This is why I don't play hacks.

As great as Sonic 3 and Knuckles is, the mechanics behind Amy added to what I didn't like about this game.

This was great in concept, but clumsy in presentation.

She does not turn into a ball when she dashes. There is an instance in Flying Battery where you have to dash under a sloped platform, and the lower part of the slope was at the exit end of your intended path. Normally you are smaller as a ball, but Amy's size got me killed the first time because she was too tall to make it through. No other character in the game would have this problem.

The hitbox on the the hammer started above the character, and seemed to move slightly forward with the animation of her swinging. This resulted in a number of hits and deaths, and culminated in an annoying final boss. You couldn't rely on it to hit everything you attacked because the motion was awkward. I often found myself expecting it to function closer to Sonic's instant shield, so some of these problems might have been caused by expectations. Amy cannot approach spiked enemies the way Sonic can.

This was clearly intended to some extent, but I think it needed a little more refinement. As an ancient player of 2D Sonic games, I could see the hammer's spin was designed after Sonic's own instant shield in that game, but it worked in a deceiving way.

I will credit the creators of this hack for taking Sonic 3 and adding the Sonic And Knuckles levels with Amy in mind. The whole intended experience of Sonic 3 is available. She has a bounce move that sends her into the air by smashing her hammer on the ground, and she can smash barriers or rocks, as well as kill enemies with her hammer. Her extra skills weren't used often, but I also did not explore every branching path in this game.

I am not certain this will impress people unless they are strong fans of Amy Rose, but there was some care put into adding a fourth notable character to this game.

I am not normally one who enjoys stealth games, but this game's premise and sense of humour were a welcome exception.

You are a sociopath trying to sleep, and you kill your loud neighbors. The story is more complex than that, but the real charm of this game is in its gameplay. I found the amount of traps and murder methods to be somewhat limited in each level, which left you often searching for places to stash bodies. However, there is enough to keep anyone with a dark or absurd sense of humour laughing enough to keep playing. What the player does have to work with is as inventive and silly as it is morbid.

Party Hard surprised me a lot with its take on stealth and deeply ingrained psychological problems. It is not a one-sided experience, as it develops both gameplay and story equally. This could have been a more dynamic experience if there were more traps and weapons to work with in each level, but I'm also not under the impression I found everything this game offers. Pay close attention to your environments to find all the funny ways to kill people. When you aren't poisoning food or making things explode, there's likely some objects or vehicles you can crush people with.

I had a lot of fun in a game I was out of my element with, and I don't say that lightly.