Delicious FruitI Wanna Break The Series Z 3
Creators: PDplayer, Hasi, Kr01, Fawfulthegreat, ささのけ, HAEGOE, TMcreeper, ところてん, Kale, Pierrot, FlippyTheYoshi
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by choco1260
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
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by JuniorNintendista
44 Reviews:
PlutoTheThing
This review is based on a 100% clear
Z3 was in a similar boat to Z2 for me, since I was an obsessive K3 kid I very much looked down on this game and didn’t really care to ever play it beyond giving it an occasional attempt before giving up early to a boss. When I got around to playing Z2 in full finally and actually had fun in spite of the game being a bit of a mess, I became a lot more interested in trying out this game, and in doing so found out that not only do I think it’s maybe a bit underrated, but I actually really enjoy this game for what it is.
The less notable and much weaker part of the game is the platforming. Not all of the platforming is bad and in many ways it’s a big step up from previous games in this series, but it’s definitely lacking. There’s a lot of incredibly forgettable screens with almost nothing of interest, and that even includes some of the guest needle. There are highlights, there’s good screens in stages 3 and 4 like Kirwy, Zero Game, NANG, Catastrophe, and arguably Humantic if you like silly stuff. I also thought Kale area and the final stage had some pretty good platforming, but even then none of it was that good. Likewise there’s very little needle I’d say is horrible, with one exception, save 2 of secret 4 is by far the worst and hardest needle save in the game, it’s genuinely atrocious.
The part of Z3 you would be playing it for realistically is the bosses and avoidances, and they really do steal the show. They play such a prominent role in the game and will be where the vast majority of your play time goes to. The medley style bosses are a mixed bag. Vermillion and HAEGOE are a little weak, some of the weakest bosses in the whole game in my opinion, but they are still somewhat enjoyable. Gustav is a big improvement, while the Misery attack is infamously unfair, it’s not horrendous and the rest of the fight is really enjoyable. Beyond this point the game focuses way more on avoidance fights, it doesn’t really make a difference for me but it’s definitely a notable shift.
Boss Rush is definitely a bit odd and a big wall for experiencing the rest of the game. I like all the fights here but it’s a huge difficulty spike (unless you did the hidden bosses.) Entrance is the weakest, it’s mostly mindless barrage with a goofy ending, but I like the Mikus a lot more, especially Catastrophe and COSMO even if I think these fights are minor downgrades from their original versions. If you enjoy these kinds of vocaloid fights then Boss Rush will be a nice time, if you don’t then maybe this game isn’t for you. Personally, I think this was a great part of the game.
Stage 5 onwards is where the game starts developing more of an identity boss wise since the content is more original by virtue of not being medley content. There’s some really cool stuff here, Hasi is beautiful and really pleasant especially as a wind down after Boss Rush + Torinokawa if you chose to do that. TMCreeper is a little annoying at times and super unbalanced but enjoyable enough. Sasanoke is my favorite thing in the game, the patterns felt really good to play, the RNG is unbalanced but I found it kinda funny, and the whole thing is just fun to look at, it was a blast from start to finish. I’m a lot less passionate about the other three bosses here, Pierrot, KR01, and PDPlayer area, but they aren’t bad. I expected to hate KR01 but it’s pretty alright, although it kinda has its spotlight stolen by Sasanoke.
This game also has hidden bosses, they break the difficulty curve of the game if you do them as you go along, Bye The Bye is really early on and is one of the hardest fights in the game, harder than any of the content if you only do any% in my opinion. These are mostly pretty good, KR02 is the easiest boss in the game and is kinda whatever, Gel and Sanipalt are chill barrage fights even if they are criminally unbalanced, especially Sanipalt, an over 5 minute long avoidance where the only hard part is the final attack. Bye The Bye is pretty good, maybe my favorite but I also think Torinokawa was very enjoyable, it has horrendously unfair RNG in chorus 2 which was kinda frustrating but it was fun regardless. The last hidden boss is the one I have the most mixed thoughts on, Flippy area. I think Flippy is 50% really fun and 50% really agonizing, it’s a super demoralizing fight, not just the hardest in the game but one of the most unfair, I really don’t like whining about RNG but there’s just so many instances in this boss where it feels like you are completely powerless to do anything in your situation. If you have a good mentality going in and don’t care too much about the bullshit, it’s gonna be an alright time, but this fight also brought about some of the lowest moments of the entire playthrough for me.
