Very mixed feelings on this. It had some real moments of brilliance and I can see how if you put the time in you could have some real fun stampeding through the levels in one combo. The levels felt well designed but very samey, very quickly blending together. I can't criticise the story or art design too much; a bit plain and not my cup of tea but not enough to put me off. Overall I would say I "liked" it... although I'm comparing that to my partner who bought the game Day 1 based on the trailer and rage quit after the second world.

I have two main gripes. One is that it's very finnicky and a tad glitchy. I died more times than I can count because of awkward camera angles, depth perceptability issues, glitching through walls, or trying to throw my yoyo at something that's just out of reach.

The other is that the game feels like it doesn't want you to be good at it unless you're already experienced with this specific type of platformer. It explains what the buttons do, but doesn't teach you how to combine the actions in the way the levels demand. I'd have really appreciated a sandbox level to learn things in, or even better specific levels geared around different techniques akin to Mario Wonder's badge stages. Just something to say "hey this is how we're expecting you to play" to avoid levels becoming a total slog.

I'd also have liked to see the game focus more on the feeling of momentum, rather than tempering it with the collectathon side of things. Jumping around to collect things can be really hard and really slow if you're not confident in the controls. I think a more focused game could have been a lot more satisfying, and made it a lot more obvious how it's meant to be played.

Worth a look if you're super into this kind of thing, but probably not one for the casual player.

What a game! The gameplay was quite shallow, but it's testament to the story and its telling that despite the repetitiveness I was fully on board for the entire main game and the two special features. I had very little idea of what to expect going in (despite having played the first few hours of the original years ago) so every twist came as a welcome surprise, and the set pieces were often spectacular.

As much as I loved it, I feel like I cant go above 4 stars because of the general clunkyness and repetitiveness. There are only a few weapons to choose from but it means you know them well, and there was a lot of great tension to drawn from having to weaken enemies before damaging them. The driving and occasional platforming bits were questionable. Every so often I'd smash my car into a tree or step off a ledge accidentally.

Comparing the remaster to the original, I'd say it's a definite improvement but not worth buying if you already have the original. Probably the biggest positive over the original is the removal of product placement, while on the downside there were some odd frame drops during cutscenes.

A fantastic and polished puzzler but not without its frustrations. Definitely appreciated it but won't be going for 100%. Most levels posed a reasonable challenge, but I really struggled with some of them to the point of just looking it up, especially the ones in War and their ilk. Also hated how often I had to restart a level because I pressed the wrong button and did things like send a goldy over the edge. Also would have liked time after finishing the level to tidy up goldys. In the last level I had them following me while I set up the final turn commands and before I knew it the level was over and they weren't moving towards the exit :(