this fell HEAVILY in my favor upon this replay. 50-60% of the campaign/story is a miserable slog because they throw combat or flow breaking environments at you constantly.
the combat is interesting in concept but only that. using your heightened movement abilities to avoid (at least when they let you) enemies is all fun and good until you aren't sure where to go and your ass is getting lit up by groups of enemies. taking enemies head on doesn't fare much better with sluggish ass baked animations for counters and attacks alike while once again, your ass is getting lit up from across the room or rooftops. the server room at the end of the game was baffling.
elsewhere the level design is confusing. a mid-game level that sees you going mostly vertically through a construction site takes on an almost Tomb Raider-esque based puzzle platforming which clashes with the mechanics due to the precision it calls for and how slow it becomes. elsewhere you have levels like the boat where you get door after door that needs to be slowly opened followed up by even more miserable combat. <3
honestly the saving grace of this whole thing is the time trials (not the speedruns of the campaign missions, don't get it twisted). tons of fun playgrounds for you to move through without any of the baggage to slow you down. inconsistent behavior with both the springboard and midair coil moves resulted in many tanked runs but i'd take it over playing the main game, regardless.
i have barely any recollection of the sequel so i'm curious to see how a replay goes. i do recall thinking it was a massive downgrade from this but upon this playthrough this wasn't so hot either, so i guess we'll see lmao.
the combat is interesting in concept but only that. using your heightened movement abilities to avoid (at least when they let you) enemies is all fun and good until you aren't sure where to go and your ass is getting lit up by groups of enemies. taking enemies head on doesn't fare much better with sluggish ass baked animations for counters and attacks alike while once again, your ass is getting lit up from across the room or rooftops. the server room at the end of the game was baffling.
elsewhere the level design is confusing. a mid-game level that sees you going mostly vertically through a construction site takes on an almost Tomb Raider-esque based puzzle platforming which clashes with the mechanics due to the precision it calls for and how slow it becomes. elsewhere you have levels like the boat where you get door after door that needs to be slowly opened followed up by even more miserable combat. <3
honestly the saving grace of this whole thing is the time trials (not the speedruns of the campaign missions, don't get it twisted). tons of fun playgrounds for you to move through without any of the baggage to slow you down. inconsistent behavior with both the springboard and midair coil moves resulted in many tanked runs but i'd take it over playing the main game, regardless.
i have barely any recollection of the sequel so i'm curious to see how a replay goes. i do recall thinking it was a massive downgrade from this but upon this playthrough this wasn't so hot either, so i guess we'll see lmao.