Let me preface this post by saying I'm not the best beat-em-up player of all time, and there's plenty more to learn in this game and plenty of room to improve my playstyle.
At my skill level, my biggest issue with the game is that combat generally unfolds like this:
- All enemies are way too easy on their own, but can unleash at least one attack which will leave you wide open for an extended time.
- Most stages involve 10+ of these enemies ganging up on you. Each of their attacks leaves you open for the rest of them to basically juggle you for most of your health.
- Each character has at least one combo or attack which does to the enemies what they can do to you. Sometimes, this is a completely otherwise worthless, low damage attack which prolongs stages by minutes at a time, but is your only really viable method of keeping from being overwhelmed.
- Combining all of these factors together, you end up performing the same attacks over and over again because they are the attacks that work. Combat then feels repetitive and like you are abusing one combo. Attempting to mix things up and keep things interesting usually results in you getting juggled for 5 minutes and having to revert back to the usual to get through the stage.
Still it's quite fun and one of my top 10 for the year, but I find it's the variety of characters and their styles that keeps things fresh for me. Individually, they each get a tad stale after a while.
Obviously a lot of this would be rectified if I was better at the game, but as someone playing at minimum efficacy, this is my experience.
