Checking back in, I'm 98% done the game, at the very end, but I won't be finishing it(I'll get to that shortly).
It definitely improves since my last impressions, though it takes a while. The checkpoint system is still bad and requires you to use items to fast travel to save points that refill your healing. But those are only 100 currency each, so they're cheap. Still annoying, but not as bad as I initially thought. And the game is not very difficult. I don't think I died to a boss a single time. But overall I still think it is very mediocre. It's better than I thought though. The biggest issue though are the controls. They absolutely suck. Especially when you play as Pacman, which isn't a ton, but it's enough to get incredibly frustrating in parts. That leads to why I will not finish the game.
There are these things called Mazes. Basically mini games where you play as Pacman the entire time and have limited lives and have to beat multiple levels of Pacman like games except with jumping, collecting currency and then beating bosses, all within a time limit. Some are much harder than others. The controls are so frustrating, I gave up trying to beat them and just ignored them. They're optional... until the end. The final mission of the game requires you to beat 4 of them or else you can't beat the game. Yes, 4. And I'm simply unable to do it with the controls. I went from playing a game that I had no trouble with to not being able to get past this. And I've posted about my gaming rules on here. If the game gets cheap or unfair, I move on, no exceptions. Until the Mazes are patch, if they ever are, I've moved on. I won't be finishing it. I've played enough of it, I was skipping the story anyway and did most of the optional content, so I'm satisfied with my playthrough. If they ever patch these Maze things, I'll go back and finish it. But I tried them for well over 2 hours and I'm not going to waste anymore of my time on these things. They're horribly designed and with awful controls.
It's funny, when I get to the end of some Metroidvanias, I usually download maps online that the guy demajen posts online. He plays every Metroidvania and creates detailed maps for those who've spent a lot of time on them and don't want to spend hours backtracking through every room of the game again to find what you missed. So I downloaded his map. And he put a note on the map "I was told farming sparkling come from feeding Groomie, but I'm not grinding for a game I don't like" and then also took little shots at the game on his map ragging about the controls. So it appears I'm not the only one who hates the controls. I've been downloading this guy's maps for years and first time I've seen him rip a game on the notes on his map lol. Anyway I'd give it an average score and if they ever lower the difficulty of the Mazes in future or fix the controls I'll go back and beat it. If not, game finished without beating it.
