Raze’s
Hell from Majesco is a quirky action game that follows the exploits of a monster
who must stop an evil queen before she eradicates your entire race from the face
of the planet. The game has a look and feel similar to the Oddworld series, and
has some great story elements and a nice aesthetic. Unfortunately, the game has
a host of problems as well, ranging from stiff controls and unforgiving AI that
make the game unnecessarily frustrating. If you are looking for a game with a
cool look and an intriguing story, then Raze’s Hell is worth a look. Just don’t
expect to have too much fun with the testing gameplay.
You play the game as Raze, an ugly creature whose entire
village has just been slaughtered by the ruling Kewletts, a cute and cuddly yet
very ruthless race of beings whose queen has ordered a massive scale war against
your race. Raze then goes on a quest of revenge and vows to take down the evil
Kewlett queen and end her reign of terror.
Similar to Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, Raze uses
creatures and things in the environment to defeat his foes. Whereas in
Stranger’s Wrath you could collect spiders and squirrels to use against your
enemies, Raze collects different types of color-coded ammunition from pods in
the environments. You have a ton of different ammo at your disposal, ranging
from machine gun and sniper rounds to firebombs. Aside from your ranged
weaponry, you have melee attacks that you can beat your opponents with.
In a nod to Metroid, Raze can roll up into a ball and
zoom across the stages. While the roll attack is good for taking out many of the
weaker enemies, you’ll need to exercise caution while using it or else you may
run into something that will cause you some damage.
While these elements sound great, Raze’s Hell runs into
some problems. The controls are very stiff and unresponsive. Moving your
character around uses standard third-person action game look/strafe controls,
but the looking portion feels very rough. The targeting reticule is a pain, as
is doesn’t line up on enemies very well.
The AI is also ridiculously tough. The Kewletts have
dead aim, and extremely difficult to kill, especially in later levels when they
wear bits of armor. They take a lot of hits before going down, which does seem a
little ridiculous considering that they are only cute little buggers.
The graphics sport an interesting aesthetic. The
Kewletts look great, having distinct personalities and looking as though they
were taken off of the set of any number of children’s shows. The environments
are also very cool looking with an Oddworld feel to them. All in all, the
graphical presentation looks great and adds a lot to the feel of the game.
The sound effects are also quite good. The voice acting
is well done, with the Kewletts delivering some real zinger lines and humorous
moments. The music is also quite good and works with the atmosphere of the game.
The rest of the sound is pretty overbearing battle sounds and general combat
noise.
Raze’s Hell is a good action game that could’ve been
great with a bit more polish and some gameplay tweaks. As it is though, it’s at
least worth a rental if you enjoyed the Oddworld games.
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Gameplay: 7.0
Raze’s Hell is an
action game that has you shooting and beating your way through hordes of cute,
little enemies. While this concept sounds fun, most of the game ends up overly
frustrating due to unbalanced AI and stiff controls.
Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are
very good, with some great looking character models and nice looking
environments. The framerates do take a hit when the action gets intense,
however.
Sound: 8.5
Raze’s Hell has
some great script elements and voice acting. The music is also very good, but
can get lost in the shuffle during loud battle scenes.
Difficulty: Hard
Concept: 8.0
Raze’s Hell has a
great storyline that any fan of the Oddworld games should get a kick out of.
Multiplayer: 7.0
Raze’s Hell has a lot of multiplayer elements, like Xbox Live Deathmatch, CTF
and more, as well as co-op features for two players on the same Xbox. However,
any fun that you’d have in the online modes will be limited by the rough
controls.
Overall: 7.5
Raze’s Hell is a decent action game that could’ve been much better given more
polish and some focus on the controls and balancing the AI.
