The makings of a really excellent brawler but undercuts itself constantly. The main issue is the story and dialogue which start out rote and a bit eye-roll inducing, but gets worse and worse as it goes on. You can fast forward through dialogue when replaying a level, but I would LOVE that option on a first playthrough. It's surprisingly yappy and gets incredibly irritating.
The other aspects of the presentation are okay. It's not much to look at, but gets the job done in that regard with bloody kills and cool finishing animations. The soundtrack is solid at first but by the time you get to level 20 (of a slightly OTT 40) it'll all blend together as an unidentifiable collection of thumping dance music.
But the core of this is really good. Deep combat with tonnes of customisability and cool animations. You'll get that faux John Wick feeling we all crave. The game flourishes when it's kept simple; you and some dudes trading hands - an early level contained entirely in a bathroom is a good example. But there are a tonne of level gimmicks that just sort of get in the way. You're driving a boat or dodging a sniper or fighting mutants or suicide bombers (yeah) and some of that is fun and some of it is tiresome. There's a level where bikers are driving at you while you're still hand-to-hand fighting some other enemies and it's entirely too chaotic to really enjoy; and it undercuts the core fundamentals of the combat.
I'm shelving this for now, and may return later but I think it would have been better served at half as many levels (just cut all the gimmicks) and basically no talking.
The other aspects of the presentation are okay. It's not much to look at, but gets the job done in that regard with bloody kills and cool finishing animations. The soundtrack is solid at first but by the time you get to level 20 (of a slightly OTT 40) it'll all blend together as an unidentifiable collection of thumping dance music.
But the core of this is really good. Deep combat with tonnes of customisability and cool animations. You'll get that faux John Wick feeling we all crave. The game flourishes when it's kept simple; you and some dudes trading hands - an early level contained entirely in a bathroom is a good example. But there are a tonne of level gimmicks that just sort of get in the way. You're driving a boat or dodging a sniper or fighting mutants or suicide bombers (yeah) and some of that is fun and some of it is tiresome. There's a level where bikers are driving at you while you're still hand-to-hand fighting some other enemies and it's entirely too chaotic to really enjoy; and it undercuts the core fundamentals of the combat.
I'm shelving this for now, and may return later but I think it would have been better served at half as many levels (just cut all the gimmicks) and basically no talking.