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Excessive on Life is a blinding cacophony of colours, goopy fluids, and crass jokes, all of which mix into one of the crucial baffling experiences of the whole 12 months. That is each good and dangerous as Excessive on Life is definitely a singular expertise, although the humor and capturing begin to overstay their welcome.
Excessive on Life comes from Squanch Video games and the thoughts of Justin Roiland, greatest often called the creator of Rick and Morty. You’re taking the function of an unassuming twenty-something human, caught dwelling alone along with your overbearing sister when your dad and mom journey out of city. Any weekend plans you may need had exit the window when an alien cartel referred to as the G3 invades Earth and begins kidnapping people to make use of as medication.
Picture by way of Squanch Video games
Subsequent factor you understand, you are an interstellar bounty hunter utilizing a speaking gun referred to as a Gatlian, and a reasonably offensive one at that. Excessive on Life’s story and aesthetic are by far what offers it such a singular aptitude, and there is an apparent comedic tone the sport adopts early on and runs with.
For those who’ve watched or performed any of Roiland’s earlier work, you understand precisely the type of humor I am speaking about: calling an alien a spacist (space-racist), riffing on popular culture references, joking about your sister getting an alien boyfriend, or making an attempt meta-commentary on the very nature of online game design.
The actual difficulty is that Excessive on Life’s humor is extra becoming for a TV present, typically breaking the fourth wall and “talking at” you reasonably than immersing you within the expertise. It actually seems like an elongated Rick and Morty episode, and for each genuinely sensible joke that lands, there are normally three or 4 that fall utterly flat.
The capturing in Excessive on Life, sarcastically, runs into the very same downside; it comes out of the gate robust however fails to offer something really new or fascinating throughout the roughly 10-hour expertise.
Picture by way of Squanch Video games
Mechanically, Excessive on Life is your fairly typical first-person shooter, with every gun having a primary fireplace possibility and a particular assault. The place issues get extra fascinating is within the sport’s the traversal choices, which assist make fight really feel extra fast-paced and frantic.
There is a good cadence to motion in Excessive on Life, and when you unlock the second weapon, Knifey, you achieve the power to grapple to ledges, floating bugs, and extra. This opens up a ton of choices within the semi-open environments, letting you flank enemies with ease or swoop down on them from above.
The Gatlians themselves additionally carry some good variation to the combo. Not solely do they function new weapons but in addition as new voices to assist information you thru the expertise. This does imply, nonetheless, that there are fewer weapons in Excessive on Life than you would possibly discover in a typical shooter, as every one is designed to be particularly distinctive.
Your beginning companion, Kenny, is actually a pistol, however in a while, you will unlock a Gatlian that capabilities nearly precisely like Halo‘s Needler, a shotgun, and a type of crowd-control Gatlian that shoots out little creatures.
Picture by way of Squanch Video games
But it surely turns into obvious after a couple of hours that Excessive on Life merely would not have the enemy selection to go with its weapon selection. There are a handful of primary enemies and every “bounty” you tackle usually introduces one variant of these varieties.
Sadly, Excessive on Life tends to throw dozens upon dozens of the identical enemy at you at any given time. Fight encounters drag on too lengthy as you face wave after wave. The core capturing of Excessive on Life feels nice, and every weapon is distinct, however it’s exhausting to take pleasure in these points if you’re gunning down the identical fodder for hours on finish.
Whereas Excessive on Life is a principally linear expertise, particularly in its fight encounters, there’s some extent of explorability to the sport’s environments. Every map has plenty of Luglox Chests to search out, that maintain both collectible playing cards or foreign money to purchase upgrades. Between every bounty, you will return to the alien metropolis of Blim Metropolis, and wandering round yields some hidden conversations and occasions, though these haven’t got a lot bearing on the general expertise.
Excessive on Life Overview — The Backside Line
Picture by way of Squanch Video games
Execs
- Sturdy, distinctive visible aesthetic.
- Surprisingly enjoyable gunplay with weapons that each one really feel distinct.
- Opening hours present promise with some genuinely good humor.
Cons
- Humor will be hit and miss and fails to evolve in a significant method.
- Severe lack of enemy selection.
- Second half depends closely on backtracking and would not carry something distinctive to the combo.
Excessive on Life is a sport that is so obsessive about “riffing” on the online game medium that it loses a little bit of its identification within the course of. In a quest to turn into a type of “anti-video sport” online game, Excessive on Life falls into a number of the similar pitfalls that it pokes enjoyable at.
There’s fairly truthfully nothing egregiously dangerous right here; the story has a powerful setup with some genuinely humorous gags, and surprisingly tight capturing and exploration again it up.
The actual points come up as you get additional into Excessive on Life, and the sport’s humor and capturing each begin to develop stale. I want Excessive on Life developed extra and put extra complexity into its second half, which is unfortunately too targeted on back-tracking. For those who’re a fan of Roiland’s earlier works, you will possible discover so much to like right here, and even in the event you’re not, this a shooter with a singular aesthetic and humorousness you will not discover wherever else. Simply bear in mind that your hours of enjoyable would possibly include a wholesome dose of frustration.
[Note: Squanch Games provided the copy of High on Life used for this review. Featured image via Squanch Games.]
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