Writing has never been Wild Hog's strong suit, and Evil West doesn't really change that.
At the very least the writing is more palatable than the Shadow Warrior series, exchanging its nerdy wannabe cool guy for a comparably toxic example of masculinity, but at least he isn't such an annoyingly nerdy incel smartass. Still, with a bit of #NoHomo the moment a man dares to show he cares about another and not enough actual feminism in the portrayal of its only positive female character to convince you that they know how to write female characters, it could be unbearable, and yet they manage to somehow keep it bearable enough to not skip the cutscenes, even if they do add little to the enjoyment of the game, just enough context to string the McGuffin-filled missions together.
It's a good thing the game is otherwise enjoyable - while it begins slow and promising little, it starts becoming increasingly complicated (but never too much) and hence more enjoyable with each new weapon you unlock and with its rather neat upgrade system where most of the upgrades actually feel like they add something new to the game, be it considerable damage or a fun effect (my favourite - grenades spawning electric tornadoes) as opposed to just rising some minor thing by 2% like half of these games that saw upgrade systems are all the rage but don't know how to make them actually interesting.
Playing it on Normal I also found the game to have an optimised sense of difficulty where it always feels like you might not make it, and yet usually do - it keeps the player on their toes, trying to use all the game’s systems to the best effect, without ever becoming frustrating, the few bosses I had to try again once or twice hardly a bother.
Which is good because the game has no problems throwing insane-seeming amounts and combinations of monsters at you, most of the bosses showing up as cannon fodder soon enough, what first seemed impossible soon what you eat for breakfast, even if you have to crunch extra hard to make it.
Which is good because it's so enjoyable to tackle them, and it covers up quite nicely that some of the places you're fighting in have very little to show for themselves, half the finale taking place in a huge empty room right out of a 00’s shooter.
But there are some really nice looking maps as well, and I captured more than a few screenshots of some especially gorgeous-looking moments, even telling my partner to look up from the Switch. The character's movement and action also feels nicely weighty, a far cry from Shadow Warrior, another thing I disliked about that game.
All in all, it's a solid 7 - a game safely skippable by those who have little interest in shooters, but a surprisingly fun time to everybody else thanks to its varied and meaty combat system and adequately challenging opponents. Enjoying westerns also helps. If the writing was any good, I might even love it, but as it is, I just enjoyed it, but hey - that's better than half these fuckers I try.
At the very least the writing is more palatable than the Shadow Warrior series, exchanging its nerdy wannabe cool guy for a comparably toxic example of masculinity, but at least he isn't such an annoyingly nerdy incel smartass. Still, with a bit of #NoHomo the moment a man dares to show he cares about another and not enough actual feminism in the portrayal of its only positive female character to convince you that they know how to write female characters, it could be unbearable, and yet they manage to somehow keep it bearable enough to not skip the cutscenes, even if they do add little to the enjoyment of the game, just enough context to string the McGuffin-filled missions together.
It's a good thing the game is otherwise enjoyable - while it begins slow and promising little, it starts becoming increasingly complicated (but never too much) and hence more enjoyable with each new weapon you unlock and with its rather neat upgrade system where most of the upgrades actually feel like they add something new to the game, be it considerable damage or a fun effect (my favourite - grenades spawning electric tornadoes) as opposed to just rising some minor thing by 2% like half of these games that saw upgrade systems are all the rage but don't know how to make them actually interesting.
Playing it on Normal I also found the game to have an optimised sense of difficulty where it always feels like you might not make it, and yet usually do - it keeps the player on their toes, trying to use all the game’s systems to the best effect, without ever becoming frustrating, the few bosses I had to try again once or twice hardly a bother.
Which is good because the game has no problems throwing insane-seeming amounts and combinations of monsters at you, most of the bosses showing up as cannon fodder soon enough, what first seemed impossible soon what you eat for breakfast, even if you have to crunch extra hard to make it.
Which is good because it's so enjoyable to tackle them, and it covers up quite nicely that some of the places you're fighting in have very little to show for themselves, half the finale taking place in a huge empty room right out of a 00’s shooter.
But there are some really nice looking maps as well, and I captured more than a few screenshots of some especially gorgeous-looking moments, even telling my partner to look up from the Switch. The character's movement and action also feels nicely weighty, a far cry from Shadow Warrior, another thing I disliked about that game.
All in all, it's a solid 7 - a game safely skippable by those who have little interest in shooters, but a surprisingly fun time to everybody else thanks to its varied and meaty combat system and adequately challenging opponents. Enjoying westerns also helps. If the writing was any good, I might even love it, but as it is, I just enjoyed it, but hey - that's better than half these fuckers I try.