A satisfying beat 'em up that drags on too long and is riddled with bugs. Full disclosure: I played the game on hard entirely in co-op, and some of the issues are probably exacerbated by one or both of these factors.
From the start, it was clear I wasn't going to give a shit about this game's story. I was right, it's not horrible but it obviously just exists to exist. In fact, everything that isn't combat including the traversals between encounters and "puzzles" kind of just got in the way in my opinion. Co-op made those non-combat gameplay sections even worse because you have to wait for your partner to be in the same place every 30 seconds.
So, combat then. It's fun and satisfying. There's a good variety of moves and equipment you unlock throughout the game to brutalize the enemies, which is an awesome spectacle with the sick ass visuals. It reminds me a lot of the modern God of War entries with the weightiness and balance between melee and ranged combat. In the second half of the game though, enemies just start to become sponges and encounters start taking way longer than they should because of it. Come to think of it, God of War (2018) also had this issue with higher difficulties... There was a sharp difficulty spike at the end too which led to a frustrating conclusion.
Now, a word on the co-op because I really don't understand the design here. This game had huge potential as a co-op experience, but it ended up just being a tacked on feature. In the beginning, you're introduced to the main character's partner in crime and there's cutscenes and in-game combat where he fights by your side slinging dynamite and blasting enemies. So, once I got past the tutorial mission and invited my friend to play, who do I see he gets to play as? An exact copy of my character, which the game obviously pretends doesn't exist. I don't feel like I need to spell out how big of a missed opportunity this is, both players could have even diverged in their abilities and gear.
Finally, I have to mention the bugs. There were so many, including but not limited to: crashes, getting stuck in the floor, audio cutting out, co-op partner not being able to heal or use combat abilities, rifle shooting at an offset from the onscreen crosshair, and numerous (harmless and sometimes funny) visual glitches. Safe to say, these definitely impacted the experience due to their frequency.
This was a long one, but overall I wouldn't recommend against trying this game out on a sale if you're an action gamer looking for some simple monster-gibbing fun. I'd recommend against playing in co-op however, and don't set your expectations too high.
From the start, it was clear I wasn't going to give a shit about this game's story. I was right, it's not horrible but it obviously just exists to exist. In fact, everything that isn't combat including the traversals between encounters and "puzzles" kind of just got in the way in my opinion. Co-op made those non-combat gameplay sections even worse because you have to wait for your partner to be in the same place every 30 seconds.
So, combat then. It's fun and satisfying. There's a good variety of moves and equipment you unlock throughout the game to brutalize the enemies, which is an awesome spectacle with the sick ass visuals. It reminds me a lot of the modern God of War entries with the weightiness and balance between melee and ranged combat. In the second half of the game though, enemies just start to become sponges and encounters start taking way longer than they should because of it. Come to think of it, God of War (2018) also had this issue with higher difficulties... There was a sharp difficulty spike at the end too which led to a frustrating conclusion.
Now, a word on the co-op because I really don't understand the design here. This game had huge potential as a co-op experience, but it ended up just being a tacked on feature. In the beginning, you're introduced to the main character's partner in crime and there's cutscenes and in-game combat where he fights by your side slinging dynamite and blasting enemies. So, once I got past the tutorial mission and invited my friend to play, who do I see he gets to play as? An exact copy of my character, which the game obviously pretends doesn't exist. I don't feel like I need to spell out how big of a missed opportunity this is, both players could have even diverged in their abilities and gear.
Finally, I have to mention the bugs. There were so many, including but not limited to: crashes, getting stuck in the floor, audio cutting out, co-op partner not being able to heal or use combat abilities, rifle shooting at an offset from the onscreen crosshair, and numerous (harmless and sometimes funny) visual glitches. Safe to say, these definitely impacted the experience due to their frequency.
This was a long one, but overall I wouldn't recommend against trying this game out on a sale if you're an action gamer looking for some simple monster-gibbing fun. I'd recommend against playing in co-op however, and don't set your expectations too high.