Like an old man sitting on his
porch, Matt Hazard can’t stop thinking about the good old days. He reminisces
about them constantly, interjecting decent (sometimes hilarious) jokes and awful
one-liners whenever possible.
One day, when a strange occurrence
threatens to erase his world and everything he knows about 8-bit gaming, Matt
Hazard is lucky enough to get caught in the middle, blasting his way through the
past like all of it was new again. He travels through several environments, each
representing fictitious video games that could have existed – and in the case of
the blatant Super Mario Bros. parody, they kind of did.
Running sideways through attractive,
modern-looking worlds that are mechanically based in the second dimension, Matt
Hazard has no shortage of enemies in his latest adventure, Blood Bath and
Beyond. In every way you can imagine, it is just like the classic days of
gaming, from the instantly intriguing, action-packed excitement to the eventual
realization that the game is much too similar to those it tries to parody.
Non-Stop Shooting
Need to take a breather? Be prepared
to wait for the text-only story segments (which occur in between stages) because
this game isn’t going to slow down for anyone. Yeah, you’ll get a few seconds to
catch your breath before a boss comes out. But that’s only because Blood Bath
and Beyond is determined to follow the old-school rule that states that every
boss must make a dramatic entrance.
Those who have fond memories of
Contra, Metal Slug or any other 2D shooter won’t have a hard time getting sucked
into Blood Bath and Beyond. Weapons – which are available in machinegun, rocket
launcher, laser cannon and other explosive flavors – are abundantly dispersed,
giving the player many opportunities to test their blood-splattering effects on
the near-endless onslaught of enemy soldiers.
Enemies come in a variety of styles
(pirates, ninjas, etc.) that match the atmosphere of the world, which is often
colorful and occasionally gruesome. Explosions are particularly tasty – or as
Mortal Kombat’s audio guy would say, “Toasty!” – and will send body parts flying
toward the screen, leaving a lovely blood-stained splotch on your monitor. You
could say that it’s the kind of gore shooters of the past were too scared to
implement. In a post-Mortal Kombat/Grand Theft Auto world, however, it doesn’t
seem that extreme.
Aside from one atrocious mini-game,
Blood Bath and Beyond is strictly a 2D shooter. The visuals are somewhat 3D and
you can shoot into the background (just like Shadow Complex), but this game is a
side-scroller at its core.
Fifty Cents, Please
Blood Bath and Beyond is very short.
You’ll finish it in under four hours for certain; three is definitely
attainable, and don’t be surprised if you’re through it in two. The harder (and
literally more vulgar) difficulty settings can make the game last a bit longer,
but it’s still the same 50-cent experience. The levels differ primarily in
appearance; though you may have bricks to shoot (a la Mario) or platforms to
climb, the experience doesn’t change. Enemies arrive and you’re required to
shoot them. When they’ve been cleared out, you move to the next part of the
level (which is rarely more complex than moving from left to right) and fight
another set of enemies. This goes on until you reach the credits, at which point
the horrendous mini-game is unlocked on the main menu.
That mini-game – an aerial mess
where you must fly through a swarm of dangers and land with expert precision
using a control scheme that can only be described as evil – is forced onto the
player near the end of the game. There didn’t seem to be anyway to skip it or I
would have. And if it weren’t for this review, I probably would have stopped
playing right then and three, because it just wasn’t worth continuing.
That may be Blood Bath and Beyond’s
biggest problem: it doesn’t have any replay value. Just the mere fact that I was
willing to walk away because of a bad mini-game tells you that I didn’t think
I’d be missing anything. And really, I wasn’t; there isn’t much more shooting
after the space stage, and what’s there is as repetitive as the rest of the
game.
The developers of Blood Bath and
Beyond shouldn’t have been so determined to adhere to yesteryear’s style of
gameplay. As a result, we’re left with a game that would have been capable of
taking my quarters 20 years ago – perhaps amounting to a greater expense than
the $15 price tag on XBLA and PSN. In that sense, Blood Bath and Beyond is worth
its download fee.
But it should be noted that there’s
a big difference between buying a game online and playing a game at 50 cents a
pop for brief, albeit public, entertainment. After beating it, don’t be
surprised if you feel silly having a game on your hard drive that you are likely
to never touch again.
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Gameplay: 6
The first stage is the best, because at that point everything is fresh. By
the end of this very short game, you’ll still be entertained but you won’t be
eager for a second play-through.
Graphics: 7
The explosions and blood-splattering effects are very well done. (Either
that or my inner Mortal Kombat junkie is coming out.) Players will be impressed
by the semi-intricate backgrounds, the interesting lighting effects
(particularly those involving a flashlight), and other eye-catching elements.
But, like so many games before it, Blood Bath and Beyond doesn’t do anything
visually that hasn’t been done many times before.
Sound: 4
You’d think that a video game that’s dedicated to parodying video games
would have a great soundtrack that backs up this theme, perhaps one that
includes musical hints of our favorite games. At least, that’s what you’d think.
Difficulty: Medium
Not as challenging as Shadow Complex (and nowhere near as painful as Metal
Slug). But if you crank up the difficulty setting, Blood Bath and Beyond is
quite a beast.
Concept: 5
Blood Bath and Beyond was off to a great start. The story begins with an
excellent text-only intro that is merely amusing; it also makes fun of the poor
sales and lousy reviews the first Matt Hazard received. But once the gameplay
gets going, repetitive shooting takes over and it’s all too familiar.
Multiplayer: 5.5
The co-op is cool for a while but the fun doesn’t last.
Overall: 6
If you could rent it, that’d be the best way to experience Matt Hazard:
Blood Bath and Beyond. Since you can’t, only one question remains: are you
willing to spend $15 on a very short game you may only want to play through
once?
