Weapons are only a instrument for killing in each different shooter, however that’s not how it’s in developer Squanch Video games’ Excessive on Life. These instruments of destruction discuss with their mouths as a lot as their barrels, which inserts the weird alien world imagined by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. Excessive on Life falls into among the identical comedic pitfalls as Roiland’s different work, however that perspective has led to at least one distinctive first-person shooter.
Though it is rather a lot its personal factor, Excessive on Life can considerably be in comparison with the underrated traditional Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath since each are unconventional shooters with residing armaments that happen on otherworldly planets. Nevertheless, Excessive on Life’s fight loop is a bit more conventional because it intelligently borrows among the style’s latest developments with a purpose to set up a extra acquainted mechanical basis inside its one-of-a-kind wrapping.
This isn’t evident from the outset for the reason that sport surprisingly places its worst foot ahead and solely equips gamers with a pistol early on; there’s not even a normal melee assault till an hour or so in. Nevertheless it picks up when it begins slowly introducing new instruments just like the grappling hook, sprint, rocket slide, and jetpack that every one give the firefights a welcome sense of momentum the place zooming round is the norm. Excessive on Life’s presentation implies that it isn’t simply a normal, run-of-the-mill shooter, and these further instruments assist give it extra life so it might stay as much as that characterization. None of those devices are utterly new throughout the house, however they match inside its world and clearly show the way it isn’t one other boots-on-the-ground army shooter filled with gruff troopers with M16s and buzz cuts.
M16s don’t often blabber or shoot out slime, both, which is one other avenue the place Excessive on Life’s weirdness shines by. Three of the 4 predominant weapons match the roles of pistol, shotgun, and machine pistol, whereas the fourth blasts out little helpers like a grotesque model of Ratchet & Clank’s Brokers of Doom glove. Whereas customary weapons at first, their alternate fires and features open up new prospects. For instance, the shotgun can fireplace out a big disc that bounces between enemies and even be used as a platform when embedded into sure partitions. Meleeing the disc even continues its combo chain, rewarding gamers with quick reactions. Every has a number of features like this, each out and in of fight, which makes it a bit deeper than different shooters the place the weapons are simply weapons.
It’s not as sturdy as different entries within the style, although. On prime of being just a little buggy, the improve and mod programs lack choices, that means they solely trace at a broader sense of customization that disappointingly isn’t there. Its stingy protect pickups are additionally inconsistent and don’t gravitate towards the participant, which may be irritating when it will get chaotic and there’s no time to fastidiously stroll over each. However these issues are inclined to fade into the background since zipping round and killing slimy aliens is usually thrilling sufficient for its nine-hour runtime.
These chatty weapons are as integral to the story as they’re to the gameplay, however their dialogue isn’t as clear as their marksmanship, which interprets to the sport as a complete. Excessive on Life’s common humorousness may be very a lot in keeping with the opposite elements of Roiland’s present oeuvre, most notably Rick and Morty, the place improvisation, vulgarity, and absurdity are king. These can generally synergize nicely and result in respectable bits price a short chuckle or at the least an amused nasal exhalation. Virtually none of it’s laugh-out-loud humorous, but an honest portion of it’s mildly entertaining sufficient to maneuver the plot alongside.
Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless an excessive amount of that relies upon closely on impromptu ramblings. Many characters haphazardly run by their traces or draw them out, typically stammering or guffawing in ways in which make it apparent that the actor is making it up within the second. Whereas this will lend the dialogue some authenticity, it’s simply an excessive amount of of a crutch right here, particularly because it typically ends in some trite punchline about masturbation, intercourse, or pooping. These sorts of gags can nonetheless be hilarious, however not after they’re all too typically the endpoint, an inevitability when continually drifting away from the script. That is most clearly seen in its Grownup Swim-esque nonsequiturs that play on the hub metropolis’s TVs and virtually completely visitors on this model of overused humor.
These rants aren’t as honed as written jokes and Roiland is probably the most responsible of it right here since he performs the principle gun, Kenny. Listening to him stutter by his elements that he’s clearly forming on the spot is sort of annoying because it’s the identical schtick in the identical Morty voice he has been doing for years. Going off on tangents about Konami or drawing out what needs to be a easy response simply seems like filler, which was additionally an issue in Trover Saves the Universe. Excessive on Life isn’t as obnoxious because it may very well be because it has a forged of different likable predominant characters that principally appear to stay to their traces and ship them nicely, however its overreliance on such a humor has greater than worn out its welcome.
Its model of comedy is likely to be a bit performed, however Excessive on Life nonetheless has fairly an identification. With a vivid and extraterrestrial setting, fight that makes use of its weird instruments nicely, and an easy marketing campaign that doesn’t demand to be performed eternally, Squanch Video games’ first shooter is impressively capable of declare its personal house throughout the style. It’s an area filled with obscene rest room humor and swearing pistols, however an area it has nonetheless earned.
SCORE: 7.5/10
As ComingSoon’s assessment coverage explains, a rating of seven.5 equates to “Good.” A profitable piece of leisure that’s price testing, however it could not attraction to everybody.
Disclosure: The writer supplied a PC copy for our Excessive on Life assessment. Reviewed on model 4.27.2.0.
