At the very least, you can jump right into this DLC from a freshly saved state, having not completed the main story. If you get to the first mausoleum and clear it after a couple of stages, you'll release Miss Charisse, the star of this episode. From there, a watch-faced boatman will row you to a new fourth isle, where your task is to return the ghostly chalice to its physical form. To do so, all you need is, yes, a Wonder Tart. At least according to the jovial local chef, Salt Baker, who will gladly make it for you if you gather five special ingredients. But these ingredients are guarded by a powerful boss, and first they must be defeated.
But before you try to crack these tough nuts, MDHR adds a little spice. Not only can he play as Cuphead or Magman, but he can also play as Chalice himself. By equipping the Bowl Bond Hero's charm slot with a magic cookie, Charisse can "borrow" the hero's body. Unfortunately, this would mean that one of the game's useful trinkets (such as the invincible dash crutch) would be unavailable, but Charis' unique skill set more than makes up for it.
The major changes are that you can now double jump, you can catch pink bullets simply by dashing, and a fourth hit point has been added by default. So, while it is obvious that playing as Chalice is slightly easier to proceed, it may still be better to use your preferred ceramic brother in certain battles. Indeed, if you want to use the game's new charms, such as the useful rings that add hint points to the first, third, and sixth parries of a stage, you need one of the boys.
As for the battles, the benefits of taking your time with the slow cooker are really felt. The Last Course brings even more color and richness to Cuphead's signature character design, animation, and irrepressible soundtrack. This fresh plate is not only delicious and perfectly presented, but there is a greater sense of theater beneath it. There is a bounce in the gait of the new antagonists, a comic exaggeration in their facial expressions, and even a moment of epic escalation in the final phase.
Meanwhile, the machinery beneath this extravagance adheres to a well-oiled cycle, with quick restarts smoothing out the bumpy ride of failures, learning, and better failures. As ever, a time-trial mentality is required to test the limits of every curve, making every battle feel like a lap around a racing circuit. Of course, the bends here come in the form of missiles, minions, dangling obstacles, and rolling, dancing opponents' bodies, but mastering a skilled response to every tell is a similar principle.
Also, if "Cuphead" were a racing game, it would be one where oncoming cars would throw you off the racing line. This time, the screen is often even busier, and attack patterns cross at the wrong time, so you have to nod your head or rub your tummy to escape yet another mess. The first boss, Bootlegger Boogie, is an ideal scene-setter in this regard. Both require nimble hops up and down, but force us to navigate the space in very different ways. Safe havens are limited and infuriating failures are almost guaranteed. But once you start improvising to the upbeat jazz rhythms, it's a whole lot of fun.
In between the main events, the original run-and-gun level can be replaced by a series of side tests for a pleasant respite. Climb a mysterious rope ladder and you find yourself in King's Leap, a castle above the clouds where the monarch commands you to defeat his chess-themed vassals without using weapons. These games, which test your dodging and parrying skills, are best enjoyed as palette cleaners in between major challenges.
In fact, the only weak link in this package is the russian boss that appears after you get the materials (who asks you not to reveal himself). The reason is that it feels like you are not dealing with a boss, but with a lot of random objects flying around the screen. The big bad guys disappear into the background for most of their showcase.
Great visuals are not the only thing that gets buried under the demand of these frantic action games. For example, the cowboy-clad cow, Esther Winchester (a reverse cowgirl, one might say), has a similar problem. There is no animation more enjoyable than when she comes at you with her mammoth vacuum cleaner, skipping backward across the right half of the screen. But that's the scene where you need to focus on the left side and weave between the missiles she sucks up at you, so you may barely notice.
In this respect, "The Last Course" is not entirely at one with itself, like the world that "Mega Man" befriended when he was thrown into the "Baka Symphony". Similarly, despite "Cuphead's" indebtedness to the old cartoons, it still seems strange that they can't find a place to apply their character development and storytelling techniques to the scene. While the character designs are stronger than ever, the bosses are little more than colorful mechanical puzzles, their personalities concentrated in their willingness to kill and their reaction to being shot. I felt this was forgivable, as the original game had a large cast. Now it stands out as a missed opportunity to end the individual encounters with more context and draw a narrative arc through the fight itself.
"Delicious Last Course" is still top tier cup heading. Two or three of the bosses would be in the top five overall for the "Cuphead" stage. On an artistic level, however, there is something underrated about the way the history of animation is dug up in such detail, only to have its treasures laid out on your head. It may be delicious, but it is always with regret that when a truly artistic dish is served, all one can do is tear it down.
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