I fell instantly in love with the image of a goose riding a Lagann-style mini mecha under the tagline LET LOOSE THE GOOSE. And the first impression hasn't been betrayed, even in front of the game's imperfections.
It doesn't even try to hide the [b]Metal Slug[/b] inspiration, especially in the tanks and the voice clips when a weapon is collected. After a slow introductory level, it picks up the pace and offers quite a few setpieces, like the chase of a convoy in a Mad Max-esque setting, culminating with the fight against a big gas guzzler. Levels are mostly linear, with just a few detours to find vehicles, and a couple hidden extra companions.
It's really great to look at, like out of a beefed up Super Nintendo, and even better to hear with its energetic soundtrack. The protagonist manages to be ridiculous and badass at once. I've taken note of some uses of tweening along with traditional pixel art animations, and of certain effects (more on that later).
Only four weapons, but there's not just that arsenal for the heroic waterfowl: a roll with several invincibility frames, usable even when jumping (and outright necessary in a few passages), companions including one that gives machine gun pickups, vehicles, the Mighty Mode, the chips that lend themselves to simple yet interesting "builds" as no more than two or three at a time can be used. By pausing the game, you can access a shop to spend collected coins at, for quick deliveries of weapons or a vehicle.
In fact, the goose is quite overpowered, in the face of a challenge that is not proportioned to its might; during the supposedly harder second loop, I even got more A and S ranks than during the first, as I was well into the gameplay loop by that point. As coins aren't kept between levels, it's hard to resist spending them to receive a couple rocket launchers and destroy bosses, and a chip allows a double jump that further facilitates combat in more open spaces. After defeating the final boss once again at the end of the second loop, a special chip is unlocked and it's revealed to be a built-in cheat mode!
There's also the matter of the visual effects. Even from the trailer, you can notice how excessively slow motion (sometimes triggered not even by some "exceptional" feats), flashes and screen shaking are used at times, which can make the most crowded situations very confusing. Fortunately, aware of feedback, the developers added options to disable the above effects, and made projectiles more visible; even so, a few other effects remain, like strong distortions when rockets explode, but it's something.
Of note is a special level added months after the original release, unlocked after finishing the first loop. It's got a "biome" different from the others, is fairly long and varied, and quite fun, especially the part where the goose rides a wave while confronting a surfer crocodile.
[b]Mighty Goose[/b] is not "hardcore gamer" material, and has certainly some amount of jank, but at the end of the day, I've had a great time with it and not all games need to be [b]Hollow Knight[/b] difficult. Shooting downward to hover and rain bullets on enemies is a very fun maneuver, and I've found myself revisiting levels even after 100% completion, just for the enjoyment of it. Not an "essential" game for fans of the genre but one I'd certainly recommend, especially with the discount it goes for at the time of this writing.
