Ask for the shape of the challenge.

Swinging is forgiving by design. The spikes are the crowded arena fights on Ultimate, where one unblocked rifle burst is most of a health bar.

Every individual mechanic is trivial; the difficulty is entirely another human being who cannot hear what you are shouting.

Combat is scored on the beat and will still let you win off it. Playing to the rhythm is the difference between a rank and a mess.

A blockbuster that expects to be finished, with the actual demands parked in optional bosses you can walk past without the story noticing.

Story missions checkpoint constantly and aim assist does most of the shooting. The spikes are the driving and the gold medal objectives, which nobody is obliged to take.

A lullaby until the drop speed crosses whatever your reading threshold happens to be, at which point it becomes a pure reflex test with a very good soundtrack.

The genre’s shape at a fraction of its hostility — and the only one on this shelf that ships with a menu that will hand you a gun and skip the fight.

Generous by design and confident enough not to pretend otherwise. The optional speedrun levels at the end are the only place it bares its teeth.

Two players, one screen, no difficulty setting. The hard part is coordination, and the game restarts you both a second after it goes wrong.

Combat that yields immediately to a difficulty slider, wrapped around a preparation system the game quietly assumes you will ignore.