Recent reviews by GG8 | ???

The kind of SMRPG nostalgia trip this gives me with timed hits is impeccable.

Story? Linear. But that's not a bad thing.
Progression of areas? Linear. But that's not a bad thing.
Obtaining items Linear. But that's not a bad thing.
and abilities?

A lot of the ways this game handles how you interact with it is fairly linear, but introduces segments where you're (somewhat) free to explore each and every map, but must do the objective in a straight line.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It streamlines things for the player; it makes a lot of abilities, key items, ingredients very easy to find, and it's an enjoyable romp from start to (almost) finish.

I will say, the ending does feel a bit like a cop-out for a boss fight. I won't spoil, but it could have been done with a bit more of a bombastic finish. If they plan to make a sequel, I'd gladly support it.

This is super relaxing.

And even better with friends.

The game is just far too addictive for me. While based off of MvC2, I've always felt this filled the void for my Killer Instinct (SNES) addiction that I've had since I was first played it. Loved it and will continue to support it!

As a sucker for musically oriented video games, Savant - Ascent captured my attention from the start.

After booting it up, there's pure silence at the main menu. Odd. Highly out of place. You'd expect some sort of title music in most of your games to give you a sense of what to expect, depending on the overall theme right on entry.

Press Start, and your're treated to - what essentially boils down to - a slide show of stills showing you the story of what has occurred that leads up to your adventure as you "ascend" the tower. Quite literal. While not the most engaging, it's highly effective in its presentation. The lack of animation here is actually something I appreciated. It was out of place, much like the lack of title music, but it gave me all I needed to understand and infer the plot.

Next thing you know, the game begins!

You're treated to a short tutorial explaining the basic functions: X or Left Trigger to grab CD pieces, Right Stick to shoot your glowies of color, Left Stick to dodge. Simplistic.

The only thing is, you will die.

If you manage to continue at your base from New Game, I applaud you. But you WILL die. It's actually necessary that you do... If you've been collecting those CD pieces. They act as both your BGM and as your Power Up.

DUAL FUNCTIONALITY!

Each CD amounts to four pieces that you get from specific mechanized enemies that give off a yellow/goldish sheen. Take them out, and the piece is yours; you can get up to six CDs, each one adding a different mechanic that is NECESSARY to your progression.

After death, you begin again at the section that you left off, rather than starting back at the beginning. If you pause, you may choose to restart your section if need be. (FYI: It becomes handy, and almost needed, to begin at the beginning when you get your 5th Power Up and a certain "stone".)

For each CD you collect, you get a different musical style to accompany you. Most of it falls under the general genre of "Dubstep" and "Electro" - two of which I'm familiar with. While I don't like Dubstep too much, it adds to the retro-style look of the game with Chiptune themes and flourishes. The first four CDs are Dubstep, with the fifth being Drum & Bass. The sixth, at the time of writing, remains a mystery, but I hope it will be good!

Overall, after playing nearly two hours non-stop, it has been a great experience. Like I said, I'm a sucker for music games that have certain enemies or gameplay mechanics attached to a beat that require some strategy. This is more akin to a musical SHMUP - being on time doesn't particularly matter, but your mind will automatically sync up to it in some cases, which may hilariously lead to death.

Totally worth playing if you've got nothing else to do, or just feel like rocking out to some sweet jams.