Captain Commando
Mechanically I vibe with every niche thing this game does. It's a really cool idea to make throws into a defensive option by giving it a ton of invincibility frames and also using it for crowd control. It's also neat how it does varying forms of aerial attacks with different utility. Doing the aerial knee is so satisfying as an offensive option given that it requires specific positioning and has this cool niche and keeping enemies standing so you can follow up with a combo, but it's also a thing where it's not one-dimensional since it has low range and there's various scenarios where you need to knock people down with a kick. Also like that doing a jab infinite is just not possible here due to hitlag so this creates less checkmate scenarios when dealing with multiple enemies.
Speaking of this is very good at managing to have a lot of enemies on screen but also being thoughtful on the purpose they serve for the encounter. All the enemies have a unique niche and they'll do things such as coordinate special attacks and cover ground for each other. I like the deliberate choices on what enemies to spawn during boss fights too, like the chubby enemies who spew fire and charge at you add such a great layer to certain boss fights and encounters in that it forces you to be considerate spacing and distance.
However, one thing that DOES grate me is the boss design. A lot of them have 1 frame jabs that has more range then your attacks that they'll do on reaction to your jump ins and it gets even more stupid on the final boss who can do this while moving, can't be hit stunned or even damaged in certain states, and has a fuck ton projectile that forces you to use the super move to iframe through it. I'm not one to say a boss is bad for being hard but it ceases to be fun when the fight lacks cohesion to how you're supposed to play against it and reduces your play options to just cheesy hit and run tactics. Not all bosses are bad though, the Aquarium boss is cool for how they cover ground with the needles and there's a lot of cool interactions with that, especially with how they threaten you with throws.
I guess another thing is that later stages feel a bit less inspired with how they lay out enemies. A lot of it feels like they're just mish mashing enemies from all the stages and they don't really feed into each other in the way they do in say the ninja or bank robbery level.
Most of the bosses I didn't like but given that the majority of the game is you know being in a ton of cool enemy encounters made this mostly enjoyable to play. I think it's a lot more novel in how its mechanics work than people give it for and I largely respect it for that reason.
Speaking of this is very good at managing to have a lot of enemies on screen but also being thoughtful on the purpose they serve for the encounter. All the enemies have a unique niche and they'll do things such as coordinate special attacks and cover ground for each other. I like the deliberate choices on what enemies to spawn during boss fights too, like the chubby enemies who spew fire and charge at you add such a great layer to certain boss fights and encounters in that it forces you to be considerate spacing and distance.
However, one thing that DOES grate me is the boss design. A lot of them have 1 frame jabs that has more range then your attacks that they'll do on reaction to your jump ins and it gets even more stupid on the final boss who can do this while moving, can't be hit stunned or even damaged in certain states, and has a fuck ton projectile that forces you to use the super move to iframe through it. I'm not one to say a boss is bad for being hard but it ceases to be fun when the fight lacks cohesion to how you're supposed to play against it and reduces your play options to just cheesy hit and run tactics. Not all bosses are bad though, the Aquarium boss is cool for how they cover ground with the needles and there's a lot of cool interactions with that, especially with how they threaten you with throws.
I guess another thing is that later stages feel a bit less inspired with how they lay out enemies. A lot of it feels like they're just mish mashing enemies from all the stages and they don't really feed into each other in the way they do in say the ninja or bank robbery level.
Most of the bosses I didn't like but given that the majority of the game is you know being in a ton of cool enemy encounters made this mostly enjoyable to play. I think it's a lot more novel in how its mechanics work than people give it for and I largely respect it for that reason.
Mini Review: Mechanically I vibe with every niche thing this game does. It's a really cool idea to make throws into a defensive option by giving it a ton of invincibility frames and also using it for crowd control. It's also neat how it does varying forms of aerial attacks with different utility. Doing the aerial knee is so satisfying as an offensive option given that it requires specific positioning and has this cool niche and keeping enemies standing so...
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