Recent reviews by (Geno) BadRequest

This is it

Boring and repetitive open world sludge. If you have played an open world game before, you've played this. Sanitized and so focus tested that it feels more like eating cardboard than going on an adventure. If you are able to stick to the story and not wander too far outside the rails, you'll probably have fun. But if you go adventuring into the open world, you'll get exhausted by the minutiae and see just how repetitive everything is.

Boring/10

Game wont start. Freezes on the fake boot screen

It was not worth the price on 75% sale.
It was not worth the time invested into the game and i completed it ONLY because of my OCD in leaving games unfinished.
It was not worth the space on my harddrive so i will delete it and never touch it again.

Boring, barebones, uninteresting and rushed.

First time it wouldn't launch but just locked my computer. Wouldn't even let me Ctrl + Alt+ Del. Had to restart computer.

Second time it launched but sent me to a login screen. I made an account. Said i already had an account. I don't remember ever making an account and my email inbox has no trace of any register email. Try to login with the usual emails and passwords i use, all of them wrong. Try to click "Forgotten Password". Says it sent me an email. Got no email.

Third time. Launch game. Get to login screen. Write the usual emails and passwords. Everytime i get to a loading screen with 3 square dots. Stays like that forever. Waited for a while. Nothing happened. Tried again 3 times. Nothing happened.

Fourth time. Finally able to login to the game. After going through the options i click the training/tutorial button. I choose a character and the game goes to the loading screen. After its done loading it says "Press Enter to continue". And you are right if you guessed that pressing Enter does fking nothing. No other button does anything either. CTRL ALT DEL time. Good god.

10/10 - 1 Year in Early Access. Hopefully by Year 2 you can actually play the game.

Edit:
Fifth time. It worked. It was not worth the work to get it running. Its an okay video game.
I have played it singleplayer so far. Its not much to actually... do. The missions are what side missions would be in a normal game. And the side missions are what annoying collectibles would be in other games.

I'll play with a friend later. But "its more fun with a friend" is not a positive point. Because having needles shoved into your dinky is more fun with a friend.

Oh how i wish Steam let me choose something between Yes or No.

This game is the antithesis of creative and the standard that you can expect from a somewhat cheaply made Japanese game. The levels are all different roads floating in mid air that only opens up into small arenas where you kill some uninspired monsters (there are like.. 7 different monsters and then they just color swap. The only things that change from chapter to chapter level wise is a color change and some different houses or trees also floating above an endless pit.

The combat has 3 combos with some magic inbetween, which makes the fighting extremely boring. You can switch at will between 4 characters when you get them and they have different (negligible) stats and specialities. Your main is the middle road, one has faster attacks with less damage, one has slower attacks but more damage and the only one that really change things up is one that can shoot magic balls from a distance. It really doesn't matter. I think they meant for you to switch between them against different monsters and if you are low on health but i used the main character and all monsters fell just fine and i never came to a point where i ran out of health items or items to cure status effects, as there is a shop at the start of every level.
All characters get different magic attacks as they level up and they are okay. Sorta just applying a little damage now and then. It really changes little.
Every character has their own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure stand, only they do the same thing. The differences are the same as the characters. Slow = More damage, Fast = less damage etc. But they all do basically the same DPS so again. It doesn't matter.

I only completed this game because i wanted to see what happened in the story. And the story is actually alright. I liked it. But the story relies on you playing the same chapters and levels over and over from the middle chapter to the end at least 3 times. And that is some bullsh*t. That is stretching the game time out by punishing you. Making you go through the same boring ass levels over and over. The only thing that changes is the story. A little bit. Its extremely stupid.

Here is where i would talk about upgrading your weapons and how you cry on souls to get what is basically new weapon effects. Physical Damage up and Magical Damage up etc etc. But i just can't find it in me to go into detail because i am done. I'll never play this game again.

My point isn't to go into too much detail. Just an overall of how i feel now that i have completed the game.

So after all that, why recommend it? Well, because it will be an okay game for some of you that are used to middle market Japanese games and the story is legit interesting and entertaining. So if you are okay with mindlessly button mashing your way through levels that look alike, fighting the same enemies that decided to dye their hair differently every now and then and then have to go through the same levels again in a monotonous slog just to get through a pretty good story, then this is for you. If not then stay away. You will get mindlessly bored.

AND DO NOT BUY FOR FULL PRICE. This game is a 60-75% off purchase. It is not worth full price for anyone.

A game that in theory should not work.
But theory is a fickle thing.

I have no idea why i bought this "game". I don't know what i expected to see or expected to find.
I don't know if i wanted to share or if i wanted to answer people.

Turns out i did a little of both.

The internet is a revolving door of hate, venom, bile and people waiting for a fight.
This is the main reason why i don't think this game, in theory, should work.
But it does. How long will this "game" be active with people? Who knows.
But as for now there is a community already building itself around the golden rule.
"Do to others as you would like done to you" etc. And so far it works great.
Some give you tough love, others sympathize with a loving embrace (hugging computer not mandatory).
Its a mixed bag of responses as the people using the service (?) are a mixed bag of people.
So you should be prepared for that.

