Opening Impressions: Freedom Planet 2 Demo

Because two posts today at the same time wasn't enough content, here's a third one. I'm not going to call this a review as its still a demo build. One level, four characters. So, how is the demo for Freedom Planet 2?

Starting with the presentation this time, like its predecessor, the game does look and sound great, sounds even better actually. I don't know if they've fixed it, but when I reviewed the first game, there were audio balancing issues when it came to the voice acting, the voices would easily get drowned out by the background noise. Here, everyone (who has voice clips, more on that later) can be clearly heard. However, I'm not sure if its a bug with the demo or not, but there are missing sound files that I've heard from others who have played the game, and when I was playing it, I did have texture not display properly. I'm willing to pass that off as demo build issues, but its also something I'll be looking out for in the final build of the game. I do like the more dynamic camera feature though. While the game is still 3D, at times the camera will zoom in and out to give you a more accurate view of the level, even using it to show what path you're on in at least one portion of Dragon Valley. It sounds simple, yet it works really well.

The characters have seen some changes to them. Aside from design and a new dodging mechanic, Lilac has stayed pretty much the same, though she does have some new abilities shown in trailers, Carrol now has a disk she can attack with or use as a make shift Hookshot, so long as you get the timing right, Milla's had a buff that makes her more versatile in close combat which to me is very much appreciated. To take her place as the hard mode character, newcommer Neera, who fans of Freedom Planet 1 may recognize as the ice panda who you fought in Jade Creek, serves as this game's hard mode, but unlike Milla in FP1, Neera doesn't feel as much of a "Difficulty by handicap". She still is, but not to the same extent as she has more versatility then Milla did. One issue I personally have is the health for the characters. It feels smaller then FP1 did, and while I haven't died, I have come close to it. I'd personally like the characters to have a bit more health by default in the final build of the game.

Here's hoping the rest of the game is as good as this demo, because to me, if I wasn't sold before, I am now. See you next week for the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth review, and throughout the week with more from the Mediaholics Playlist.