LogFAQs > #969857581

Yes, I did read the review, but that part isn't relevant to the conversation we're having. Maybe he's incorrect and the combat is fine, but the point you were making is wrong. Elden Ring's combat is hard, but it's also well designed. This guy thinks Callisto Protocol's combat is hard because it's badly designed. So there's no issue with those two reviews you posted.

For what it's worth, Polygon's review has similar complaints.

Still, the game has a general sense of sluggishness, a seemingly intentional choice to give Jacob and enemies a sense of weight and impact. Some inputs, though, like quick weapon switching, dont seem to register sometimes, which is a huge problem in difficult encounters.

But even once you do settle more into The Callisto Protocols rhythm, combat scenarios often feel unrefined. Smaller enemies pop up with little to no warning, for instance, locking Jacob into button-mashing quick-time events that drain his health. Monsters also pop up directly behind you, making some encounters feel downright unfair. Dead Space had its monster closet moments that delivered fun, well-earned jump scares but mutant zombies emerging from grates in the floor out of your line of sight? Far less enjoyable, particularly when paired with the games disorienting camera movement. Thats nothing compared to multiple moments where the game throws mobs of enemies at you. These are the worst parts of The Callisto Protocol, where any earned tension snaps and turns immediately into pure aggravation. Multiple difficulty spikes pushed the game past the realm of enjoyable challenge and into that of unfair masochism. I eventually switched to easy mode out of necessity.

The games checkpointing system is also inconsistent. There are frequent checkpoints, thankfully, but they often occur seconds into a boss battle, with no time to heal, reload, or reach a position of safety to recompose.

As does GameSpot's:

Dodging is fairly simple to pull off, though curiously assigned to the same stick used to control Jacob's movement. Not only do you use the left stick on a controller to move Jacob, but pushing it to the left or right as an enemy attacks you is how you dodge in either direction. In one-on-one encounters, this isn't too much of a problem--you're facing the threat at hand and moving or dodging accordingly. But it becomes unmanageable when confronted with larger groups of enemies. When you're surrounded by multiple biophages, turning to keep track of an enemy could cause you to dodge an attack from a different enemy instead, potentially repositioning you into a disadvantageous corner and twisting the camera away from the threat you're trying to track. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens enough to be frustrating, and in a game as difficult as The Callisto Protocol, losing track of your positioning even for a moment can result in taking game-over-inducing damage.

The integrated HUD works against The Callisto Protocol's combat in this regard. Much like Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol doesn't feature a traditional user interface. Instead, Jacob's health is conveyed via the life support system grafted to the back of his neck. And instead of an ammo counter in the bottom corner of the screen, it's displayed as a holographic projection on whichever gun Jacob is holding. In a game like Dead Space where protagonist Isaac Clarke is battling necromorphs from a controlled distance, it's a lot easier to quickly glance at the displays on Isaac's armor and keep an eye on the approaching necromorphs, weighing the situation against your current health and ammo count. It also helps that Isaac doesn't really move when firing any of his weapons, managing to keep all his systems in clear view at all times. But in The Callisto Protocol, Jacob is moving around a lot more, twisting his body as he dodges attacks or swings his stun baton within the throes of close-quarters combat. It's difficult to keep track of your resources because not only is the threat at hand more immediate, the displays detailing the relevant information are moving around more.

If you happen to miss that your health bar has devolved from a healthy green to a flashing red in the midst of a fight, you'll be unaware that the next hit you suffer will likely be your last. On any difficulty, the biophages hit hard and fast. Most of The Callisto Protocol's horror comes from the unskippable death animations you're subjected to when Jacob dies, all of which are gruesome. But after the second or third time one happens, these death animations lose their shock factor and become tedious--and if you're stuck on one difficult combat encounter or challenging boss fight, they're quite frustrating.