This review contains spoilers
Overall, I enjoyed this game, but it had a fair share of annoying or disappointing aspects.
Overall 7/10
Gameplay - 7/10
- very cool mechanics
- hard carries the game imo
- the big mechs suck
- they throw off the speed at which the game feels good to play forcing you to slow down and think of the best approach instead of just speedy slash and dash
- the boss fights kinda suck too
- the giant cylinder boss (the first i believe) has to be my favorite, and I still think it had issues
- hel and mara were just meh
- learn a simple pattern and repeat for 2 minutes
Visuals - 6.5/10
Fun - 3/10 - 8/10
- It really just depends on the area/level on whether it's going to be super annoying mechs vs. cool platforming and dicing through enemies at light speed
Story - 5/10
the ending is dull, abrupt, and underwhelming
- I love that Jack kills both Mara and The Architect, but it happens too fast and seems to leave a bunch of plot holes behind
- the whole tower is shut down and outside it still death
- mara's creations are still running around potentially
- It's kinda there, but it's mid
- I could see the architect twist somewhat early on, as he's caught in lies so fast and tries to distract from them
- I didn't really feel myself build a connection to the story as much as I think that they wanted
Replayability - low-mid
The game somewhat forces you to play each level twice
- Once for speed
- Once for collectibles
I think the game suffers from the collectible aspect, but still having a little leaderboard showing your time and deaths at each level. To find the collectibles you have to play slow, but that isn't exactly the intended gameplay.
I think it would much better suit the game if the collectibles were placed on alternate paths that might be harder to go through, but still progress you forwards, instead of having to constantly turn around to see if there's one behind you.
Extra
I started hard mode, but it feels like a chore with randomly placed enemies making it fairly unfun to play.
The speedrun/time trial mode is really fun.
The waves mode is alright.
Overall 7/10
Gameplay - 7/10
- very cool mechanics
- hard carries the game imo
- the big mechs suck
- they throw off the speed at which the game feels good to play forcing you to slow down and think of the best approach instead of just speedy slash and dash
- the boss fights kinda suck too
- the giant cylinder boss (the first i believe) has to be my favorite, and I still think it had issues
- hel and mara were just meh
- learn a simple pattern and repeat for 2 minutes
Visuals - 6.5/10
Fun - 3/10 - 8/10
- It really just depends on the area/level on whether it's going to be super annoying mechs vs. cool platforming and dicing through enemies at light speed
Story - 5/10
the ending is dull, abrupt, and underwhelming
- I love that Jack kills both Mara and The Architect, but it happens too fast and seems to leave a bunch of plot holes behind
- the whole tower is shut down and outside it still death
- mara's creations are still running around potentially
- It's kinda there, but it's mid
- I could see the architect twist somewhat early on, as he's caught in lies so fast and tries to distract from them
- I didn't really feel myself build a connection to the story as much as I think that they wanted
Replayability - low-mid
The game somewhat forces you to play each level twice
- Once for speed
- Once for collectibles
I think the game suffers from the collectible aspect, but still having a little leaderboard showing your time and deaths at each level. To find the collectibles you have to play slow, but that isn't exactly the intended gameplay.
I think it would much better suit the game if the collectibles were placed on alternate paths that might be harder to go through, but still progress you forwards, instead of having to constantly turn around to see if there's one behind you.
Extra
I started hard mode, but it feels like a chore with randomly placed enemies making it fairly unfun to play.
The speedrun/time trial mode is really fun.
The waves mode is alright.