The final boss is the last thing in the game, and it’s very very questionably designed. It’s a huge lottery, although it still takes a lot of skill to handle. It’s the most unique boss in the game for sure, super gimmicky with how it selects attacks and how you even progress in the fight. The ending of it is silly but I really like it. It's a climactic and tense moment that I don’t think many games can replicate the feeling of. I had a lot of fun with Z3, it’s definitely not perfect but if you like avoidance a lot, particularly vocaloid avoidances, then there’s a ton of fun to be had here. I’m not sure if I’d necessarily recommend this game in spite of how much I liked it, but I don’t think it’s a game you should just gloss over. I ignored it for a long time and now I can confidently say I was missing out on something.
[1] Like
Z3 was in a similar boat to Z2 for me, since I was an obsessive K3 kid I very much looked down on this game and didn’t really care to ever play it beyond giving it an occasional attempt before giving up early to a boss. When I got around to playing Z2 in full finally and actually had fun in spite of the game being a bit of a mess, I became a lot more interested in trying out this game, and in doing so found out that not only do I think it’s maybe a bit underrated, but I actually really enjoy this game for what it is.
The less notable and much weaker part of the game is the platforming. Not all of the platforming is bad and in many ways it’s a big step up from previous games in this series, but it’s definitely lacking. There’s a lot of incredibly forgettable screens with almost nothing of interest, and that even includes some of the guest needle. There are highlights, there’s good screens in stages 3 and 4 like Kirwy, Zero Game, NANG, Catastrophe, and arguably Humantic if you like silly stuff. I also thought Kale area and the final stage had some pretty good platforming, but even then none of it was that good. Likewise there’s very little needle I’d say is horrible, with one exception, save 2 of secret 4 is by far the worst and hardest needle save in the game, it’s genuinely atrocious.
The part of Z3 you would be playing it for realistically is the bosses and avoidances, and they really do steal the show. They play such a prominent role in the game and will be where the vast majority of your play time goes to. The medley style bosses are a mixed bag. Vermillion and HAEGOE are a little weak, some of the weakest bosses in the whole game in my opinion, but they are still somewhat enjoyable. Gustav is a big improvement, while the Misery attack is infamously unfair, it’s not horrendous and the rest of the fight is really enjoyable. Beyond this point the game focuses way more on avoidance fights, it doesn’t really make a difference for me but it’s definitely a notable shift.
Boss Rush is definitely a bit odd and a big wall for experiencing the rest of the game. I like all the fights here but it’s a huge difficulty spike (unless you did the hidden bosses.) Entrance is the weakest, it’s mostly mindless barrage with a goofy ending, but I like the Mikus a lot more, especially Catastrophe and COSMO even if I think these fights are minor downgrades from their original versions. If you enjoy these kinds of vocaloid fights then Boss Rush will be a nice time, if you don’t then maybe this game isn’t for you. Personally, I think this was a great part of the game.
Stage 5 onwards is where the game starts developing more of an identity boss wise since the content is more original by virtue of not being medley content. There’s some really cool stuff here, Hasi is beautiful and really pleasant especially as a wind down after Boss Rush + Torinokawa if you chose to do that. TMCreeper is a little annoying at times and super unbalanced but enjoyable enough. Sasanoke is my favorite thing in the game, the patterns felt really good to play, the RNG is unbalanced but I found it kinda funny, and the whole thing is just fun to look at, it was a blast from start to finish. I’m a lot less passionate about the other three bosses here, Pierrot, KR01, and PDPlayer area, but they aren’t bad. I expected to hate KR01 but it’s pretty alright, although it kinda has its spotlight stolen by Sasanoke.
This game also has hidden bosses, they break the difficulty curve of the game if you do them as you go along, Bye The Bye is really early on and is one of the hardest fights in the game, harder than any of the content if you only do any% in my opinion. These are mostly pretty good, KR02 is the easiest boss in the game and is kinda whatever, Gel and Sanipalt are chill barrage fights even if they are criminally unbalanced, especially Sanipalt, an over 5 minute long avoidance where the only hard part is the final attack. Bye The Bye is pretty good, maybe my favorite but I also think Torinokawa was very enjoyable, it has horrendously unfair RNG in chorus 2 which was kinda frustrating but it was fun regardless. The last hidden boss is the one I have the most mixed thoughts on, Flippy area. I think Flippy is 50% really fun and 50% really agonizing, it’s a super demoralizing fight, not just the hardest in the game but one of the most unfair, I really don’t like whining about RNG but there’s just so many instances in this boss where it feels like you are completely powerless to do anything in your situation. If you have a good mentality going in and don’t care too much about the bullshit, it’s gonna be an alright time, but this fight also brought about some of the lowest moments of the entire playthrough for me.
