I enjoyed the demo so much I played it 4 times already and I am the type guy that rarely finishes a demo. Very fun game but I could not stop thinking about Astral Chain. If I had to sum this game up from the demo it would be Astral with a bigger budget and psychic powers in place of Legions.
Good:
- Game looks great. Awesome character/enemy models, smooth animation and richly detailed environments. Not one frame drop.
- Like Astral Chain, SN has simplified combo trees to put more focus on powers of the group. Whether you pick the guy or the girl your power is telekinesis. As you flow through your combo tree you can squeeze the R2 trigger to smack an enemy over the head with the various stuff littered throughout the battlefield. The time it takes to throw and the power depend on what the object is. There are also special objects that require you to squeeze the L2 trigger instead that initiate little quick time events that have you beat the enemy senseless in such satisfying ways.
- You are not alone in this fight. You can choose 2 other party members that will join you on the battlefield but your entire platoon is connected through a system called SAS that allows you to access each others powers. Like Astral Chain. You are going to need all these powers because every enemy has different patterns that your basic power will struggle with. As an example there is a flying type enemy that moves at super sonic speeds that make it difficult to hit but by sharing the Hyper speed power you can fight them at their speed.
Bad
- If you have watched just one anime or read one manga you have seen every character this demo has to offer. Personality or design, it doesn't matter, they are all so blaaaaaaand. Dialog is filled with cheesy anime jokes we have heard a millions times before and loads n loads of exposition that adds nothing.
- Prompt overload. L2 and R2 button prompts will be all over the screen because every object that can interacted with in regards to telekinesis will be highlighted and then on top of that you have finisher prompts, team attack prompts .. ext. Can get very messy in tight areas.
- While they visual look great, the stages are just hallways that connect battlefields. There a plenty of opportunities to go off the beaten path and use those powers to score items but it all just feels so.... empty to me. Astral Chain did this better as it had a variety side activities that you could do as you completed the main task. The stages in Astral chain were also just more interactive as well... things were happening around you as you progressed. It is just demo though so I will hold out.
Definitely a purchase for me. Anybody feel same or different?
