First-person shooters, a minimum of these days, are normally severe enterprise. You play stoic house marines preventing hordes of demons throughout alien landscapes or non-space marines preventing hordes of enemy troopers on scorched battlefields. Additionally they are inclined to have reasonably scarce dialogue and skinny storytelling. Squanch Video games definitely appears to be bent on violently obliterating these tropes with Excessive on Life.
The sport has you play the position of a younger human residing in a future the place our species is getting used as a drug by an alien cartel (sure. Actually). If this premise isn’t absurd sufficient, we meet one other alien who squats on our sister’s couch and decides to coach us within the methods of the bounty hunter to finally save Earth.
If that wasn’t absurd sufficient (sure. Once more), our main technique of preventing the threats we’ll must face throughout our bounty looking profession are… speaking weapons. The absurdity of the plot and its gadgets gained’t shock those that are conscious of the character of Squanch Video games, for the reason that studio is helmed by Justin Roiland of Rick & Morty fame.
Mainly, the speaking weapons exist to ship an limitless stream of Justin Roiland-style humor straight in your face (since this can be a first-person shooter). In the event you’re accustomed to Rick & Morty, you seemingly know what I imply.
Not solely do these weapon speak, however in addition they have faces and superbly animated expressions, and so they’re hilarious.
Whereas the extent I performed was mainly a tutorial, and a number of the speaking was a proof of the mechanics, I don’t count on the fixed cascade of perfectly-delivered jokes to decelerate because the story progresses, and this should be probably the most script-heavy FPS I’ve ever seen or performed.
I can respect that the absurdity of Rick & Morty’s humor isn’t for everybody, however personally, I needed to make a aware effort to not snigger out loud at a number of factors within the demo, contemplating that I wasn’t on my own within the room. Different journalists have been enjoying throughout me, and I undoubtedly heard loads of laughing, so I mustn’t have been the one one discovering the sport actually humorous.
In fact, you possibly can count on issues to be vulgar, gross, and to defy loads of widespread sense boundaries. As an illustration, I’m positive you’re accustomed to the truth that many video video games don’t can help you kill kids. This one has an annoying alien child provoke you into capturing him useless ten minutes in.
It’s a hilariously grotesque scene that definitely will remind you of the various moments wherein your weapons magically refused to shoot when aimed toward sure characters in lots of different video games, made even weirder by the truth that this time round your weapon is definitely sentient, and is kind of shocked by what you’ve accomplished, you monster.
That being mentioned, absurd comedy isn’t all that Excessive on Life has up its sleeve. The gameplay I’ve tried felt stable as properly. The capturing doesn’t goal for realism, nevertheless it feels sturdy and interesting sufficient, and it’s enriched by puzzle platforming components and even some reasonably distinctive additions that match the sport’s bizarre premise.
As an illustration, a secondary shot mode helps you to launch enemies within the air, after which you possibly can juggle them beat ’em up fashion for added harm (and giggles). On high of that, it definitely doesn’t damage that the ultra-colorful visuals of Excessive on Life look actually, actually good.
Whereas Excessive on Life might not be for everybody on account of how its particular sort of humor pervades each second, there’s a excessive likelihood that if you happen to get pleasure from Rick & Morty, you’ll have a blast with this recreation. We’ll must see if the standard of each the comedy and the gameplay holds up for the entire recreation, however the demo definitely had my curiosity piqued.
Excessive on Life will launch on December 13, 2022, on Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One, and PC
