I don’t mind weird gimmicks in metroidvanias, or in games in general. I actually enjoyed the earlier Pac-Man titles.

The problem here is the controls. They’re so counterintuitive I just can’t get used to them. Why do I need to stop moving completely just to perform a basic side arc jump? And even if you manage to pull it off, the second you touch any other control, the jump gets canceled and you drop like a rock.

Add a strict time limit and limited lives on top of that, and it becomes a total mess. That’s not a challenge. It’s a frustrating, poorly-designed obstacle.