MOTORSLICE

This game is so close to good that it pains me to say I don't recommend it, but at least on controller the game is too finicky to recommend. Switching the axis you're wallgrinding isn't reliable, wall-run jumping off of moving platforms sometimes just doesn't register the jump button, and the jump in this game is far too floaty for the precision demanded by a few platforming segments. Add on the fact that the story and world-building is so close to non-existant that it can't help but be uninteresting, and it gets even harder to recommend the game, no matter how solid its bones are. It's also really hard to ignore the unsubtle developer fetishes that routinely show up in the "slack off" checkpoint cutscenes that occur all throughout the game. It's nothing too offensive but there are an awful lot of closeups (most notably on feet and armpits) and awkwardly sexualized posing that just feel weird and mess with the flow and pacing of the game. It doesn't help that your dialogue options in these scenes are invariably: A) a rude or outright jackass comment masquerading as "professionalism" and B) desperately thirsting after Slicer P. If you can get past the above and struggle through the few segments of really bad platforming, it's pretty much exactly what you probably expect: Shadow of the Colossus meets Nier Automata. Most of the platforming is not overly demanding when it comes to precision (there are 5 segments in particular that I was referring to above, one of which is by far the most offensive since it adds unpredictable physics objects into the mix), and some really cool platforming and mobility mechanics get introduced throughout the game. The boss quality varies, but I wouldn't call even the worst of the bosses a bad boss... that one's a bit lacking and a bit boring, but it's also early. I'd say the main complaint I have mechanically is that they've also tried throwing some VA Proxy in there... but the parrying is probably the worst part of the game. Basic melee enemies have such long, awkward wind-ups on their attack that you'll probably have just killed them before they've even thrown anything your way. So it's useless on them, but far too strong against anything larger. Bosses especially are completely trivialized by parrying (and it's not even hard since the timing is so generous), since it usually bypasses the bulk of the climbing puzzles to kill them and kills the SoTC-style charm of the game at the same time. I guess parries are useful against ranged enemies, returning projectiles to their sender? But hardly essential. It wouldn't take removing the parry to get me to change my review to positive, though, really just fixing the controller clunk and ragebait platforming segments would do it. Spoilers for the segment that really killed the momentum of my run and left me the most frustrated: [spoiler] at one point you come across a large floor of industrial shredders. About 1/3 of the way across, there is a small raised island on the right edge. There is a similar island on the left edge about 2/3 the way across. Some flat, square tile physics objects are scattered across the surface of these shredders, serving as stepping stones which you can hop across. They are not very large, though, and the floaty jump this game has can make it really hard to actually land on them. This is made even worse by the fact that there are not enough of these tiles to make a navigable path. The starting point and each of the islands has a few more of these tiles which you must attack and knock onto the rollers to complete the path, but they don't fly or bounce in any consistent fashion so it's at least somewhat down to RNG if they land where you were aiming or how off-target they end up. Sometimes that results in impossible jumps, and you just have to reset. Sometimes P reaches the side of a tile and begins to do a mantle animation, but is somehow vaporized by the shredders. Sometimes she mantles it just fine. Sometimes you land right on the edge of a tile but momentum in the landing animation means you hang enough off the edge that she is, once again, turned into giblets even though it doesn't look like you fell into the shredders. This segment is repetitive RNG hell, and the only saving grace is that you get checkpoints immediately before and after it so when the stars align and you finally get to the other side, you never have redo it.[/spoiler]