Rating Curve

Too long too boring too many boss fights

POW is an incredibly disappointing sequel to me that tries to emulate of WOW but ultimately ends up degraded in every way.

WOW starts by immediately throwing you into a 3x speed blue pad corridor, it sets the high energy for the rest of the level where you will constantly be hitting orbs and bopping up and down to the beat which pow tries to recreate but it just doesn't work because it uses a much calmer song that lends itself to slower sweeping motions, but the level doesn't change to accommodate that. It offers nothing beyond the gameplay in WOW apart from poorer execution, particularly in the spam sections which were already the segments i liked least in WOW but the orb line things used here feel so much stiffer in comparison, no effort made to implement spam in an interesting way at all.

I find it a very strange decision that this level chooses to constrict itself to a binary purple and blue colour scheme, it's so so much less engaging than the hue and monochrome in WOW that produced very psychedelic and in parts eerie vibe. Most the designs in POW are also pretty cluttered not helped by the unnecessary shaders and camera controls sprinkled throughout when in WOW its structures were clearly defined and grounded, this is important at high speeds to ensure your level doesn't end up a blur. Another annoying thing is the random crystal cave theme popping in and out, it just feels disjointed, not going to commit to the theme? Then you may as well discard it.

Levels like this don't have to always be random or messy, it would be far more engaging if this had a clearer direction/vision for its structuring, designs and colours.

Deco is whatever, but the gameplay here is so awkward to play especially in the first UFO and orb spam sections. It made me a little bit mad when first playing through the gauntlet despite being so easy ha ha