I like it
Everything was good in this game, but killing the enemies was too easy. The only time this game got hard was when I was fighting the demon boss on level 6. I could never beat that bastard, no matter how many ideas I came up with. But what I did notice was when I used my second attack on the boss, he didn't flinch like the first attack. Either that or the last attack just takes too long, which in fact it does. Overall, it's not bad but it could use some fixing up.
Alright game
I found this entertaining for a while but then it got boring. The story was cool. A great thing about this game is the bosses.
The mechanics on the first boss ruined it.
A first boss should generally be more of a challenge than the average enemy, but not enough that you don't stand a good chance of defeating them on your first try. This draws you into the story, and gives you an idea of how you fight bosses. This boss was nigh impossible.
Firstly, the instant kill wall at the back. If you don't figure out the correct way to fight, you get knocked into it. If you do figure out the correct way, the boss suddenly stops responding to attacks (I hit him, he skips the fall down sequence, roars, I hit him again, he skips the fall down sequence and roars, then he spins at me till I hit the wall.) and forces you into it. An instant kill mechanic is not a good idea for a first boss.
The forceback mechanism. You are gradually forced back, in an unpredictable fashion, to the wall. If the enemy randomly decides to not drop dead when you attack them, then there is no possible way you can win. You can't dodge, jump, or anything.
The annoying bit before it. Whenever you die, you have to rekill that random guard, over and over. Annoying.
Anyway, this game is poorly designed. I'm sure with enough tries I would be lucky, and when I get his health down, he'll die. It will just be luck though. No special skill. You get in close, and slash three times with your sword. Then you charge hit him back.
Nothing I can do to effect this. I can dodge his attacks enough that I don't die of health loss. I can't get past him. So I stopped playing and gave you a three out of frustration.
Nintendo - hard
I came to this game fortunately in wrong order, having just discovered the series thanks to Culumination. Now - obviously, it is much superior in terms of gameplay and design. But this part? Good grief, it is hard, and not in the "good" way, but in the "nintendo" way. I grind my teeth and continue playing - but only because I want to finish the series. From the bizzarely difficult first boss (and sadly, more difficult due to the glitch in controls, which sometimes fails to detect a hit), to the rather absurd dexternity challenges with your bird (a subtle clue - if you wish to challenge our flying skills in a time trial, for crying out loud, make sure the controls are SMOOTH). Not to mention often dropping off the ledges due to the character moving too damn fast. Still, a decent game - a crude beginning to awesome series, tis seems.
The controlls could stand to be a little tighter but the animation was beautiful. Character design was good as well. Sound effects were ok. The objective when fighting the boss-demon-thing was unclear as I wasn't sure right away if I was supposed to push it back with the power attack or simply damage him untill it died.
The frustration factor is what really brought the rating down, allthough it could stand to have some more complexity in the puzzle solving and untilization of abilities.
Not being able to jump kind of threw me off, allthough since it's not a vital ability it's more of a comfort thing.