Yeah the power up weapons are much better. I just recently played through Shattered Solider with a friend, and we had fun...But the game was sort of ridiculous.
I was thinking the same thing. It almost looks like the old DeathBlow style he was messing around with. You know someone has talent when people can recognize his artwork like that. I'm guessing Konami hired him to come up with the new character designs. It would be really cool if you could unlock some of his artwork in the game.
With the perspective change, I really wish they would implement a control scheme like Smash TV's with one analog stick controlling movement, the other controlling your fire, and one of the shoulder buttons used to jump.
So what the hell? You fight a huge pussy with legs in this game? I really hate this perspective too, and yes if they don't have power-ups then the guys at Konami need a shot it the head. Why remove things that make the game great? I don't get it.
This game looks very sharp. Crisp clean visuals that really put the PS2 to good use. And the wonderfully designed enemies look rock-solid. I love the look so far. I hope the gameplay can stand up to it.