Don't Stop, Girlypop!
It’s a movement shooter that a) feels kinda slow and b) constantly gets in your way.
A) You have to keep moving (jumping, dashing, grappling, etc) in order to increase your movement speed. Which is a fine loop I guess, but even when you’re going along at its fastest, it doesn’t feel that satisfying.
B) There are so many moments even early on where the game stops you and makes you watch something. For example, the first boss, you’re in the middle of flow and then the game makes you watch a cut scene of the dude just ranting. There are so many moments where the game could have overlapped the dialogue and whatnot over the action so it didn’t pause your flow. Or when you start a level and you just see text on a screen of the guy ranting… it’s not fun just to look at text. You could have just overlapped that over the beginning of the level while we’re playing.
I also just don’t think that the game feels great otherwise, though not terrible. Shooting needs to feel more meaningful. The magic wand where you toss objects at people feels weightless in a bad way. I mean, for the most part, it’s okay in this regard, but there are so many better movement shooters out there that if it wasn’t for the aesthetic/music, this wouldn’t stand out.
And that’s where I will give this game a lot of credit. It’s the reason I even checked it out. Visually, there’s a lot going on. But I appreciate the colours, graphics, and the general aesthetic. I dig the attitude, even as a 40-year-old straight man. It’s different. It’s riotgrrrl stuff. The music is a lot of fun too. Very upbeat and energetic, though it’s a shame the game prevents you from truly embracing it sometimes with the criticisms above.
I don’t love this. I don’t hate it either. But I’m disappointed. I felt annoyed a lot more than I expected.
A) You have to keep moving (jumping, dashing, grappling, etc) in order to increase your movement speed. Which is a fine loop I guess, but even when you’re going along at its fastest, it doesn’t feel that satisfying.
B) There are so many moments even early on where the game stops you and makes you watch something. For example, the first boss, you’re in the middle of flow and then the game makes you watch a cut scene of the dude just ranting. There are so many moments where the game could have overlapped the dialogue and whatnot over the action so it didn’t pause your flow. Or when you start a level and you just see text on a screen of the guy ranting… it’s not fun just to look at text. You could have just overlapped that over the beginning of the level while we’re playing.
I also just don’t think that the game feels great otherwise, though not terrible. Shooting needs to feel more meaningful. The magic wand where you toss objects at people feels weightless in a bad way. I mean, for the most part, it’s okay in this regard, but there are so many better movement shooters out there that if it wasn’t for the aesthetic/music, this wouldn’t stand out.
And that’s where I will give this game a lot of credit. It’s the reason I even checked it out. Visually, there’s a lot going on. But I appreciate the colours, graphics, and the general aesthetic. I dig the attitude, even as a 40-year-old straight man. It’s different. It’s riotgrrrl stuff. The music is a lot of fun too. Very upbeat and energetic, though it’s a shame the game prevents you from truly embracing it sometimes with the criticisms above.
I don’t love this. I don’t hate it either. But I’m disappointed. I felt annoyed a lot more than I expected.
Mini Review: The aesthetic is awesome. Great music and crazy visuals. Lots of attitude. Shooting feels clunky. For a movement shooter, it gets in your way quite a bit by interrupting what you're doing. And I don't love the central gameplay loop. I don't hate this game but I did expect more.
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