Poison Control Review (Playstation 4 and Playstation 5)
1. Story
Where do I even start with this, it's quite a strange one. Hmmm… Okay so, you play as a girl or guy, depending on what you choose, but you play as a person who unknowingly stumbles into hell and does not remember what happened at all, and you meet this girl, a Klesha; the names of the monsters of hell; and she takes over your body. However, since you are still alive and not dead, she cannot take over your body completely. You instead combine to form a team of poison purgers. The girl, Poisonette, also does not know her past either. So with her help, you defeat Kleshas, and go through the circles of hell, helping alive or dead people finally being able to move on from their dark pasts and mistakes. Essentially, purging their hearts of the poison that's built up from things like stress, relationships, or tragedy. And hopefully, you can find out your past along the way and learn the reason you stumbled into hell! Now, this story is nothing crazy or life changing, but it's enjoyable throughout and has fun moments and funny characters thanks to a fantastic translation. Very witty writing made even scenes that are not plot relevant entertaining. It was a good story with occasional moments of emotional depth, but never took itself too seriously. Pretty cool to me!
2. Gameplay
The gameplay here too, is quite unique compared to other games I played. As I stated before, the basic gameplay loop is to go through the hells of girls who are going through issues in their life, or what was their life, and let them move on from them. How do you do this? Defeat Kleshas with your poison guns, third person shooter style, and clean up the poison, splatoon style. Add in some RPG leveling, inventory management, and collectables, and you got Poison Control. Its a very unique game and I have never played anything like it, but once I got the hang of it, it became enjoyable. However, due to the games low budget the game does have some performance hiccups and can be very stiff to control and shots have trouble hitting sometimes but it was fine most of the time. It's to be expected of a very small, niche game like this from a niche developer. For what it is, it works. You can level up and upgrade your weapons and stats and even do heart to hearts with Poisonette to further increase stats as well, and get some funny dialogue to develop your bond with her. Overall, its a very unique take on an RPG that I have not seen before and although it is rough at times, it was fun and could definitely be improved to be even more fun.
3. Music
One aspect that does not disappoint in any regard is the music! HOLY SHIT, THESE TUNES SLAP ASS! So many good songs, with all sorts of instruments, and synth songs. Fantastic music all around and I listen to the ost frequently, so that goes to show how good it is, seriously, its that good. I have not heard of the composer before, 12sound, but if this is what he's making I am eager for more! The music is one of the best parts of the game hands down!
4. Presentation
Once again, given this game's low budget, the game has stiff animation, and not the best quality textures, graphics, or even framerate. However, this game does make up for it slightly with its really colorful and creative artstyle. The artstyle of this game definitely helps ease out its rougher edges, and the character portraits, menus, and ui elements all have some nice style. During cutscenes, played in a VN like format, the characters have little portraits which move while talking, which is a really nice touch that adds personality to cutscenes! The pause menu also has a nice animation of Poisonette which is cool, and she will pop in and talk sometimes. It even has its own song! (Which slaps.) I think the colorful vibrant artstyle of this game really helps it look good, and stand out, despite its otherwise low budget models and textures. Overall, the presentation is mixed between good artstyle versus actual gameplay.
5. Completion Process
The completion process for this game was quite a grind. Having to get all the weapons, getting all collectables, grinding a lot of money and doing everything was quite taxing. I do not think it was very good as a completion experience. Doing this added another 10 hours to my playtime. Otherwise, this game is quite short, and only about 10 hours. It just was not that fun, and was a pain to do but I managed. I do not recommend doing this. ANYWAYS…
6. Conclusion
Poison Control is a very unique and interesting game that experiments a lot with what an RPG can be, however it does not go far enough and has enough issues that it can be a bit problematic at times. It shows promise, but needs a sequel and more budget to truly make a game that can fully flesh out the concept it offers. However, considering this game never would have existed without taking a chance and a lower budget was the only option, I would rather have it as it is than not at all. It's an experience I will not forget, and has a nice heartwarming story to enjoy, with some emotional depth to boot. Nippon Ichi did a good job here, but I know they can do better if they ever decide to make a sequel.
