The dialog is cheesy and everything is completely over the top tbh is more or less crazy. There is however a story that pulls you along very nicely. You play the part of a wrongly accused mercenary out for revenge. You are stuck on a planet which used to be an adventure playground for the rich, which has become overrun by savages and mutants. All this is explained as the story progresses. You soon get some enhancements that monitor your actions and award you points depending on how you kill your foes. At first this seems unbelievable even if you have totally immersed yourself in the game world. It all gets explained when you get to about Act four,in a game that lasts approx 10 hours.
So, the skills hot system is immediately appealing and immense fun, Unfortunately it soon gets quite draining. As you progress into the game you get access to more weapons and some of these are a treat. You have a sniper rifle, and get this, you get to steer the bullet as it flies towards the target. Each weapon has two modes of firing. In the case of the sniper rifle the charged up version goes one step further. Once you have shot somebody you get to move that body around (all in slowtime) before letting it detonate, hopefully killing other baddies. So you can look through your scopes, spot a group of grunts, and fire a charge shot at the leader. Once hit, you can send the corpse above the others and explode it killing them too, for bonus points.
Bonus points. These are awarded for a variety of reasons. Obviously you get points for killing people creatively (so drag somebody towards you, kick them away and shoot them midair into a cactus for mega points, etc). You also get points for killing newsbots, certain actions and there are reflex bonuses if you respond to the “Hold Right Mouse Button” quick enough. Points allow you to get more ammo and upgrade the capacity of your weapons.
Health is a simple affair, If you get shot too much, hide until you recover. There are no health packs to worry about. In some games this would be a downer, however in this game it fits. This game is all about having mindless fun.
Once you have enough weapons to give you a bit of choice in proceedings the game settles to a very enjoyable gore fest. Because you have eight weapons to choose from you can only carry three at a time. You shouldn’t stick to just three weapons though as each weapon has its own unique methods of getting bonus points. This encourages you to try everything at least once.
This game is fairly short, but seems to be getting to be the norm rather than the exception these days. There is a lot to do in that ten hours though. A lot of it is derived from old games, there are enough novelties to keep you interested should you make it past the first act. For instance, at one point you get to control a life sized rocket shooting dinosaur robot, having previously been chased by it through a model city. Boring…..? No way!!!
Once you have finished the game you can replay sections and this adds to the game, as now you have definite target scores to achieve. (Eg, clear the level in four minutes etc). Do not forget multiplayer as well.
Graphics and sound are good without being awesome. The good news here is that you won’t need a PC made from gods big toe run it. The bad news, is that you won’t be able to use it to show off your PC made from said toe if you have one as there is nothing spectacular. Given the comic book theme, photorealism is not a requirement. The game is also pretty stable. It minimises to desktop should you need to use the PC for something else and restores without throwing a hissy fit.
Good dirty fun!
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
