2ND EDIT: Not long after the previous edit, GZLoaf, the programmer of Team Lumba, made a new private build for me and one of their composers to test and give more feedback to, and everything went pretty smooth. Dev handled the situation calmly, and swiftly addressed several of the complaints in that build and in the public version available now.
While there are still some smaller issues present, the big stinkers are pretty much gone; general enemy fire speed is slower, Lumba's speed is now consistently quick enough across levels to dodge more sorts of bullets, and most bosses are a lot more bearable to fight. I can consciously recommend the game again with the venture (and its extra campaigns) becoming better-paced than it was at launch; the game's story, visual presentation, and music can be enjoyed without also wanting to bash your head against the desk with the bosses (mostly, but you'll still figure 'em out in a timely manner).
EDIT: Coming back to the game upon the X-mas campaign's release, I think the gameplay's cracks have started to show.
I mentioned before that enemy fire usually targets your current location at that moment, which does sound fine on its own as you can most often keep your distance from all that, but the thing is that I felt [i]encouraged[/i] to use that tedious strategy throughout most of my run of the main game. It throws ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ waves of enemies at you with their bullets of varying speeds while Lumba, your guy, can't outpace some of that due to your own speed being much slower. It doesn't help that some segments start you off with a small amount of walking space, or that they zoom out and make the sprites smaller (including the bullets). The only thing it offers to help the player out are the crates that block enemy fire, but even then, you must break those crates in order to fire at them yourself, thus letting the danger in. Whether you choose to break 'em all at once or play it safe and go one-by-one is up to you, but personally, I prefer the latter method.
Bosses in general are even more tedious since they don't have checkpoints, but do have absurd amounts of health that you can't see. Some even have some cheap shots they throw at you, hard to see coming while you're already dodging something that requires your focus. It does not feel great to repeatedly start these over, only to feel cheated again the very next attempt. The hidden [spoiler]Postal Dude[/spoiler] fight is prolly the only one I had fun with despite the many tries it took, and that's not cause I like the character and (about half of) his own game series; it felt like a challenge that became decently engaging if you understood how the game worked.
The extra campaigns still encourage the keepaway playstyle and perhaps even make it worse by sprinkling in new enemy types in the crowds, with more annoying tricks up their sleeves like explosions upon death. Along with even more moments of starting points with limited space, there's the bosses. World Tour's I still haven't beaten due to its sudden follow-up's and either Lumba being too slow or the attacks being too fast, and X-mas I don't even know what stray bullets I keep getting hit by. Another thing: why is there visuals for snow in a game where most projectiles are similarly colored white?
It's honestly hard for me to recommend the game at the moment. Presentation and soundtrack are still its strong points like I described below, but holy crap, the gameplay makes it hard to sit through without wanting to punch something. Nothing has improved with the X-mas update either; pointless stories that don't add onto the lore and the World Tour boss seemingly wasn't nerfed despite voicing my complaints with one of the dev's.
Original review:
An excellent redo of a short, but fairly nerve-wracking top-down shooter that harbors an unsettling theme revolving around homicide and substance abuse. A soundtrack filled with pumped up breakcore and alarming ambiance assail your ears and mind as you witness the bloody deaths of disgusting freaks of nature and the downfall of a man convinced his quest is righteous.
Each chapter will introduce new threats to keep you dancing around the battlefield. Bosses can prove a bit frustrating [i](I still hate those spread-shots from that droopy guy in chapter 4)[/i] 'til you figure out a strat or two against 'em. Even if most enemy fire actually only targets your previous location and then dissipate upon meeting their destination, your mission to exterminate the filth of the earth may still have a few bumps in the road.
Oh, and one more thing: if you haven't read the copyright disclaimer, lemme just say... there's a certain [spoiler]fellow psychotic dude[/spoiler] you might cross paths with, if you're observant enough. The whole segment is a treat, I 99% guarantee it. :)
