I made Waddy as a sophomore, so I can be fairly critical of it now. Getting through the levels is more about memorizing where the obstacles are than skillfully maneuvering Waddy. This is most prominent in the pitch-black level (1:56 in the video) because you have very little information, and you end up memorizing your previous runs to get through. It’s also very unforgiving (1 shot death LOL). I think I was trying to substitute difficulty for depth, thinking they were the same thing.
The other big thing is that there aren’t enough cues for how to play the game. Shields regenerate over time, but you wouldn’t know that to begin with. It just happens; no fanfare or explanation. The sonar button is crucial, but you only know it exists if you read the title screen. Ideally there’d be a hint as you progress into the dark level, but we were too keen on keeping a clean interface, for maximum immersion.
I think the laser powerup was a good idea, but there is no visual meter to show the cooldown. This creates unfun moments where you think it’s off cooldown so you position yourself appropriately to hit a swath of enemies- but then it isn’t, so you spam the button, and are not able to maximize the firepower when it does go off, because you had to dodge bullets in the meantime.