After finishing the game as both characters, I wanted to write out a sort of mini-review/feedback thing to show most of my thoughts about the game now that it's fully out. It may be pretty long, but I just wanted to write down my full opinions.
[LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD]
I'm gonna try and Stray away from any major spoilers, in case anyone happens to scroll their eyes across the wrong section and get flash-banged by a spoiler.
Should also note that played the entire game in the 1.0.0 version, so if anything I mention got patched or fixed, do forgive me for that.
Overall, I really enjoyed the game so imma start out with things I really liked before getting into any criticisms.
• I really love how fundamentally different the two playable characters are, even down to the way the plot plays out drastically changing at the halfway point. It really made me want to do both playthroughs to see how different the game was (although for Hazel it lead to some issues I'll get into)
• While I can't exactly say much big praise for the Level Design, I like how it's built much like a classic sonic level is. Staying up-top is generally optimal while failing to pull off shmovement just sets you down a path that will take you longer. I say I can't praise it too much cuz I can't think of anything it does exceptionally, but since the levels are designed with multiple paths in mind, I will commend that it was executed well enough and I never encountered any frustrating levels (minus one specific exception, the final one)
• The animations are beautiful. I'm the kind of person to attack in a game just for the sake of seeing the animation even if it's just attacking the air, and this game is no exception.
• I like the use of 3D effects for certain visuals, really makes em pop
• None of the characters (the ones that aren't directly related at least lol) look too similar to one another, leading to a nice varied Rogue gallery of designs for all the bosses and main cast
Now for things that are a bit iffy, but are mostly just my personal biased opinions bleeding through:
• The music is really good, and I found a few songs sticking in my head after playing. But some of them sound a tad...too simple I guess? Something about the instrumentation feels like it's lacking something or other. Though again that's not to say any of its bad, far from it. (My favorite is the hub theme for the HQ)
• I don't know how to describe it, but a good bit of the dialogue felt blunt, and I understand the game isn't too complex story-wise, but I found myself put off by a few scenes -particularly with Hazel later in the game- in that the dialogue felt almost like a rough-draft that was there to be re-written later. Nothing that ruined my experience enjoying the story or characters, but the lack of nuance in certain scenes make them feel like characters are speaking exposition at each other rather than talking. I'm aware this is mostly just a personal opinion rather than a criticism, but I thought I'd still bring it up for honesty.
But now I should bring up my true criticisms with the game
• Starting first with the character I have the least to say about, Axel. It may just be me playing him wrong, but my entire playthrough as him I constantly wished spinning into a jump kept my spin for longer than it does. After hitting an enemy, the spin goes for far longer, so it makes the short length of the spin mid-air when not activating it IN the air slightly irritating. Especially when the only visual showing that your spin is active/has I-frames and can hurt enemies is too minor when the spin animation keeps playing for the entirety of the jump. Still allowing the spin to hit enemies for the entirety of the jump while keeping the I-frames limited to that short timespan would feel far better, if I were to suggest a way of fixing the issue I've had. Other than that I have no real issue with him by himself, and I enjoying zooming around as him during my playthrough. though his ability to I-frame and block most boss attacks leads to some issues as Hazel but I'll get to that.
• Hazel is the character I played first. I was more familiar with her type of control thanks to Gunvolt 3, so I wanted to play the character I'd adjust to the best first. That I learned was a bit of a mistake. First off, a minor complaint is that she feels...not stiff but sticky I guess? The way you have to "hold and release" the dart button to shoot them makes it feel like there's a slight input lag to firing them off. I don't know if holding down the button does anything in particular for the dart, but I'd really appreciate the option to change it to just on-buttonpress rather than on-release. It also presents the issue of being unable to quickly fire off darts. There were many points where during bosses I'd want to run away from the boss, then quickly turn around a fire a dart before turning back around. However with the way the darts work, more often than not I'd just end up firing forward rather than backward as intended. My other issue with her controls, is how whenever you perform her zip-dash thing or parry, your momentum locked in one direction and there were a good few times I'd find myself careening off a ledge cuz I couldn't change direction no matter how hard I tried particularly during the last two bosses of her campaign. (Also as a side note, I wish the zip-dash was more responsive, like canceling out certain actions with it) My final issue with her is the Karma system. It feels a little detrimental to her late-game against the games harder bosses. Against regular enemies the risk reward of the Karma mechanic works pretty well as defeating enemies heal you so taking more damage with higher Karma levels doesn't feel as damning as it is during boss fights. I do really love the idea of doing more and more damage against a boss as a glass cannon, but with the way its implemented it feels less like I'm using her zip-dash to cash in Karma and more as a panic so the boss doesn't one-shot me with an attack that has very little windup or is designed more with Axel's more generous invincibility in mind. I would love the idea of cashing in Karma with the zip-dash healing you rather than defeating enemies so it adds more reward to the risk of taking way more damage. Either that or increasing the damage of the zip-dash based on your Karma so it feels more like a punctuation to a high Karma attack spree. As right now it makes your only options in bosses to either become a glass cannon and get really good at dodging, or play extremely safely and have the boss take wayyy longer.
• The bosses definitely feel like they were designed far more for Axel, leaving Hazel to feel WAY harder in bosses after the first 3 or 4 levels. A certain red haired flying boss (not saying any names cuz spoilers) was like, the beginning of my decline in enjoying the bosses. That boss showed me that they really didn't seem really designed for playing as her. I still have no idea how you're supposed to reliably dodge their bullet-hell attack they do at half health. You're suppose to knock them out of the air to do massive damage, but I only managed to do that only a couple of times and couldn't figure out how to do it intentionally. That boss does at least have gpod telegraphing for its attacks minus its sporatic movement at times and the dash attack. The worst boss in the game as her has to be the second to last -the rematch with you-know-who- as most of their attacks in both versions minus the one where they fly in from off screen has barely any tell or windup which got really annoying with the rematch. Their attacks also have too many projectiles at once for Hazel to reliably dodge unless I'm constantly spamming the zip-dash or parrying off of contact-damage into another zip-dash over and over. Though ironically I actually don't have as much an issue with the final boss despite it seemingly having a lot of the same issues. I do feel like they should be toned down just a tad when playing as Hazel (not as Axel he's fine) but their attacks were well telegraphed and they all felt like they had a clear way to dodge them all.
Once again, I really enjoyed my time with the game. It was really worth loosely following its development for the past year or so. I just really wanted to give feedback on the full game and vent my issues as i feel like giving some input for the full product could help the game improve in future updates. I hope I didn't come off as too negative or anything, I wouldn't have written this if I didn't enjoy the game enough to want to see it get even better!
Please do also note I such at games alot and alot of my complaints could be pure skill issue and I'm not aware