I have finished games that I hated but finished because I could, as for Space Channel 5, I really liked every artistic choice like music, aesthetic, dialogue, atmosphere, design, etc. As far as gameplay goes I think it can be very frustrating at certain points, the fact that when a boss defeats you and you have to go back to the start of the stage can be quite punishing, more because the difficulty make a high spike when a boss arrives so you have to do a really easy stage and then give a shot to the boss which for a no-rhythm person like me, can be very tortuous and not fun at all.
If only there were checkpoints at midpoint or pre boss battle (I know I sound like a casual) or maybe you didn't have a failure in the middle of the battle, instead a failure state for not achieving the rating % (the point system in this game), so you can practice at least all the stage at once and not memorizing chunks by chunks.
Nevertheless Space Channel 5 can be really enjoyed for someone as rhythmless like me, but I won't recommend it for persons like me, otherwise, you'll have a good time with this game.
«Time-tested»
«Underrated»