The final boss is the last thing in the game, and it’s very very questionably designed. It’s a huge lottery, although it still takes a lot of skill to handle. It’s the most unique boss in the game for sure, super gimmicky with how it selects attacks and how you even progress in the fight. The ending of it is silly but I really like it. It's a climactic and tense moment that I don’t think many games can replicate the feeling of. I had a lot of fun with Z3, it’s definitely not perfect but if you like avoidance a lot, particularly vocaloid avoidances, then there’s a ton of fun to be had here. I’m not sure if I’d necessarily recommend this game in spite of how much I liked it, but I don’t think it’s a game you should just gloss over. I ignored it for a long time and now I can confidently say I was missing out on something.
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 90 90
Apr 3, 2024
LastTISisLife
Z3 is pretty strange game. Despite being K3 clone, it's actually did a decent job being interesting and well-producted thing. But man this game as well is such a rollercoaster of very enjoyable and very atrocious things simultaneously. The best way to describe the emotions is the same as i applied to K3 - from stage to stage
Sooooo
Stage 1 - it's pretty much same thing as in K3 (i will reference to it a lot, but i think it's alright since this game is basically somewhat of reimagination). I find it better tho, because it has some funny screens and some gimmicks. I kinda dislike how this stage starts, no references to previous games, feels pretty disconnected, but whatever
Secret 1 - just like in K3 in the secret there are secret items, here this is health bar. Unlike from K3, it also shows avoidance timebar (which is good change). The secret itself is okay, kinda faded, kinda generic, but not bad for most part
Disco Platinum, secret avoidance - so like in K3 there's also some hidden bosses here and there. Not really bosses tho, all of them are avoidances. This one is just super-easy, which is pretty strange and unfitting tbh. It's kinda fun to play tho, but i think it shouldn't be in the game in this way
Boss 1 (Viridian) - meeeeh boss. Lasts way too long for my taste, avoidance is fucking bad and overall i can't find really good things about it
Stage 2 - this stage brings things down. Mostly needle, almost no gimmicks, overall boring and unfun. There was some interesting picks like Tsutamao, Ooparts III, Permanence, but in general it's far from good stage
Secret 2 - specific thing about this secret - i HATE entrance to this secret. It abide on quite interesting screen from Hope the with time-stop gimmick, but amount of precise and repitative jumps is reaaaaally fucking nightmare. Secret itself is fun tho, it's Needle Satan red stage and it's better than K3 Secret 2 (also Needle Satan, who would thought). I really like every save, very satisfying to do. Item is dumb (increasing of your bullet's hitbox), but it's useful several times in the game
Gel, secret avoidance - oh man, finally something hot in this game. This is basically easy version of infamous Gel (standalone avoidance from YoYo). Let me tell, it's really awesome. Absolutely blasting track, interesting hard attacks, intense and crazy vibe - this is Gel. Chill to play, and i really enjoyed it for my 40 hours of playing him. One of the best things in the game imo
Boss 2 (Haegoe) - pretty dumb-designed boss, fun tho. First half is just shmup-segment and despite it's very unfitting, it's interesting to execute. Second half is avoidance from Promin - curving-fiesta and i like it. This was good, just straithforward enjoyable to play
Stage 3 - unfortunately, needle just getting worse and worse. This stage is insanely bad, disbalanced with very bad picks. Zero Game was pretty fun pick tho, good minigame halt in this nonsense. I also enjoyed Shape because of atmoshpere, but over than that i can't find something good in this stage
Secret 3 - again shitty entrance (YES, SUNSPIKE FINAL SCREEN, DEFINETINELY NOT OVERUSED SCREEN...), but the secret itself was... very good? It's tower screen from Liberation, and it's pretty solid. Visuals are wacky, but i like them. Item from other side is just skin changer... yeah, pretty useful, for sure (actually some of the skins are kinda good and funny)
I did not beat secret avoidance from stage 3 at the time, but it's heavily buffed Bye the Bye and it seems okay, but you know, i wanna beat original firstly
Boss 3 (Gustav) - this is probably first really interesting and deep boss in the game, Gustav from Best Guy 3. This boss has a pretty good pace, attacks are fun, avoidance from Sunspike is really good pick and i'm on the side that loves using of it here. But. This boss has two really lowpoints - first is infamois Misery attack, pretty much annoying RNG-bullshit. And the second is first part of the boss, really long and frustrating after while. It was still decent boss with cool vibe, i like it more than K3 Guy
Stage 4 - okay, finally some good needle, woohoo. Not for entire stage, there was some bad things, but in general this was fun. I like NANG, Catastrophe, C/O/S/M/O with passion, i kinda like Contrary and Uhuhu aside of couple of saves. Call Me It and Entrance has driving and lovely visuals, and Humantic puzzle was goofy, but fun (kinda debatable it has entrance in secret, but whatever). Ives was probably only thing that i dislike in total
Secret 4 - oh, man. TAS from K3 was a legendary pick, but here there's pretty good exchange - fucking Brute. Brutal, hard and insanely satisfying actually. I like changes from original Brute screen, every save has something unique, a lot of 2f through tho, but it didn't trigger me. I like it, probably my favourite needle in the game, lol. Reward for this secret... i will not even describe it, but believe me, it's pure comedy
Sanipalt, secret boss - very interesting pick imo, it uses extra avoidance from Salt. In original this avoidance far from hard, but here, oh boy, it's really grew up in difficulty in comparsion. Pretty intense first part, that lasts 5 minutes, and then last minute when avoidance just slaps you with crazy fast barrage and some additional curvings. I find it very fun, kinda heavy to grind tho, overall very atomspherical
After stage 4 there's of course Bossrush. And let me tell you - it sucks hard. The main issue i have with this Bossrush - it's basically just gives you 3 very learny and kinda similar in design (hot take) Miku-song avoidances. It's very heavy Bossrush, like you learn one thing, you tired and basically you can't relax in some other avoidance, because it's also dumb fucking learning. Imo, it's contradicts fun element very strongly and i think this is worst area in the game
Anyway, let's get specifics:
Entrance - hell yeah, there it goes, FUCKING RNG-GARBAGE. This is the only avoidance in Bossrush that's unique and diversive from the others, but the price of that - this avoidance just walls you here, there, everywhere. First pattern section also dreadful, very unfun to execute in long grind, and the bounce section after it also stupid, boring and shitty. Well, what can you expect from remake of Touch the Entrance, i guess... Absolutely horrible, i considered this thing as worst avoidance i've ever cleared
Catastrophe - this remake of Miku from Catastrophe was quite fun, actually. Very good track for my taste, pretty interesting pace. Reversed controls is kinda cringe, some of the attacks are too rough, but in general this was fun for most part. Probably, my favourite thing in Bossrush
Humantic - this was like somewhat decent, but not really. First half of avoidance is bad, curvings are cringe, attack with falling apples is insane trash, Locus is okay, but hard to get used to. Second half is better, still a lot of cringe, pre-last attack lasts way fucking too long and the final burst is big bruh. I kinda like this avoidance occasionaly, but it was obviously not good. Track is fine tho
C/O/S/M/O - this one is probably most learny thing here, basically easy version of original Tokoroten avoidance. I like it at the end, but learning Locus Spiral is pure pain, one of the hardest attacks in the game, i also despice pre-Spiral thing, where you jump in corner - annoying thing with strange hitboxes. On the other side, rest of the attacks was enjoyable, Final is awesome, atmosphere is real
After defeating 4 devas, you will something that i call "local Next Stage":
Z2 Reminiscense - well, yeah, let's remember this game, shall we? Actually it's pretty fun avoidance, it has some production value and i like pace of it, i just find concept kinda dumb. Insane, but this thing is better than every deva from Bossrush, lmao
Medley content is over here, and following K3 formula we encounter some guest stages. Suprisingly, there's no Secret 5 in this game for some reason, instead we have avoidance, which is hard remake of Torinokawa. I didn't play it, but it seems fun, too RNG-heavy tho. Also Koala area in this game replaced with FlippytheYoshi area - very very hard avoidance, that i also didn't played
Anyway if we go through required things:
Fawfulhegreat area - eeeh, this is opening area of the Stage 5, and it's... generic corridor needle. Kinda disappointing, isn't it? Ye, it's pretty bad and i find it upsetting as beginning of guest stage. At least, it wasn't that hard and has some nice visuals/music
Hasi area - next area is avoidance from Hasi and it's actually cool and unique thing. Sort of gimmick with rain, interesting to figuring out patterns and chill relaxing atmosphere. I like this, very fun stuff indeed
Haegoe area - again needle, again some corridor stuff. Not generic at least, unlike Fawful it has some ideas, but the execution is poor for most part. I like first and last saves of this area, rest was meh. But again, visuals/music was very good, kinda shame maker spend such a good potential on nothing
Pierrot area - barrage on very good track, but with some debatable gameplay. Too much RNG-fiesta in second half, but you know, somehow i got lucky and first try entirety of it, lol. First half of avoidance is quite boring, so i think this avoidance is definetinely has some issues, but thankfully, i fluked the shit out, so whatever
