Compared to the first title, DOOM II and the extra content you get with this product are woeful miscarriages that devolve into terrible maps which are laced with enemies as if placed by a child. The super shotgun and new enemy types do not, by any means, make up for this. Just play DOOM. The only reason to buy this is if you need it to play WADs.
This title has potential, or perhaps I should say "had potential." Unfortunately, while I wouldn't advise *against* playing it, I think it has quite a problem here and there. To begin with, the writing isn't the greatest. It can feel very wrong, or arbitrary, at times. For example, pretty much immediately after receiving time powers, Crisbell breaks them. This isn't so bad by itself, and even kind of makes sense, but the dialogue before she gets them back is written as if she's been depending on them for such a long time that they've become part of her core character, despite literally only like an hour having passed in both gameplay and (likely) in-universe time. Then she gets them back just about as immediately. Thankfully, though, the writing does seem to improve (enough) as the game continues, and none of the characters are really unlikeable--except maybe one on occasion. Sadly, this does not fix how several parts of the game feel rushed or underdeveloped. At one point, you have to visit several locations to thwart a plan to... effectively nuke the surface of the planet, give or take. It's a neat premise, but the "Time Empress" waits in place for you to do it, seemingly for days, basically right by the final location on her list in a way which reeks of "we forgot about logical progression of events." That aside, the gameplay itself is nice. It's one of those RPG's that have you time button presses to do more/take less damage. If the indicator was better at conveying when you should actually press those buttons, it would have been nice. However, the real issue is that there are cases where apparent bugs (desync or otherwise) stop you from being able to do so, almost entirely, and they can lead to party-wipes during bosses. ~But it is charming, and is now on the list of games I would want to remake for the better, mostly to tidy some dialogue and sort out problems with plot holes and progression. As if that'll ever happen. Still worth playing? Yea, I think so.
I suppose the best way I could describe what's wrong with this game is that it has some optional settings which appear to make the game literally impossible to beat. If you know that, you can probably tell what kind of developers made it. It is quite difficult, and varied in its boss design. That is all well and good, but it can get to be a bit much. It is particularly offensive in hard mode. Otherwise, it's alright. You die in one hit, but so do the bosses, if you hit their weak points. The gameplay is dodge rolling, aiming, firing, and recalling your arrow. That's about all you can do, and you only have the one arrow to hit things with, although you can at least manage to hit some bosses while recalling your arrow. Some will like this game, but personally I don't hold it up as something worth experiencing.
I got this game on steam years ago (and then got the Indiebox later), and my only complaint is that they ruined the story/cutscenes in update 1.21.1. Yes; this actually matters, and was quite offensive in its reasoning. Hopefully you can still play versions 1.20.4 and prior to get the epitomal experience through file settings or such. If not... well, maybe it's in bad tastes to say so on a competing provider, but you can do so on steam. In short, this is a game in the style of classic Sonic titles, but you have combat instead of contact damage, and a health bar instead of rings. It works very well. Although Lilac seems to be the better experience of the two characters. I recommend choosing her for the initial playthrough for this reason. The music is great. It's sad the OST doesn't appear to be sold on this site. While I already have it, gog players are missing out. It's one of the only OSTs that I can really say you SHOULD buy. This title was enjoyable the whole way through for me, and to such an extent that I was left thoughtful after finishing it. The realization I was left with was simply this: most games aren't actually that fun. Seriously! Think about it. How many games do you play that actually upset you? Call it ironic, but this title was so enjoyable for me that you could argue it made me less a gamer. Sure, I like Hollow Knight and Crosscode too (and have even put more time into them), but Freedom Planet 1.20.4 is something special.
