This very much is a "hate-it-or-love-it" kind of game, the type of game that's better off being tried for yourself, as it has as many highs as its lows can be low.
It's definitely not a disaster, in fact, it can be quite a fun game which does have merit, and you can feel the care the devloppers put into it, and their responsiveness to user feedback.
Most of the levels do a good job at being loose enough to allow you to play around with the main moveset, major example being breakables and enemy placement that allows for satisfying useage of the Clutch or the hammer bounce, and the level gimmicks often offer an intuitive and fun new useage of that main moveset, while the Wario Land-esque transformations are all distinct enough from it to feel fresh, have enough moves to have fun in any of the situations they are thrown into, and are kept in short enough sections to not be overbearing, often following a format where they are introduced early into the level, then iterated upon after more gameplay with the main moveset, and are finally used during the escape in sections that aren't too complex but ask of you to keep your cool. The music and art are also quite like nothing you've seen before, creating this unique, gritty but cartoony identity, That's well represented in every character, most of them being wacky-looking, dirty "outcasts of society" in some way.
As the game progresses though, you can notice a different design philosophy start to bleed into the levels, and progressively overtake the "main one"; later transformations seem to be designed only around reaction-based sections full of spikes and other hazards, most of the main moveset moments are composed of initially demanding, but kind of monotous chains of Clutch boost jumps into fire rings or on very short platforms, and the game starts asking you to pretty much predict or know the levels by heart despite you discovering them.
An example that comes to mind of this switch in philosophy is one of the last enemies the game introduces, the Beelzebuster, being a red variant of a mid-game enemy; the Bigbuster, a big mole with an intimidating walk, that is actually inoffensive, and its great size makes it a smart target for a hammer bounce, which allows you to soar in the air while keeping your horizontal speed. The Bigbuster also follows the same pattern as the smaller enemy it is based on; it doesn't hurt you upon contact, but lacks the charge attack that makes those dangerous. The Beelzebuster, however, has a big trident-like nose, that is as big as it is, making hitting it from the front impossible without taking damage. Furthermore, it has a spiky helmet, which makes simply jumping over it impossible if you don't hammer bounce off of it. The game though, doesn't just expect you to know how to kill it, it FORCES you have to go through it to continue the level, in an environment where simple avoiding it is impossible, TWICE, once in each of the TWO final levels. Do you know what you need to do to kill it unharmed ? Why, it's simple, just slide under its big fork nose. You know, the slide, that's only ever been used to go through tight gaps. To go under the big fork that completely covers that enemy from the front.
This type of unintuitive, almost 90's game, "the solution is only in the manual"-type of design, is ALL over the game, but it gets especially prominent during the last hour of gameplay, and for pratically every secret. The game will hide the knowledge of important quirks of your main moveset, behind NPCs in SECRET ROOMS in the HUB, that are so niche and underutilized in the levels, the game has to force you to use them to go forward, as they are so out-of-left-field they feel like oversights.
Sometimes, the game feels specifically designed around the fact you can google out "how to get all collectibles antonblast" nowadays, at some of the MAIN COLLECTIBLES are hidden in rooms, or in parts of levels that just. have special rules. just for them. have fun with that.
If you also hadn't noticed, the devloppers love references, but like, looooooooooove references; pratically every single piece of written text (that isn't part of a cutscene, somehow) is a reference to a game, cartoon or internet meme. I won't say that I'm above finding references funny or following the "hey I know that" mentality, but there's only so many times you can make a Metal Gear Solid reference before I start thinking you're making pieces of the level, that boil down to holding up on the controller or watch 25 explosions as you do nothing, the same explosions you see everywhere in the game, specifically to make those references. There's even references in at least one of the level tracks ! Which don't even feel as if they fit into the song !
Overall, this game suffers from "being an indie game", levels will have rooms that the developpers themselves deem "mediocre" (as indicated by the oh so lovely room names that totally aren't here to fill the reference counter) I assume because "it's funny", ask you to have pinpoint precision in your platforming with a moveset or transformation that was made for innacurate and fast-paced platforming in large rooms, because hey "that's not what those lame big company games would do" and is filled with references or inside jokes that are tailored-made for the devloppers. I'm not advocating for the games you make to not cater to you, but sometimes it gets to a point where it kind of feels as though the game is designed just to reference something for a quick laugh between the devs.