TMCreeper area - suprisingly, no needle this time, instead some... shmup. Very wacky, not that fun to play overall. Idea is great, many attacks are interesting, but some of them are just worst, especially fucking RNG-transtiction between Sakuya and Satori. Also imo, beginning is too boring in long grind. Decent area overall, but faaaar from great
KR01 area - heavily pattern-based avoidance that lasts 4+ minutes, sounds quite bad, huh? In reality this wasn't that bad actually, this avoidance is pretty dynamic, track is good (but you need to replace it, because original quality makes you ears dead, lol) and fits avoidance. Visuals are not that bad as it seems to many people, when i play it i find them kinda pleasant. Overall, not my favourite, but i won't call it bad, even tho i can agree with many that says this avoidance is kinda uninspiring
Kale area - finally, some needle break from Crimson Needle author. Really good area, fun needle, quite disbalanced, but that's not that muck an issue here, sinse every save is interesting on it's own. No specific gimmicks here, basically it's just like playing some screens from CN1/CN2, which is pretty alright tbh
Sasanoke area - oh man, this avoidance is such an experience. So i played it blindly to the end, and i feel like this was big mistake. Avoidance is not bad, it has a lot of problems tho, like big freaking walls on RNG attacks (yeeeeee, squuuuuuuuuares), very long duration, low dynamic in comparsion with KR01 and i find final attack pretty bad, because it mixed RNG and patterns in worst way. But atmosphere here is the best, song is wonderful, visuals are just the best in the game and some parts was pretty fun to execute. So not that bad, but probably worst guest avoidance. Very unfortunately, because the potential is amazing
PDplayer area - last guest area is finally something from main creator. It's actually medley in medley, mix of random avoidances segments (White and Black, Tear It, Signore, Opinkosu etc). I very like it, it's solidly fun area since it has HP gimmick that help you and make thing insanely satisfying to play. I just didn't like some of the chosen avoidances, but it was still a banger of area overall
And of course, the end of the game is classic final stage and final boss:
Bottomless Pit of Regret - charming name of final stage, unfortunately gameplay was dreadful for most part. 4 screens that uses some gimmicks, but in very bad way for most part, making experience insanely unfun and frustrating (maybe with exception of VVVV-screen). Avoidance af the end of stage is... horrible, just RNG clownfiesta, final attack is actually worst attack in existense
PDplayer - final boss of the game is like... beyond the reality. The meaning of this phrase is fact that this boss has some insanely deep strategy elements like Crimson from CN2, very fun learing process, absolutely blasting atmosphere with epic track. But every good thing get overshadowed, even fucking ruined with RNG, RNG, RNG. As you see, this game has a lot of RNG problems, maybe it was some lack of testplay, unfortunately here they are becoming quite an issue, since they are too big part of gameplay. Phase 2 is basically just pure RNG-bullshit. Was it fun? Kinda. Can it be better if proper balance exists? For fucking sure. Did i like this boss? Yes! And no
This game overall just feels like unfinished in some sense. It has a lot potential through, a lot of interesting ideas on guest areas. But a lot of bad screens and a lot of fucking RNG, that turning up sometimes that you just need to get lucky... nah, this is not good gamedesign. Bossrush has too much massive problems as well aside of RNG, needle in general just sucks ass for most part
And so the final question is this game deserved to be beaten? Well, if you like long adventure, you can try. But don't expect something great. There will be a good things occasionaly... and there will be just things, that will motivate you to delete game once and forever
[1] Like
Sooooo
Stage 1 - it's pretty much same thing as in K3 (i will reference to it a lot, but i think it's alright since this game is basically somewhat of reimagination). I find it better tho, because it has some funny screens and some gimmicks. I kinda dislike how this stage starts, no references to previous games, feels pretty disconnected, but whatever
Secret 1 - just like in K3 in the secret there are secret items, here this is health bar. Unlike from K3, it also shows avoidance timebar (which is good change). The secret itself is okay, kinda faded, kinda generic, but not bad for most part
Disco Platinum, secret avoidance - so like in K3 there's also some hidden bosses here and there. Not really bosses tho, all of them are avoidances. This one is just super-easy, which is pretty strange and unfitting tbh. It's kinda fun to play tho, but i think it shouldn't be in the game in this way
Boss 1 (Viridian) - meeeeh boss. Lasts way too long for my taste, avoidance is fucking bad and overall i can't find really good things about it
