hell of a game, or i guess i should say heaven of a game?

if you have the time trial/arcade hi score/speedrun mindset this game will possess you. i cannot count how many times i looked down at my phone to realize that i had been grinding the same 40 seconds for 4 hours to try and shave tenths of a second of a time. the abilities you get are fun. the stages are fun. moving is fun. it's incredible. i was worried about certain aspects involving aiming, as i'm not much of a crack shot at FPS, but you NEVER have to shoot at moving targets. all targets are stationary, so i was able to dial in my muscle memory and just replicate super tight runs through that.

the story is boring and the writing sucks but it doesn't matter. you can fast forward all of it if you want. the art direction is vivid and striking, the machine girl soundtrack is 100% certified bangers and is such an inspired choice and makes the grind so easy to lose yourself in. i'm not gonna stop playing this.

Look I'm going to be real, I actually really like the game that is here. I loved Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, a game where you use weird, ugly little living creatures as weapons and got a bunch of power ups while taking out bounties. And that's exactly what High on Life is! The weapons are fun, the powers are fun, the maps are varied and cool.

The issue lies in, well, the whole selling point of the game. The "jokes" are annoying, unfunny, and incessant. Even after I turned all of the extraneous dialogue down I could hardly tell a difference because it's ALL THE TIME. Moving a quest forward is abysmally slow because of how much riffing they have to do.

I did laugh a bit during the time I played it, but it has nothing to do with the script. Some of the performances got a chuckle out of me, particularly a couple of Zach Hadel's deliveries. The RedLetterMedia commentary track of "Demon Wind" also got me pretty hard, and if I'm honest, the main reason I even installed the game.

I understand how stupid it sounds to say "I wish there was no Justin Roiland in the Justin Roiland video game" but I never expected to see a spiritual successor to Stranger's Wrath. I don't even know anyone else who ever played that. So all I see here is wasted potential.

Easily the best execution of the oft attempted rhythm-fps genre, but still not quite there. Your movement and gunplay mesh really well to a beat in a way that most other failed at, being able to continue your streak with Paz or movement was really satisfying, but it would be nice if the enemies were also beholden to the mechanics. Having attacks set to the beat to make dodging easier and more intuitive, as opposed to just normal mob enemies that get free reign to run up on you or shoot at you, which causes the issue of having to strafe in like, a polyrhythm which is way harder than I think the game was intended to be, and that throws off the groove the rest of the combat sets you in. Certain stages also felt really limiting, with the stage design not really offering enough room to really utilize your dash and jump, but the big arenas were a blast.

i truly have no desire to go back to this. it's a well put together, good looking, good sounding game, but it feels...... empty. like the systems are all in place but there isn't really a.... game to use them on.

combat sections are far too easy and you can max out your cult very quickly and it just never feels like you get anything from it. very quickly just started to feel like busy work. going through the motions of management because they were there, not because i needed to or even wanted to.

i feel like if this gets consistent updates, or even a paid dlc, it could be really good. but right now it's just not enough to keep me playing.

The game honestly feels fake, like it was commissioned by a VFX studio to be used as a plot point in a TV show as a game the protagonist plays to connect with their kid or something and they didn't want to license an actual game. The game is rough, unpolished, and haphazardly pieced together. