The visual design of the game, including the animations, is above and beyond. There’s a lot of variation in the environments and settings, and the great music and renewed sound effect designs make the experience really fresh and engaging.

Usually the new powers and mechanics work out for the level designs, but there are a good few instances throughout where I came away from a level pretty underwhelmed or just didn’t really get what they were going for. I often didn’t feel really compelled to get the collectibles, which I normally do in these games, maybe largely because rather than feeling satisfying to acquire they seem like potentially more trouble than they’re worth. Which is a shame because the Wonder Seeds often had a pretty fun gimmick to them.

The final boss fight is fun but it would have been beneficial to the game overall if the boss fights were more interesting and involved like that one.