You can't reply to someone who wrote to your request. You can only thank them by giving them a sticker.
I guess that works but its hard to adjust your responses and behavior if you are not used to helping people.
You can't really fine tune your responses. But its nitpicking. Its all nitpicking.
The radio has like 3 songs playing on repeat and i can't turn it off because the Trouser Fish said so.
The songs that are there are good though. Its as it says on the tin. Lo fi beats.

How do you even review this thing.

You write good. Good feels back. You get stickers if you do good.
Possibly also if you do bad. I can not confirm.
Some people just send stickers.

Expect good advice.
But also bad ones.

They are only human.
Which i would guess is the draw.

Like this review the game is short and has a lost of wasted potential.

But it is amazingly stylish and even though the controls can be clunky, when you get used to it, it feels really good to flip and dodge around like you are making your own version of Hard Boiled. The last levels are a let down as it focuses a lot on puzzles and mines instead of increasingly stylish ways to jump and flip around doing cool stuff. But i am happy with what i got and it was worth every cent. Fully recommended

I rarely leave reviews unless its something i hate and want to rake over the coals.. but i have to leave one here to give these people props.

I've been following this game since i stumbled over it on Facebook for many many years ago when all there was were just gifs of tech demos. I loved the style and the potential that was shown and i was hooked at the idea.

It is inevitable that reviews will bring up Hotline Miami but that is not a negative. The games look similar but they operate in a different way. There is no score here, take that as a positive or negative but the only thing that influence your score at the end is the challenges and if you completed them or not as well as a your time being logged.
There are only 4 weapons but all weapons have an ability to be upgraded. There are no melee weapons and no throw empty weapon ability. But people note this as a negative as they come in expecting Hotline Miami. Its not the same game.
4 guns are limiting but there isn't much more you need. Pistols, Sub-machine guns, Assault Rifle and Shotgun. The only thing i can think of would be grenades which would be overpowered, a hunting rifle or sniper that would be slow to fire but go through multiple enemies etc. But it doesn't really fit with the theme. You are supposed to shotgun a door into sawdust and turn the room into nothing but smoke and abstract art with an obsession for the color red.

I feel the game wanted to focus on style and let you experiment with the sliding and flipping over tables and through windows, diving over rooftops or shooting down a door and watch everything in the room on the other side fly up in the air like confetti. Smoke, paper, glass, wood, blood, bullets. And in the middle is you, dancing through the mess in slow-motion.

There controls feel clunky at first but after getting used to them its barely noticeable, and the game is being patched and has already fixed such issues as being able to keep the same mouse DPI in slow-motion and change the reticle color.

The game can be very short if you rush through it and do not focus on the challenges, experimenting and upgrading all the weapons, etc. With completing all challenges i think i clocked in around 12 hours. (The achievement for completing all challenges is currently bugged but they have stated that they are working on it)
So be warned that if you don't care about the challenges it will be a very short game. 2-3 hours maybe, depending on your skill level.

As for difficulty.. its hard to say really. Again it comes to the challenges. If you don't do the challenges it is fairly easy. You can use slow-motion all the time, not care about how many shots you miss and just spray and pray. Its fun. Its stylish. It gives you a kick. But its pretty easy. However if you go for the challenges then be ready for a.. well.. challenge. There is a time limit, a no shots missed challenge and a no slow-motion challenge. All challenges give you one star which you can use to upgrade weapons if you have enough stars. As said, without going for challenges you might spend 2-3 hours with the game. If you like challenges and don't mind repeating levels until you pull off the perfect run then you will probably spend around 10-13 hours, which IMO is well worth the money.

There are some faults with enemy AI and animations. You can see the enemies bug out every once in a while and the enemy dodge roll invincibility frames is something i will bang on about until the end of time. It seems the invincibility frames start right before or at the exact moment they start the dodge animation, which means if you bullet is on its way in slow motion and they start the animation before the bullet reaches? Then it counts as a miss. Which is a pain in the a♥♥ if you are going for the "No Miss" challenge. It ended my runs so many times i was about to go insane. Especially with the bullet-proof vest dodge-rollers who dodge roll at every hit so you have to wait for 4 seconds before being able to shoot them again, and its never clear when their dodge is over. I've been able to kill some in the middle of a dodge, and some not before after they have shot back. Its infuriating.
But its a nitpick.

I am nitpicking. Cause i love this game. Its a top down version of Stranglehold. A love letter to old John Woo movies. Calling it a Hotline Miami clone is insulting to both that and this game respectively. Its not the same concept even though some elements will be similar.

This is a heavily biased review though. Cause i clearly love the game.
I was afraid this game would never be released but i am happy now that it has.
I wish the developers nothing but success.

Edit: Added more "review" to this review

Broken promises, lies, shady practices, bugged game, not very good game to begin with. Its not worth your time or money.
Let them sink on the ship of lies they crashed to shore with.