One likable badass character can't save the rest of the game from a terrible cast with some awful acting, poorly shot action scenes, and needless point A to B walks for tedious collectible gathering.
House of Ashes sees a group of people trapped in underground ruins in Iraq during the 2003 US invasion attempting to escape vampire like demons that have been down there for thousands of years. The main characters include a CIA operative with a hideous character model that is for some reason in charge of a small group of the most incompetent Marines I've ever seen who have apparently been existing in a combat zone in an unready state while hoarding some war crime white phosphorus grenades, until her husband that she has been away from for a year shows up to take over. Her husband being an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whose satellite project is being used to try to find hidden weapons of mass destruction and is what finds the old ruins. There are two marines main characters with one being the guy the CIA agent has started a relationship with while away from her husband, and another one who is a racist with a 9/11 hat. The last character is a member of the Iraq Republican Guard who is there to be the only competent, badass, friendlier person, who might just be able to make the racist marine not as racist anymore and if the entire game was just about him fighting the Americans and the demons it would have made for a better time. Unfortunately, he can't save the game all by himself.
The previous entry in the series, Little Hope, wasn't good but it at least had some ideas and moments that could have lead to it being good if not for the terrible overarching premise, this looks like it might take the series into something the developer can do a better job with by making a more action packed faster paced ridiculous ride but it manages to mess even that up. While Little Hope had some very strong acting in a mostly mediocre script, Ashes doesn't even have that with the best actors giving just passable performances with the exception of Ashley Tisdale as the CIA operative who is always terrible. The constant finding of items and collectibles to slowly examine take you away from the immediate story as much as before, but even more so here in what should be a more dangerous fast paced situation.
The action scenes end up being laughable incompetent with every shot seemingly being a tracer round that frequently show the bullets going nowhere near what anyone should be aiming at. The scenes where US and Iraq forces fight make Steven Seagal movies look well shot and better able to follow a logical event chain. The monsters don't even seem to react to being shot in the face multiple times in certain scenes but can apparently be stabbed and killed with old slightly pointy objects not designed to be used as weapons. The camera is completely unable to handle some of the confined or narrow areas you find yourself in. Characters mouths don't always move when they are speaking and there are frequent fast jump cuts in multiple scenes either like frames missing from action scenes or like it was possibly looking for a scene or line that might have happened if different choices were made then cut somewhere else when it couldn't find it. The characters apparently all have an infinite supply of ammunition (until near the end of the game when they finally start running out), though that doesn't end up being very useful to them. They find out UV light will set them on fire so when they start breaking through one of the doors they are defending they decide to shoot at the door instead of just shining the light on their hands or through the open cracks of the door (or shooting larger hold in the door that could then have the UV light shine through it). The dialogue is ridiculous, any soldier in the game tends to be written in the most stereotypes ridiculous way imaginable. A side character dies after seemingly being shot in the legs, making you think that the plot might understand that getting shot is actually bad, only for multiple characters to be shot later on only to have them completely ignore it and to go on with it never mentioned or considered a problem for them. Like all bad monster media the creatures are as fast or slow, strong or weak, and smart or stupid as the couple minutes needs them to be before deciding to do the opposite in the next scene.
Being that it stars characters that are CIA and marines invading a country outside of WWII I assumed I'd want them to die but these characters were nearly David Cage levels of unlikable and incompetent to the extent that I'd want them to die no matter who they are or what they were doing. It also makes it difficult to want to go back and see what changes different choices can lead to as it doesn't allow you to skip any of the scenes that you have already seen before.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1713804446118068427
House of Ashes sees a group of people trapped in underground ruins in Iraq during the 2003 US invasion attempting to escape vampire like demons that have been down there for thousands of years. The main characters include a CIA operative with a hideous character model that is for some reason in charge of a small group of the most incompetent Marines I've ever seen who have apparently been existing in a combat zone in an unready state while hoarding some war crime white phosphorus grenades, until her husband that she has been away from for a year shows up to take over. Her husband being an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whose satellite project is being used to try to find hidden weapons of mass destruction and is what finds the old ruins. There are two marines main characters with one being the guy the CIA agent has started a relationship with while away from her husband, and another one who is a racist with a 9/11 hat. The last character is a member of the Iraq Republican Guard who is there to be the only competent, badass, friendlier person, who might just be able to make the racist marine not as racist anymore and if the entire game was just about him fighting the Americans and the demons it would have made for a better time. Unfortunately, he can't save the game all by himself.
The previous entry in the series, Little Hope, wasn't good but it at least had some ideas and moments that could have lead to it being good if not for the terrible overarching premise, this looks like it might take the series into something the developer can do a better job with by making a more action packed faster paced ridiculous ride but it manages to mess even that up. While Little Hope had some very strong acting in a mostly mediocre script, Ashes doesn't even have that with the best actors giving just passable performances with the exception of Ashley Tisdale as the CIA operative who is always terrible. The constant finding of items and collectibles to slowly examine take you away from the immediate story as much as before, but even more so here in what should be a more dangerous fast paced situation.
The action scenes end up being laughable incompetent with every shot seemingly being a tracer round that frequently show the bullets going nowhere near what anyone should be aiming at. The scenes where US and Iraq forces fight make Steven Seagal movies look well shot and better able to follow a logical event chain. The monsters don't even seem to react to being shot in the face multiple times in certain scenes but can apparently be stabbed and killed with old slightly pointy objects not designed to be used as weapons. The camera is completely unable to handle some of the confined or narrow areas you find yourself in. Characters mouths don't always move when they are speaking and there are frequent fast jump cuts in multiple scenes either like frames missing from action scenes or like it was possibly looking for a scene or line that might have happened if different choices were made then cut somewhere else when it couldn't find it. The characters apparently all have an infinite supply of ammunition (until near the end of the game when they finally start running out), though that doesn't end up being very useful to them. They find out UV light will set them on fire so when they start breaking through one of the doors they are defending they decide to shoot at the door instead of just shining the light on their hands or through the open cracks of the door (or shooting larger hold in the door that could then have the UV light shine through it). The dialogue is ridiculous, any soldier in the game tends to be written in the most stereotypes ridiculous way imaginable. A side character dies after seemingly being shot in the legs, making you think that the plot might understand that getting shot is actually bad, only for multiple characters to be shot later on only to have them completely ignore it and to go on with it never mentioned or considered a problem for them. Like all bad monster media the creatures are as fast or slow, strong or weak, and smart or stupid as the couple minutes needs them to be before deciding to do the opposite in the next scene.
Being that it stars characters that are CIA and marines invading a country outside of WWII I assumed I'd want them to die but these characters were nearly David Cage levels of unlikable and incompetent to the extent that I'd want them to die no matter who they are or what they were doing. It also makes it difficult to want to go back and see what changes different choices can lead to as it doesn't allow you to skip any of the scenes that you have already seen before.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1713804446118068427