ROLLING STAR

The game is fun and worth its price on first playthrough. Newgame+ also known as hard mode is really impressive. Hard mode lets player continue with all unlocked skills and new enemies difficulty continues perfectly from normal mode's end game. During normal game player will unlock maybe half of the skills and even less of the items. This means that main character and gameplay keeps evolving in hard mode instead of just increasing stats. After multiple hours chaining boosts, staying air long periods of time and moving very fast becomes a skill that the player has learned. Dashing through areas after 10 hours of practice feels very satisfying.

Oh man where to begin. It's a metroidvania that actually works to improve the formula and then throws in a fun story and memorable characters to elevate the gameplay elements. I'm still working through the hardmode content myself but it was a nice surprise to learn that hardmode isn't just "health sponge" enemies, there are actually new things to learn and implement (or not depending on your capability). I can't recommend this game enough and I'm glad I found it. Be aware that there are some difficulty spikes if you choose to ignore certain mechanics, such as using skill points (which I was kindly reminded of by the hero-helper from the 21st century and still chose to ignore until I realized my mistake). Thank you Laurie for reminding me to always look on the bright side, work for those we care about, and to keep laughing at what I find comical, or as we say in our time; LOL, LMAO.

Like TOMOMI, Rolling Star is a fun and appealing Metroidvania that never forces you into long, tenuous backtracking. The soundtrack delivers once again. The movement continues to be quick and snappy, with quite a few different abilities to master. Laurie's story is simple, but fun with her constant quips with the rest of the characters. Her blasters are a bit different than Tomomi's sword but you get used to them fast. The skill tree + stat upgrades serve their purpose enough for the game's length, and there are new equipment slots as well. The bosses were a huge step up from TOMOMI--some very cool fights like Marathon Man and Roller guy (can't remember its name). After beating Laurie's story, I immediately jumped straight into the Tomomi route and and happy to report that it is not a simple copy/paste. In fact, having played TOMOMI already, I'd say it was more enjoyable for me of the two routes due to how it plays out. Of course, Tomomi herself is still awesome to play with how fast you can fly across the maps. For it's price, Rolling Star is a short, but worthwhile experience.

holy peak! we goo- i mean, we rooting for laurie!

Really fun game. Gameplay and exploration both felt nice.

Good game. Fun combat. Variety of bosses and upgrades that keep things interesting.