously. There's a reference to his kinect game where you play as a baseball star who has to fend off evil carnival forces even if it was just for a single line. The way Suda weaves all of his games into this one is honestly a sight to behold. All of this would have slipped my mind if it wasn't for my friend who did know a ton about Suda, and there was still stuff that he missed that I got to find out after I played. As someone who hasn't played any Suda games before I was really brought in by the dialogue/story which is mostly done through visual novel format. They were absolutely my favorite parts of the game. They had pretty funny writing, a ton of entertaining scenes, and an interesting story to boot. Maybe it's just cause I've been playing Kingdom Hearts but the dialogue was such a breath of fresh air cause it felt like it was written by humans. This also carries over for the bosses, who are all interesting characters in their own rights and share interesting interactions with Travis. The bosses were by far the best part of the gameplay, with pretty interesting phases and actually got you thinking a little. Sadly not something I can really say about the regular gameplay, which definitely gets dragged out a bit longer then it should. You only have two attacks along with your super and they don't feel fantastic to use. Having your supers get stronger the more you use them without getting hit sounds like a pretty good idea on paper but a few enemies don't get flinched and you can't really act out of your attacks so a lot of the time you have to get hit if you wanna deal any damage. Or at the very least that's how it felt.
Not that it matters much since the game is pretty easy with 2 players, as dying doesn't really have a consequence. The only thing saving the combat are the chips (all gundam references cause why not) which are abilities that you can mix and match as you like. Definitely not a game that I could play in one sitting, though in multiple it's fine. The level settings were interesting enough until the last one where it's the same blocky location the entire way through. Even despite the middling gameplay the charm of the game absolutely won me over, as almost everything else is great. The music is really amazing, along with the sound effects, the presentation changes with each level representing different genres and styles, hell even the save spots are cool looking. The story seems really weird and only about Travis' journey through the past and how he confronts it but a little digging will show a lot more behind the scenes, like a massive government conspiracy to only name one. Similarly to how the game on the surface has a lot of random characters that appear for one textbox then disappear never to be seen again, but with a little digging you'll see how these characters have their own stories and games that they come from. This game is absolutely not for everyone, but like all of Suda's games they aren't exactly meant to be. If you have any interest in his work this game serves as a hub to explore a ton of his past properties, if you don't really care that much all you'll find is a mediocre hack and slash with some good writing here and there. For me personally the passion that the game has for past properties made me sure that I will absolutely by coming back for more Suda sooner rather than later.
7/10