Recent reviews by The Bug

Premise is fun, and the gameplay is incredibly fun, but this game really really needs a visual overhaul. Not necessarily in the fidelity of the models, but in the overall style. Every human character in this game looks quite horrible. This could be fixed with a more fleshed out art team, as I'd imagine the number of people working on this is relatively small. The robots look fine, but more options to customize would also be welcome (alternate heads and other body parts). Workshop support/mod support in the future would also be super fun. I am completely fine with the story vehicle for this game being basically Pokemon, as the draw is 100% the dance battles. Being able to upload your own songs is fun, and I hope the final version of this game receives the polish it deserves.

The new menus and lobby UI is really bad. The splash screen format with your selected character has been replaced with a 2 player max Fortnite-esque lobby. Every time you select a menu where your character is visible, their selection animation (and sounds) play.
You cannot view badge stats in the cosmetics menu. Badges that aren't for character wins or basic gameplay factors (# of Ringouts, # of Maxed Characters) are now only purchasable with Gleamium. Character mastery tracks now only give you a character win count badge, and no other cosmetics (no more Mastery Icons). Personally I think every mastery track should have a profile cosmetic of every type specific to that character. They don't have to be animated or flashy, just a thing to earn for a character you like to play.
I don't know how you earn toast. Gold is gone and now there are separate currencies for unlocking characters and perks. IDK what "Gems" are and I kind of don't care. It's some crap for the PvE modes but they're so specific to those that IDK why they have so much effort put into their inclusion. They really should just be some free unlock but apparently you can spend real money on them?
The Rift modes are fun in concept but have this one section that is sprinkled in sometimes where you have to protect a crystal with a tank and it is actually the least fun minigame mode I have ever played in any fighting/platform fighting game.

Make gold the universal currency again. I don't think there shouldn't be a premium currency, but make stuff earnable through actually playing the game. Add back the old menu + mastery track. Let me see badge numbers. Add a Mohawk skin for Stripe. Add Godzilla and Fred Flintstone like the old datamine said you were working on. Right now there is no real reason to play this game, other than the novelty draw of fighting people as characters you like. I don't know how many more people are willing to wait any longer for a game released twice to be in a finished state.

this game is wholly derivative of Lethal Company in its gameplay loop and general design (and is made worse*), but is more fun to play. basically cuts out the middleman of making a stupid clip compilation for YouTube by letting you just do it all in-game. still not good. but more fun.

*things of note: this game has the worst sound mixing i have ever experienced in my entire life. the drone that delivers items you buy is louder than anything else in the game. the boom mic doesn't work. playermodels from past games will haunt the spawn area + diving bell. players microphones will stop working in-game randomly. you can only save videos as a .webm to your desktop.

everyone telling you to play this game instead of Overwatch 2 out of bandwagon spite is a pinhead. not only are they just completely different now; this game, especially in the context of doing any kind of current contract or playing a holiday event map, is unplayable. it's reached the point where i can't even pretend i don't care about it. trying to do any contract with friends for any of the new halloween maps will net you a 5 minute wait to get dropped in a game populated by bots.

this game is a husk of its former self, and anyone telling you it's preferable over Overwatch 2 in its current state is delusional. the lack of consistent content updates in the last near-decade has bred a group of people who think that idiots making SFM memes on YouTube and hour long analytical videos about one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ weapon is evidence of a healthy, creative community. it's literally like battered woman's syndrome. continuing to settle for less is not going to save TF2.

[EDIT - 6/5/24]

#savetf2 didn't work the first time and it's not probably going to work again, but it looks like some people are wising up to the fact that this game is old as ♥♥♥♥ and probably being ignored for a reason. its not completely unplayable right now, but it definitely still is in a pretty bad spot.
best case scenario, more community hosted servers that just run the default base game. i'm not gonna play on ♥♥♥♥♥♥ "fixed game" Uncletopia full of actual mouthbreathers that think getting killed by a crit is some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Everest-level obstacle that needs to be conquered. just have a populated payload server with map rotations. i love payload...

played the basic VS mode with a friend and was annoyed by how dreadfully claustrophobic the camera is. no singleplayer arcade or "career" mode ensured an immediate refund. IDK why nobody can make a kaiju/mecha arena fighter with staying power.

Please evaluate the objective pros and cons of both this game and Team Fortress 2 [IN ITS CURRENT STATE] before you levy either of them any critique or praise.