Stage 2 - this stage brings things down. Mostly needle, almost no gimmicks, overall boring and unfun. There was some interesting picks like Tsutamao, Ooparts III, Permanence, but in general it's far from good stage
Secret 2 - specific thing about this secret - i HATE entrance to this secret. It abide on quite interesting screen from Hope the with time-stop gimmick, but amount of precise and repitative jumps is reaaaaally fucking nightmare. Secret itself is fun tho, it's Needle Satan red stage and it's better than K3 Secret 2 (also Needle Satan, who would thought). I really like every save, very satisfying to do. Item is dumb (increasing of your bullet's hitbox), but it's useful several times in the game
Gel, secret avoidance - oh man, finally something hot in this game. This is basically easy version of infamous Gel (standalone avoidance from YoYo). Let me tell, it's really awesome. Absolutely blasting track, interesting hard attacks, intense and crazy vibe - this is Gel. Chill to play, and i really enjoyed it for my 40 hours of playing him. One of the best things in the game imo
Boss 2 (Haegoe) - pretty dumb-designed boss, fun tho. First half is just shmup-segment and despite it's very unfitting, it's interesting to execute. Second half is avoidance from Promin - curving-fiesta and i like it. This was good, just straithforward enjoyable to play
Stage 3 - unfortunately, needle just getting worse and worse. This stage is insanely bad, disbalanced with very bad picks. Zero Game was pretty fun pick tho, good minigame halt in this nonsense. I also enjoyed Shape because of atmoshpere, but over than that i can't find something good in this stage
Secret 3 - again shitty entrance (YES, SUNSPIKE FINAL SCREEN, DEFINETINELY NOT OVERUSED SCREEN...), but the secret itself was... very good? It's tower screen from Liberation, and it's pretty solid. Visuals are wacky, but i like them. Item from other side is just skin changer... yeah, pretty useful, for sure (actually some of the skins are kinda good and funny)
I did not beat secret avoidance from stage 3 at the time, but it's heavily buffed Bye the Bye and it seems okay, but you know, i wanna beat original firstly
Boss 3 (Gustav) - this is probably first really interesting and deep boss in the game, Gustav from Best Guy 3. This boss has a pretty good pace, attacks are fun, avoidance from Sunspike is really good pick and i'm on the side that loves using of it here. But. This boss has two really lowpoints - first is infamois Misery attack, pretty much annoying RNG-bullshit. And the second is first part of the boss, really long and frustrating after while. It was still decent boss with cool vibe, i like it more than K3 Guy
Stage 4 - okay, finally some good needle, woohoo. Not for entire stage, there was some bad things, but in general this was fun. I like NANG, Catastrophe, C/O/S/M/O with passion, i kinda like Contrary and Uhuhu aside of couple of saves. Call Me It and Entrance has driving and lovely visuals, and Humantic puzzle was goofy, but fun (kinda debatable it has entrance in secret, but whatever). Ives was probably only thing that i dislike in total
Secret 4 - oh, man. TAS from K3 was a legendary pick, but here there's pretty good exchange - fucking Brute. Brutal, hard and insanely satisfying actually. I like changes from original Brute screen, every save has something unique, a lot of 2f through tho, but it didn't trigger me. I like it, probably my favourite needle in the game, lol. Reward for this secret... i will not even describe it, but believe me, it's pure comedy
Sanipalt, secret boss - very interesting pick imo, it uses extra avoidance from Salt. In original this avoidance far from hard, but here, oh boy, it's really grew up in difficulty in comparsion. Pretty intense first part, that lasts 5 minutes, and then last minute when avoidance just slaps you with crazy fast barrage and some additional curvings. I find it very fun, kinda heavy to grind tho, overall very atomspherical
After stage 4 there's of course Bossrush. And let me tell you - it sucks hard. The main issue i have with this Bossrush - it's basically just gives you 3 very learny and kinda similar in design (hot take) Miku-song avoidances. It's very heavy Bossrush, like you learn one thing, you tired and basically you can't relax in some other avoidance, because it's also dumb fucking learning. Imo, it's contradicts fun element very strongly and i think this is worst area in the game
Anyway, let's get specifics:
Entrance - hell yeah, there it goes, FUCKING RNG-GARBAGE. This is the only avoidance in Bossrush that's unique and diversive from the others, but the price of that - this avoidance just walls you here, there, everywhere. First pattern section also dreadful, very unfun to execute in long grind, and the bounce section after it also stupid, boring and shitty. Well, what can you expect from remake of Touch the Entrance, i guess... Absolutely horrible, i considered this thing as worst avoidance i've ever cleared
Catastrophe - this remake of Miku from Catastrophe was quite fun, actually. Very good track for my taste, pretty interesting pace. Reversed controls is kinda cringe, some of the attacks are too rough, but in general this was fun for most part. Probably, my favourite thing in Bossrush
