Cuphead

If I have to be honest, the gameplay itself doesn't amaze me. While it is pretty good, it is still a rather generic jump'n'shoot boss rush game. What really makes this game amazing for me is the cartoony look and swingy music. More games should look and sound that way!

Let me start out by saying that Cuphead is a fantastic game! The controls are tight and responsive. As others have said, the control is so good that when you die it really feels like your own fault, instead of a cheap glitch in the game or sloppy coding. On the subject of control, I started playing the game with M+KB but migrated to an Xbox 360 controller (or a clone of one anyway), and enjoy playing the game much more. Playing 2P can be a curse or a blessing. The ability to be revived by a teammate is great but can be distracting for the teammate. The resilience of the enemies increases when two people are playing, but immediately scales back down if a downed teammate could not be revived. This is just plain thoughtful programming, and a nice touch! Another plus for co-op play is that it doesn't matter who collects the coins in R+G missions or in the world map, you both get the same amount of coins added to your collection. Even if one day you decide to play solo, and end up collecting 'x' amount of coins. The next time player 2 joins the game they receive the same amount of coins that you'd collected without them. I really enjoy the semi-random nature of the boss battles. I say semi-random because while there are certain scripted events that always happen in the same order, some elements of the battles (bullet spread, type of enemy encountered, etc) are random and thus cannot be memorized. This adds to both the challenge and fun factor. Animations, music (even if jazz isn't your cupa), variety, replay value, etc... are all top notch! Honestly I found myself laughing more often than not when I was defeated. Unlike some games, defeat gives you a sense that you need to reflect on what you did wrong and try again, instead of trying to find a way around a "cheap" enemy or overly challenging terrain element. Give it a try. I'm almost positive that at some point you'll need to take the quartet's advice due to the addictive nature of this game.

Brutally difficult.. played with friend we couldnt finish it + art style, nothing like it out there + great frantic jazzy soundtrack + very memorable - I would love more run and gun levels instead of some bosses - there is such thing as too difficult lol Overall 8/10

On the PLUS side: -> gorgeous Art Style and animations -> great soundtrack -> good controls and overall gameplay On the NEUTRAL side: -> gameplay not inventive or revolutionary or something -> randomness in Bosses' behavior limits necessity of memorization On the NEGATIVE side: -> randomness in Bosses' behavior can render some situations downright unfair.

Cuphead took me a little bit longer to finish than it did for a lot of folks (I clocked in at around 15 hours for my full playthrough). I didn't sit down and play it in long stretches. I did a couple of bosses at a time and then set the game down for the day. This is NOT to say that the game isn't supremely well crafted, and well deserving of longer play stretches. It is, however, a game that works your reflexes quite well, and a few encounters left me breathless and exhausted. Cuphead is (and this is no small feat) the most enjoyable "challenging" game I've ever played. The much-lauded art style is tremendous, the jazz soundtrack is perfection, and everything just feels tight and responsive as a good side scroller should feel. The challenge never felt annoying or cheap. Every hit I took was a fair hit. Also, as further encouragement, the developers include a little animation in the menu after you die that shows how close you are to the end. Little touches like these mean a lot to gamers, and I'm glad the developers went that extra mile to include them. My one criticism is that I found a few of the upgrades and specials to be somewhat wasted, while others seemed to suit the task far more often than not (the smoke bomb, for one). Still, this is a minor niggle. Excellent work from the Torontonian developers. This kind of talent makes me proud to be Canadian.