Well, it's here, the game that was so hotly anticipated. I picked up the collector's edition pack from work, the cases are kind of nice and the comic is cool, but otherwise it's just the standard game.
Graphics: 8/10
Good graphical style, consistent with all the worlds and the main cast of characters. Stigmartha, Pandora, DJ, they all have really cool character design, reminiscent of Tim Burton. I particularly like the Dead Guppy (He's, well, a dead guppy). You won't be disappointed here, but the majority of the development apparently went into character design.
Sound: 7/10
The game has some good music, and cool sound effects. Unforunately, you know that song you hear at the beginning of the game in the suburbs? Cool song right? That's going to be the song you will hear throughout 90% of the game, outside of the central hub area (The Museum).
Gameplay: 6/10
Interesting, but lackluster. It's a platformer-meets-shooter reminiscient of Ratchet&Clank. Neither aspect is particularly innovative, but it does both relatively well, at first. There's nothing new here (you'll get tired of C4 Hamsters relatively fast). You have the options of using your relatively powerful melee scythe, or choosing from a host of guns that you get at the end of each stage (courtesy of the conjoined twins, Smith & Weston). You can upgrade your weapons and learn new moves, but this only goes so far, and many of the upgraded moves are near useless (like the defensive shield).
It's passable, but really nothing groundbreaking. What ruins it comes next.
Controls: 2/10
Abysmmal. Horrid. Worst controls ever. Any of these descriptions would accurately reflect Death Jr's control scheme. Particularly at fault here is the camera, which can make or break platformers. It broke this one.
The only ways to manipulate the camera are to enter a first person 'free-look' mode (in which case, you're very vulnerable for combat purposes) or to snap the camera behind DJ (which by the way, is very disorienting and not smooth at all). Neither is an option during combat, which this game has a lot of. If one enemy gets behind you and you fight him, you have to manually reposition DJ then snap the camera around to see the rest of the enemies. There's no way to snap around to lock onto enemies behind you, they have to be in your frontal cone of vision.
I've died a good twenty times because of the camera control scheme. Nothing is more frustrating. The camera of course, also ruins the platforming aspects. Just wait until you get to the hook jumping in the advance training level, it'll make you scream (and only gets worse in actual gameplay, with enemies firing at you).
The controls can make or break a game, and they just devastate this one.
Story: 4/10
It seems to be really cool at first, but that first five minutes of story is about the extent of it. There are a few captions throughout the game, but it's mostly just going through random levels to recover pieces of your friend's psyche. Not much to speak of here.
Overall: 6/10
It would have been a strong game if the controls were taken care of, and the developers took advantage of the wonderful characters they made to create more of a story. Mediocre at best, I tried my best to like this game, I really did. It can be fun, but it's frustrating more often than not.
It does take away from it! Especially when 4 monkeys are running at you, 3 demons are spitting at you from far away, 6 bats on top of you, meanwhile you are standing on a moving platform over lava that will kill you in 2 seconds. Look, its a worthy effort for a first time developer, but when they are tapping themselves on the back claimm "the hit game", you know there is a problem.
Combat actually doesn't work out TOO badly. It's when you get to deal with the platforming aspects you get screwed. You get four total continues in a stage, then it is start back at the beginning.
I've fallen through glitches in the terrain, landing in lava (and stuck under the platform so I can't get out). Or just random pits everywhere, that equate to an instant loss of a continue. Nevermind you are usually being pelted with blasts of demon goo as you do these stages in late game.
The enemy AI is pretty bad too, they will charge through lava at you if it's between you two. You can also "snipe" with your pistols far longer than the lockon range. Though note that the look controls are SO sensitive you probably can't line it up very fast.
The game isn't THAT bad. One complaint was the brightness: If you go into the settings there is an option to turn the brightness up. Another complaint was the camera: Yes, it's a bit strange however you don't have to stop walking to realign your camera, just tap L and it'll flip it around. Once you learn the controls it's pretty easy to control everything.
You don't go back to the beginning when you die, only to the last 'checkpoint' (if you can call it that). It's more like the beginning of an 'area' and the area's aren't that big. I've died several times and only lost a minute or two of play.
I've also found myself reaching for a second analog nub to move the camera around (too much Halo apparently) but that goes away quick. The camera also 'feels' like it's in the wrong place. It should be up a little higher to get a better depth of everything; sometimes I'll jump for a platform and completely miss because I realized it was to far away. All and all it's a fun game and if you preordered and recieved the limited edition stuff it's a good deal.
Yes, the camera is that bad. You have no controls over it except to set it behind you (Which only works if you have a lot of space behind you, it'll just make the camera spaz out if you don't). If your stationary you can use the manual look to reposition, but you're insanely vulnerable during that time, and it's a poor excuse to have to use the game's aim system to control the camera. Nothing can excuse the camera work in this game. Don't even try (Unless you find some hidden camera controls both I and the instruction manual are unaware of?)
You go back to the beginning when you run out of continues, which will happen often when the game bugs out and traps you in lava underneath platforms as you slowly (well not so slowly, damage fields do like 25% of your health) kills you.
I agree about the camera being in the wrong...place. But that's hardly a viable complaint, I wouldn't mind that at all if the camera could be controlled well...at all.
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