Humantic - this was like somewhat decent, but not really. First half of avoidance is bad, curvings are cringe, attack with falling apples is insane trash, Locus is okay, but hard to get used to. Second half is better, still a lot of cringe, pre-last attack lasts way fucking too long and the final burst is big bruh. I kinda like this avoidance occasionaly, but it was obviously not good. Track is fine tho
C/O/S/M/O - this one is probably most learny thing here, basically easy version of original Tokoroten avoidance. I like it at the end, but learning Locus Spiral is pure pain, one of the hardest attacks in the game, i also despice pre-Spiral thing, where you jump in corner - annoying thing with strange hitboxes. On the other side, rest of the attacks was enjoyable, Final is awesome, atmosphere is real
After defeating 4 devas, you will something that i call "local Next Stage":
Z2 Reminiscense - well, yeah, let's remember this game, shall we? Actually it's pretty fun avoidance, it has some production value and i like pace of it, i just find concept kinda dumb. Insane, but this thing is better than every deva from Bossrush, lmao
Medley content is over here, and following K3 formula we encounter some guest stages. Suprisingly, there's no Secret 5 in this game for some reason, instead we have avoidance, which is hard remake of Torinokawa. I didn't play it, but it seems fun, too RNG-heavy tho. Also Koala area in this game replaced with FlippytheYoshi area - very very hard avoidance, that i also didn't played
Anyway if we go through required things:
Fawfulhegreat area - eeeh, this is opening area of the Stage 5, and it's... generic corridor needle. Kinda disappointing, isn't it? Ye, it's pretty bad and i find it upsetting as beginning of guest stage. At least, it wasn't that hard and has some nice visuals/music
Hasi area - next area is avoidance from Hasi and it's actually cool and unique thing. Sort of gimmick with rain, interesting to figuring out patterns and chill relaxing atmosphere. I like this, very fun stuff indeed
Haegoe area - again needle, again some corridor stuff. Not generic at least, unlike Fawful it has some ideas, but the execution is poor for most part. I like first and last saves of this area, rest was meh. But again, visuals/music was very good, kinda shame maker spend such a good potential on nothing
Pierrot area - barrage on very good track, but with some debatable gameplay. Too much RNG-fiesta in second half, but you know, somehow i got lucky and first try entirety of it, lol. First half of avoidance is quite boring, so i think this avoidance is definetinely has some issues, but thankfully, i fluked the shit out, so whatever
TMCreeper area - suprisingly, no needle this time, instead some... shmup. Very wacky, not that fun to play overall. Idea is great, many attacks are interesting, but some of them are just worst, especially fucking RNG-transtiction between Sakuya and Satori. Also imo, beginning is too boring in long grind. Decent area overall, but faaaar from great
KR01 area - heavily pattern-based avoidance that lasts 4+ minutes, sounds quite bad, huh? In reality this wasn't that bad actually, this avoidance is pretty dynamic, track is good (but you need to replace it, because original quality makes you ears dead, lol) and fits avoidance. Visuals are not that bad as it seems to many people, when i play it i find them kinda pleasant. Overall, not my favourite, but i won't call it bad, even tho i can agree with many that says this avoidance is kinda uninspiring
Kale area - finally, some needle break from Crimson Needle author. Really good area, fun needle, quite disbalanced, but that's not that muck an issue here, sinse every save is interesting on it's own. No specific gimmicks here, basically it's just like playing some screens from CN1/CN2, which is pretty alright tbh
Sasanoke area - oh man, this avoidance is such an experience. So i played it blindly to the end, and i feel like this was big mistake. Avoidance is not bad, it has a lot of problems tho, like big freaking walls on RNG attacks (yeeeeee, squuuuuuuuuares), very long duration, low dynamic in comparsion with KR01 and i find final attack pretty bad, because it mixed RNG and patterns in worst way. But atmosphere here is the best, song is wonderful, visuals are just the best in the game and some parts was pretty fun to execute. So not that bad, but probably worst guest avoidance. Very unfortunately, because the potential is amazing
PDplayer area - last guest area is finally something from main creator. It's actually medley in medley, mix of random avoidances segments (White and Black, Tear It, Signore, Opinkosu etc). I very like it, it's solidly fun area since it has HP gimmick that help you and make thing insanely satisfying to play. I just didn't like some of the chosen avoidances, but it was still a banger of area overall
And of course, the end of the game is classic final stage and final boss:
