After playing for a bit (on Chapter 10 now), my take so far:
Good:
Gravity:
This mechanic is super novel. I love just "falling" everywhere, and using the same mechanic to zip around makes those time-attack speed run missions fun most of the time.
The City:
I live wandering around, just walking to places just seeing what I can find. It's like a world in itself, with little nooks and crannies just waiting to be discovered, for the sake of discovering. Plus, with the gravity gimmick, there's practically no limit to where you can go. First thing I did in the game was take a walk on the underside of the place, running on buildings, walking sideways on pipes...it's just great.
Music:
Great work, so far. Really fits the game, from what I've heard. The different town tracks really set the mood for each place, from "homely village/city" to "industrial capital". I definitely have some new favorites here and there. I can imagine why I've never really heard Tanaka's past works game-wise, seeing as the majority is concentrated in Sakura Taisen
Characters/Plot:
I like the characters, and the plot is holding me so far, despite being sort of thin in places (I'm expecting a character revelation for Kat that "reveals her true past" and "changes everything" any time now.) The comic cutscenes are awesome, and gyro gimmicry is neat for manipulating this stuff.
Neutral:
Gyro:
Useful sometimes when doing aiming in midair, along with right analog, but I didn't find it to be super helpful, mostly because I'm holding it still (like on the actual train). Gravity sliding, though...
Bad:
Camera:
Primarily, I really needs a third degree of motion, in some form. While I generally have a sense of positioning when I am in the open, sometimes the camera just doesn't want to work with me. This pops up mostly when doing gravity work in tight places. Sometimes, it'll wig out on me when I'm trying to do precision attacks. Or using another minor example, it's iffy when doing things like going up/down stairs. Yes, I like to walk to places sometimes, like a normal person
I shouldn't have to fight the camera just to walk down steps properly. Speaking of fighting...
Fighting:
Midair fighting is awkward and clunky. If you miss a kick, you go flying off in some direction, with your camera ending up in an awkward position. This really made me impatient during my fight with (Chapter 9-10 spoiler)
. The inaccuracy of that kick at times is just annoying.
The second thing, I guess, would be dodging. Maybe it's because I haven't mastered the dodge window just yet, but I find that it's real difficult to instinctively swipe and avoid something at the last second. Related to dodging is the handling of multiple enemies in a combat situation. Oftentimes, I "fall away" real far to see everything, because when you are busy kicking away at some tentacle thing on the ground, you have shots coming from all around you, with pretty much no indication of where or when they are coming. You have to rely on those last-minute swipes to get you out of harm's way, and it's just difficult to do so.
It's also annoying when you are up against someone who does a lot of those pellet shots (like the aforementioned (C9-10 spoils)
), and you have to take your mind off of attacking just to turn in a direction where you can see the shots coming, and dodge appropriately. The fighting in general needs some fine-tuning.
Gravity Slide:
I do not like this. Or rather, I don't like how it ends up going badly for me in the majority of times I try using it. Having slide paths suddenly end in dropoffs, breaking me out of my concentration of trying to keep in a straight line/going around deep curves by tilting awkwardly, that's not cool.