This is a combo that works surpisingly well, though I was expecting the rhythm aspect to be a bit more fleshed out. It's also just too luck-based and random to be truly great and ditches most of its systems if you play the all zones mode, which ends up being a huge leap in difficulty (and would be a big one even if it let you keep the permanent upgrades). To me a better version of all zones mode would let me do corpse runs and/or use the diamond dealer (who sells three random items for diamonds collected in the previous run). Easy mode should've also covered all zones and let you save in-between zones. This instead of an alternate character that simply removes the rhythm aspect of the game, which I don't see the point in doing. You can either not find any of the good weapons or spells for an entire zone and not find the shop in some levels before time runs out, OR you can find an upgraded ranged weapon, a life leeching crown and a healing spell and revival potion which lets you easily make it to the boss. The former is more likely however. There's a weird bug that makes me wait 20+ seconds each time I boot up the game or it'll crash on the loading screen. Controller support is also half-assed, causing double inputs if you use joytokey and not letting you map anything to confirm/enter if you don't. On the plus side, variety is quite good, the visuals are charming and the music is excellent. I was also surprised by the great final bosses, which are creative and really intense. Most of the other bosses are kind of easy, besides king conga which is also the only one that messes around with time signatures. Do I recommend the game for the average player? I really want to, but no, I can only do so provided you are really good at both genres that it pulls from and don't mind any of the negatives I already pointed out. If you are happy with just playing (part of) the main game (one zone at a time) and looking up the rest of the story online, I would say go for it.
Pros: -Super Metroid/Aria of Sorrow/MMX-style gameplay (breakable walls, up- and downstab (can pogo jump/bounce on enemies), wall jumping, ground- and air dashing, charge attacks, fast movement) -Great art direction and animation overall -Some nice visuals effects (lighting) -Great mid-air control -Good clues for most hidden paths (some audio cues such as from the imprisoned larva kids) Mixed/ambivalent: -More open-ended and less guided than Super Metroid for example -Some one way paths in the short beginning area and later on -Save points (benches - these also restore HP (and MP as well if you collect all charms and buy the blessing)) and a few MP restoring springs - can actually save your current progress anywhere but you'll respawn at the last bench you sat on -Starts out relatively tough (harder than SM/SotN/Cave Story Cons: -Grinding (lose all money when killed and you can't quit without saving (to reload from before you died) plus the small money stashes spread around the world don't respawn - you can go back to where you died and regain some of it from defeating your ghost/shade at least, etc.) -Some control/interface issues (some item descriptions are pretty vague/sometimes confusing in shops, no map markers for the various barriers, have to find the cartographer and buy additional maps for each area before you can see where you are on the map, etc.) -Backtracking (breaking a seal makes a few paths in area 1/crossroads become blocked off, a few too many ability gated areas which you won't be able to access until mid-late game, etc) -Various trial & error/memorization segments -Dropped money from enemies and stashes spreads around a bit - breaks flow until you buy the item that pulls it towards you -Pointless destructible debris all over the place (at first you'll think that you can find money or HP in some of these) PM me for the full pros and cons.
