This is one of those games that you can't grade on any normal scale. It's not fit for human consumption.
ILLBLEED is Dreamcasts' Survival? Horror? Game? that sees you visit a horror park and survive through its traps to get money. The gameplay is unique: it's effectively a game where you do that stupid metal detector puzzle but for the whole game. You walk through the enviroments as your "sight", "hearing" and "smell" senses detect traps and you can use limited quantities of Adrenaline to "tag" traps to disarm them. If you fail to tag a trap you lose health, start bleeding or your heart rate goes up.
The gameplay is awful, consisting of invisible traps and items you find via fourth and final "sixth sense", and battle system is atrocious.
ILLBLEED is a bad video game.
ILLBLEED is also a really great video game.
It's surprising to see a game released at the turn of the century to understand the modern humor so much and be so funny. From its presentation to different traps to various weird levels and situations, ILLBLEED knows that it's B-movie schlock and it runs with it. You fight your way through the 4th wall breaking creatures, you investigate a murder, you go through an adult Toy Story parody where a boy gets sick and dies with his doll that's basically Woody who visits hell and fights pretty much Sonic. Like, it's fucking Sonic.
As a game, ILLBLEED doesn't deserve your time. I didn't have fun, I just wanted to experience it after being familiar with it through let's play. Hell, even if you somehow enjoy it, the core conceit of untagging traps when the traps are the most fun regular thing that happens is broken beyond belief. There are hundreds of animations you just don't get to see when playing well! It's like watching Evil Dead 2 with all the blood removed - the camp is there, but barely any joy.
As an experience, ILLBLEED is sublime. An experiment in creativity so weird and funny I've yet to see a game that even remotely resembles it even in atmosphere alone. It doesn't give a single shit about what it does as long as it has fun. Sure, it might be described as "lolrandom" by some, but there are genuinely funny jokes among the strange and ridiculous.
This is the game that deserves both two stars and a five for me, but even when I was annoyed and angry when playing it myself, I'm just happy it exists. And thankfully we do live in an era of let's plays and streams. ILLBLEED should not be played, but it should be experienced.
ILLBLEED is Dreamcasts' Survival? Horror? Game? that sees you visit a horror park and survive through its traps to get money. The gameplay is unique: it's effectively a game where you do that stupid metal detector puzzle but for the whole game. You walk through the enviroments as your "sight", "hearing" and "smell" senses detect traps and you can use limited quantities of Adrenaline to "tag" traps to disarm them. If you fail to tag a trap you lose health, start bleeding or your heart rate goes up.
The gameplay is awful, consisting of invisible traps and items you find via fourth and final "sixth sense", and battle system is atrocious.
ILLBLEED is a bad video game.
ILLBLEED is also a really great video game.
It's surprising to see a game released at the turn of the century to understand the modern humor so much and be so funny. From its presentation to different traps to various weird levels and situations, ILLBLEED knows that it's B-movie schlock and it runs with it. You fight your way through the 4th wall breaking creatures, you investigate a murder, you go through an adult Toy Story parody where a boy gets sick and dies with his doll that's basically Woody who visits hell and fights pretty much Sonic. Like, it's fucking Sonic.
As a game, ILLBLEED doesn't deserve your time. I didn't have fun, I just wanted to experience it after being familiar with it through let's play. Hell, even if you somehow enjoy it, the core conceit of untagging traps when the traps are the most fun regular thing that happens is broken beyond belief. There are hundreds of animations you just don't get to see when playing well! It's like watching Evil Dead 2 with all the blood removed - the camp is there, but barely any joy.
As an experience, ILLBLEED is sublime. An experiment in creativity so weird and funny I've yet to see a game that even remotely resembles it even in atmosphere alone. It doesn't give a single shit about what it does as long as it has fun. Sure, it might be described as "lolrandom" by some, but there are genuinely funny jokes among the strange and ridiculous.
This is the game that deserves both two stars and a five for me, but even when I was annoyed and angry when playing it myself, I'm just happy it exists. And thankfully we do live in an era of let's plays and streams. ILLBLEED should not be played, but it should be experienced.