This game starts out as a fantastic mix of Gradius, Megaman and Wonder Boy, however after playing for some time its flaws end up revealingThis game starts out as a fantastic mix of Gradius, Megaman and Wonder Boy, however after playing for some time its flaws end up revealing themselves.
Firstly, the gradius power up system ends up working against the player, making the simple act of moving at a bearable speed an annoying chore. you need to grind to get every single power up, and the game barely fills your gauge for each enemy killed so you'll have to spend a few minutes going back and forth at a place with respawning enemies and leveling up your skills to have some chance in the level.
it might not seem like much, but you have to spend like 5 minutes grinding in a level that otherwise could be cleared in 4 or 5 minutes.
later on you get a boss weapon that allows you to refill your gauge a bit every time you press the Y button away from the enemy, the quicker you press the faster your meter refills, if you're really fast you can get all abilities within a minute and a half, but you'll be tired as soon as you done and there's an entire level ahead.
and every time you die, it resets all stats. it's especially bothersome on boss fights since you can't refill while you're dodging the attacks.
the butterflies, called Tres, that refil the gauge are also money to buy permanent upgrades, the game barely provides any for each enemy killed, so it ends up becoming another grinding chore.
the level designs are pretty bland and a lot of sections repeat often between levels, they're mostly straight lines with a few places in the middle zig zagging up or down.
all levels open up in a weird crystal dimension that doesn't really make any sense, so you only get to see what the level really is like about halfway through.
and that brings another point, the graphics of the game are really beautiful, a bit repetitive, but still beautiful to look at, so it's even more baffling that they decide to hide some of it with that crystal part.
the game sprites and animations are really nice.
the soundtrack is nothing special, I think through my entire playthrough with Zizou no track stood out or anythihng, they just do their job.
Now, the most aggravating thing with the game, Zizou is supposedly a really powerful character, but even playing with her the game ends up becoming a grindfest, and when you beat the game with her you unlock a second scenario mode with another character, Riva.
Riva is pathetic, her attack consists of either, a puny shot that barely reaches in front of her ( 1 sprite width to the front ), or a sword thrust attacks ( 2 swords come from the sides and thrust down ).
both are really weak and really worthless, while playing with her even upping your speed, the power up that requires the least Tres, becomes unbearable.
through an entire level I only managed to fill her Tres speed meter once, it doesn't help that she can barely hit enemies, and every time she ( or Zizou ) is hit she LOSES Tres, so the upgrade gauge goes down.
to try to keep players engaged and to up the replay value the game has multiple endings, the best one requiring hidden powerups in levels to be found, and gathering all of them grants the player a shield powerup too.
however this is a bit pointless since to stand a chance against some bosses and some of the stages you have to gather them all and end up seeing the best ending anyway.
TL;DR
game has beautiful aesthetic and decent music, but its challenge comes from handicapping the player and seeing how much grinding the player can endure before going insane. ( since it has to be done every single time the player dies )
the gradius powerup system is what ruins this game, it quickly wears out its welcome and becomes a weigh keeping the players from progressing at a steady pace.
Recommended only if you really like the pixel art on the screenshots.
apparently playing with the second character is so tough that there's no footage of it or any of the second scenarios endings on youtube.… Expand