Bottomless Pit of Regret - charming name of final stage, unfortunately gameplay was dreadful for most part. 4 screens that uses some gimmicks, but in very bad way for most part, making experience insanely unfun and frustrating (maybe with exception of VVVV-screen). Avoidance af the end of stage is... horrible, just RNG clownfiesta, final attack is actually worst attack in existense
PDplayer - final boss of the game is like... beyond the reality. The meaning of this phrase is fact that this boss has some insanely deep strategy elements like Crimson from CN2, very fun learing process, absolutely blasting atmosphere with epic track. But every good thing get overshadowed, even fucking ruined with RNG, RNG, RNG. As you see, this game has a lot of RNG problems, maybe it was some lack of testplay, unfortunately here they are becoming quite an issue, since they are too big part of gameplay. Phase 2 is basically just pure RNG-bullshit. Was it fun? Kinda. Can it be better if proper balance exists? For fucking sure. Did i like this boss? Yes! And no
This game overall just feels like unfinished in some sense. It has a lot potential through, a lot of interesting ideas on guest areas. But a lot of bad screens and a lot of fucking RNG, that turning up sometimes that you just need to get lucky... nah, this is not good gamedesign. Bossrush has too much massive problems as well aside of RNG, needle in general just sucks ass for most part
And so the final question is this game deserved to be beaten? Well, if you like long adventure, you can try. But don't expect something great. There will be a good things occasionaly... and there will be just things, that will motivate you to delete game once and forever
Rating: 5.8 58
Difficulty: 89 89
Nov 19, 2022
Marios
Much like Series Z 2, one of it's biggest flaws is trying to be like K3.
The platforming is, for the most part needle, but there's some gimmicks every now and then to add some variety. Screen choices are very hit or miss. Stage 1 having every CTB isn't very exciting, and Wanyaaa uses an incosistent mouse gimmick. However I enjoyed the Connect and Diverse rooms, Hurtful Pain was alright too. This kind of situations repeat for all 4 stages, and on the later ones you have to bare with inconsistent difficulty curve (for reference, 4-5 took me over 2k deaths and 4-6 took me about 100 or less).
Now for the bosses... easily the worst part of the game. They're pretty much copy&paste from some game + a phase where one or two characters from other game show up. Then the avoidance is either at/near the end, and they may be changed from the original so have fun learning them. There's also hidden avoidances. I only found #4 and it's ~6 minutes full of RNG that gets really difficult towards the end. There's also boss rush, but I haven't played it much yet so I can't judge.
As for secrets... Item 1 is standard needle and it's the only one I got. Item 2 is on Hope the end of, so you can have some more fun with the timestop gimmick. Item 3 is on Sunspike and the warp trolls you at least once. Item 4 is easy to reach and it's Brute stage 5... I'll let you judge that one :P.
I'd only recommend this for the platforming and even then, it's so inconsistent that you're probably better playing something else, unless you're specifically looking for a challenging medley game.
EDIT : Boss rush is terrible and since the green portal boss has most of it's absurdly hard pattern attacks unchanged I raised the difficulty rating.
[1] Like
The platforming is, for the most part needle, but there's some gimmicks every now and then to add some variety. Screen choices are very hit or miss. Stage 1 having every CTB isn't very exciting, and Wanyaaa uses an incosistent mouse gimmick. However I enjoyed the Connect and Diverse rooms, Hurtful Pain was alright too. This kind of situations repeat for all 4 stages, and on the later ones you have to bare with inconsistent difficulty curve (for reference, 4-5 took me over 2k deaths and 4-6 took me about 100 or less).
Now for the bosses... easily the worst part of the game. They're pretty much copy&paste from some game + a phase where one or two characters from other game show up. Then the avoidance is either at/near the end, and they may be changed from the original so have fun learning them. There's also hidden avoidances. I only found #4 and it's ~6 minutes full of RNG that gets really difficult towards the end. There's also boss rush, but I haven't played it much yet so I can't judge.
As for secrets... Item 1 is standard needle and it's the only one I got. Item 2 is on Hope the end of, so you can have some more fun with the timestop gimmick. Item 3 is on Sunspike and the warp trolls you at least once. Item 4 is easy to reach and it's Brute stage 5... I'll let you judge that one :P.
I'd only recommend this for the platforming and even then, it's so inconsistent that you're probably better playing something else, unless you're specifically looking for a challenging medley game.
EDIT : Boss rush is terrible and since the green portal boss has most of it's absurdly hard pattern attacks unchanged I raised the difficulty rating.
Rating: 4.2 42
Difficulty: 89 89
Aug 15, 2015