Honey is THE mod for this game that I was looking forward to the most. I just really like Honey, I don't know why, and anything that lets me play as her outside of her one game is very welcome. So I speedran my way to the Download button once I saw that she was released. And I started playing and... ah...
There are control issues all over the shop. The butt bop is good, but its auto-aim can easily send you flying wherever and interrupting your flow. Why does it have an auto-aim? Amy doesn't need an auto-aim for her hammer, and the butt bop is basically that but with a larger range. The stomp is not much use at all, yet it's assigned to Jump+Jump as if it's her signature move that you'll use all the time. It's not, and you won't. I spent the majority of airtime with my ring finger firmly glued to Custom Button 1. And speaking of Custom Button 1, though not airtime, the moon kick. It's okay, but it's cumbersome to use due to the Custom Button 1 requirement and ultimately doesn't add much - it's an "ignore platforming" move, which is odd to see here. Isn't Honey combat-focused? Ukemi is very, VERY limited in usage. It fits in with Honey a little better, though I do not comprehend the need for a control lock and ESPECIALLY why it needs to eat the post-damage grace period.
The cat pounce, even if it's not much more than a more risk-reward thok, is a move I enjoyed, but it's brought down by the same requirement of needing Custom Button 1 to be held to use. It's actually even worse than that - the pounce is an aggressive-looking move, and Honey is established to be a character that can jump-damage enemies even though she's no-spin. It's communicating that the pounce is an offensive move except it actually isn't... *unless* you press Spin again, it which case she curls up and can do damage. It's a pounce, why *shouldn't* it damage enemies by itself? Using the spin also automatically transitions Honey into a spin when she hits the ground. I'm not sure how I feel about that, given that Honey makes a big deal of being no-spin.
The meter seems to exist solely to give Hyper Mode a purpose other than being mini-Super Sneakers on command. Beyond that, it only muddies up how each move is supposed to function and can even get you killed because you thought you could pounce but nope, meter not charged yet. I do appreciate the Fighters reference, but...
It feels like there wasn't much thought put into Honey, gameplay-wise. Like there was no plan beforehand, and no review afterwards. Honey's shield abilities are disabled, yet she has no moves assigned to Jump+Spin. All that focus on Custom Button 1, yet it does nothing in the air other than let you use the pounce - and that should be the place of the stomp, as the ability the player will need less immediate access to. I wonder how much her control could be improved with some re-thinking. Maybe having to use Custom Buttons at all could be avoided!
(side note: I understand the necessity to make Honey more "complicated" so that she can properly represent a fighting game, but Honey as she is right now really does not merit it)
Before playing as her, all I had to go on were Twitter posts showing her off, and she does make a good showing visual-wise. You went the distance to make her ecclectic color palette customizable and her animations are all great. Having a dedicated Candy alt was a fantastic touch too! My only real complaints on that front are that her signpost sprite and victory animation look like they're not *quite* finished yet, and she has no "standing" NiGHTS animation so when she exits the Special Stages she looks really off. Minor stuff, I mean who cares about NiGHTS?
I can't ignore the gameplay issues, however. I don't know. I feel like I'm being a mite too harsh here. But Honey is a character who doesn't get enough representation, and I waited a long time to have a Honey in SRB2 (if I knew the first thing about good spriting or good 3D modelling I would made a Honey myself a LONG time ago), and I'm a lot less impressed by the result than I hoped I'd be. Perhaps trying to make another "combat" character after Cacee nailed it in one go wasn't a good idea. Oh well.