I love the clay thing going on.. Makes me want to buy it just for that...
But not for 40 dollars.. Not a must have.. Will buy physical version at a best buy 2 for 1 or something a while from now.
Not to pick on you just anchoring my anger...
You say just the art style almost justifies it but not for a discounted price? Is $40 too much for anything but a big 3d environment type game? We paid $100 or more in today's money for 8-bit games that looked like pixel puke made by two homeless hippies and grew a billion dollar industry from nothing. An industry of the most progressive and wonderful ideas about interactivity, learning, interface, design, and art. Now we're eager to throw everything away except for the most common-denominator trash with a level of sophistication approaching a slot machine.
If this game is anything like its predecessor it will deliver based on the mechanics alone. People have reduced the controls to drawing haphard short lines in this thread--that's only when you're sucking. Advanced players deal curves with the flair of a renaissance artist, anticipating trajectory far in advance of the action and watching the physics unfold according to plan. It was a mind-meltingly cool concept years ago and that magic combination of stylus and touchscreen is still novel today.
The only caveat is that you or anyone may just suck at it and you're not learning fast enough to enjoy the rewards. It doesn't wait around, you just have to bring it or you will fail hard over and over. You may just not have the artistic ability to draw good lines or the mental agility to predict spatial stuff. I'm willing to bet that all the reviewers that rated this poorly have shitty handwriting.
It's not for everyone--that's why we should be celebrating it and supporting it and relishing every minute.