izigame.me

Where to start with this one...
I guess I'll start by saying that I genuinely can see where people like this game. Even as an achievement hunter, I can see why this game is still well liked.
HOWEVER, while I did not hate this game with ever fiber of my being, I cannot say that I enjoyed it.
So I guess this is more of a neutral review? Let me explain.
Pros:
-The art is actually stunning. I originally had a problem with the simplicity of the characters versus the backgrounds and other aspects, but I realized that that was maybe too critical. The backgrounds and general art though are beautiful, actually pleasing to my eyes.
-Soundtrack is pretty nice.
-Combat system: This will also show up on the cons list but I say the combat system is a pro because it is a good beat'em up combat system, but it's so ridiculously repetitive that it hurts (more on that later)
-Improper leveling: So, this may honestly be on me and I'm not afraid to admit it. I tend to start games on the hardest difficulty possible (usually because there's an achievement tied to playing games on the hardest difficulty), and that may be the cause of this. BUT, I feel like the last two stages of the game are ridiculously hard for no reason. I never needed health items until I got to the snow area. This game also did the same thing that Mass Effect 1 did and made the final boss "hard" by just giving him a ****-ton of health and that bothers me to no end. Making the final boss difficult is great, but More Health does not equal more difficult. It just makes the fight boring, like, mind numbingly boring. I had more trouble from the minions leading up to him than the final boss himself and that just doesn't sit well with me.
Cons:
-Generally boring. This game is beautiful art/sound wise, but man does the story and world building need work. The underground is about the only part of the game that was even remotely interesting world-building wise. That was the only place where I found myself wanting to explore, but that's only 1/4th of the game. The story and the characters? They have the bare minimum required and that's it. They all feel shallow to me, which is honestly depressing because I feel like there's so much more to pick at. It's like we got to the edge of the top of the mountain and stopped climbing before ever actually reaching the top. The characters have so much more to explore and it's just not there. They give you what you need to know for the main story and that's it. Which, if I'm honest, doesn't really make me fall in love with any of them. The characters also don't have much personality if I'm honest. I feel like the one with the most personality is Fidget, who is also probably my favorite character for that reason. However, even with fidget, I want to know more about where she comes from and why exactly she's been tasked with guarding this sword and why the sword is even in her clan's possession.
The main story-line is also incredibly predictable and even if it wasn't, they tell you the plot twist before it even happens. There is such a thing as too much fore-shadowing and this game is a perfect example of it. So, about 3/4ths of the way through I didn't feel a need to play any further because I already knew what was going to happen. the last 1/4th of the games was even more boring than the rest.
-Combat system: It's good but man is it DRY. By the time you get to late game there's essentially one attack you're using specifically with the occasional Parry and that's it. I love a good beat'em up game, I love watching those combo numbers go up, bu not when I have to do the exact same move on repeat to do so. This is especially true with the final boss where you literally have to do the same move just to survive throughout his ridiculous amount of health. (Or that's how it felt to me anyways)
-Voice acting is super cringe and also goes back to the same thing I said about the characters feeling like they have a lack of personality. It just doesn't really feel alive to me with the exception of Fidget.
A lot of this might be preference, or It happened to me on the account of the difficulty I had it set to. That being said, I can not recommend this game to anyone who is story-driven like myself. If it weren't for the fact that I'm an achievement hunter, I don't know that I would've sat through all of that for as long as it did for me to finish it. Even now I'm dreading having to open this game back up to finish getting the achievements, because I already know I'm uninterested and that it's going to be incredibly boring.
If you get it on sale, go ahead and try it if you really feel a need, but otherwise, I don't recommend it.