I played it again to see if I was bugging out or goated, but I honestly can't say there's anything out of the ordinary. There's enough downtime after a bout to recover my stars spent on a clash and go for it again. The first cow was the only encounter that killed some seedlings and I had to replant them midbattle (which is when I started wondering why is this reload mechanic so long and also because I got hit because i forgot to change back to stars for a moment/pressed E on accident and switched.) To be honest, hearing of the special functions I understand the mechanic more, as different packs for different effects could give build variety, which probably would also allow for bosses to be designed around builds a bit more, so I can see that deepening the game.
Just as a final check, this time and no skulls on the final boss from someone who just uses stars, goes in and takes a step back is too slow, too fast, just what you expected? And concerning your worry about the rating, I saw this game as a beyblade game, and one of the few that actually let you use melee, so to me it was one of the best. I really just didn't get the long reload.