Axiom Verge 2 Review (beafymonkey)
The early game is a bit linear for my tastes, but the game isn't telling you where to go its just funneling you down a certain path and there is little that can be explored outside of the main objectives.
It opens up a decent amount afterwards, but by the time things feel like they're just getting going you're 2-3 hours from beating the game. If you go for 100% then it'll take longer; however I didn't feel all that inclined to do so. Most of the collectibles are skill points which you can use to make upgrades to your character. Nothing on the skill tree is all that rewarding so I never felt too inclined to max it out.
There are two weapons that you get to use, an ax and a boomerang. I couldn't figure out a way to really use these as you have to be pretty close to the enemy to use either and its almost impossible to dodge some of the attacks from certain enemies. By the time that they show up you have plenty of health but its still annoying.
There are some interesting abilities, but the menu to switch between them sucks and you have to click down on the right stick to activate some of them which is a bit clunky (you can remap your controls, but I shouldn't have to, especially when the left trigger does not get used for anything until the last hour of the game). There also aren't that many of abilities. By the end of the game you don't feel that powerful like you do in other games of this style. I felt like I was in the late midgame when I beat the final boss.
Speaking of bosses they are pretty much optional (except for the final and one or two others). This is not a bad thing, but they're either completely broken and annoying to fight or waaaaay too easy. That's also not the worst thing in the world because you don't play this sort of game for boss fights; however, I didn't feel particularly challenged by any portion of the game and I feel like a lack of competent boss fights was partially to blame.
One thing that was not lacking was the story. The lore is pretty good and reading the logs lying around was enjoyable. It was interesting to learn more about the world and whatnot. I did feel that the ending was a bit lacking and it didn't really answer all of the questions that I had.
I do recommend the game, but don't go into it expecting a metroid like experience or even an experience like the first game. It's a decent game and I enjoyed playing it a lot. It was the only game I played for the past week, just don't expect too much. Maybe wait for a sale rather than paying full price.