7. Wrap Up
THANKS FOR READING! Poison Control is available on PlayStation 4, Backwards Compatible with PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
1. Story
Where do I even start with this, it's quite a strange one. Hmmm… Okay so, you play as a girl or guy, depending on what you choose, but you play as a person who unknowingly stumbles into hell and does not remember what happened at all, and you meet this girl, a Klesha; the names of the monsters of hell; and she takes over your body. However, since you are still alive and not dead, she cannot take over your body completely. You instead combine to form a team of poison purgers. The girl, Poisonette, also does not know her past either. So with her help, you defeat Kleshas, and go through the circles of hell, helping alive or dead people finally being able to move on from their dark pasts and mistakes. Essentially, purging their hearts of the poison that's built up from things like stress, relationships, or tragedy. And hopefully, you can find out your past along the way and learn the reason you stumbled into hell! Now, this story is nothing crazy or life changing, but it's enjoyable throughout and has fun moments and funny characters thanks to a fantastic translation. Very witty writing made even scenes that are not plot relevant entertaining. It was a good story with occasional moments of emotional depth, but never took itself too seriously. Pretty cool to me!
2. Gameplay
The gameplay here too, is quite unique compared to other games I played. As I stated before, the basic gameplay loop is to go through the hells of girls who are going through issues in their life, or what was their life, and let them move on from them. How do you do this? Defeat Kleshas with your poison guns, third person shooter style, and clean up the poison, splatoon style. Add in some RPG leveling, inventory management, and collectables, and you got Poison Control. Its a very unique game and I have never played anything like it, but once I got the hang of it, it became enjoyable. However, due to the games low budget the game does have some performance hiccups and can be very stiff to control and shots have trouble hitting sometimes but it was fine most of the time. It's to be expected of a very small, niche game like this from a niche developer. For what it is, it works. You can level up and upgrade your weapons and stats and even do heart to hearts with Poisonette to further increase stats as well, and get some funny dialogue to develop your bond with her. Overall, its a very unique take on an RPG that I have not seen before and although it is rough at times, it was fun and could definitely be improved to be even more fun.
3. Music
One aspect that does not disappoint in any regard is the music! HOLY SHIT, THESE TUNES SLAP ASS! So many good songs, with all sorts of instruments, and synth songs. Fantastic music all around and I listen to the ost frequently, so that goes to show how good it is, seriously, its that good. I have not heard of the composer before, 12sound, but if this is what he's making I am eager for more! The music is one of the best parts of the game hands down!
4. Presentation
Once again, given this game's low budget, the game has stiff animation, and not the best quality textures, graphics, or even framerate. However, this game does make up for it slightly with its really colorful and creative artstyle. The artstyle of this game definitely helps ease out its rougher edges, and the character portraits, menus, and ui elements all have some nice style. During cutscenes, played in a VN like format, the characters have little portraits which move while talking, which is a really nice touch that adds personality to cutscenes! The pause menu also has a nice animation of Poisonette which is cool, and she will pop in and talk sometimes. It even has its own song! (Which slaps.) I think the colorful vibrant artstyle of this game really helps it look good, and stand out, despite its otherwise low budget models and textures. Overall, the presentation is mixed between good artstyle versus actual gameplay.
5. Completion Process
The completion process for this game was quite a grind. Having to get all the weapons, getting all collectables, grinding a lot of money and doing everything was quite taxing. I do not think it was very good as a completion experience. Doing this added another 10 hours to my playtime. Otherwise, this game is quite short, and only about 10 hours. It just was not that fun, and was a pain to do but I managed. I do not recommend doing this. ANYWAYS…
6. Conclusion
Poison Control is a very unique and interesting game that experiments a lot with what an RPG can be, however it does not go far enough and has enough issues that it can be a bit problematic at times. It shows promise, but needs a sequel and more budget to truly make a game that can fully flesh out the concept it offers. However, considering this game never would have existed without taking a chance and a lower budget was the only option, I would rather have it as it is than not at all. It's an experience I will not forget, and has a nice heartwarming story to enjoy, with some emotional depth to boot. Nippon Ichi did a good job here, but I know they can do better if they ever decide to make a sequel.
7. Wrap Up
THANKS FOR READING! Poison Control is available on PlayStation 4, Backwards Compatible with PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.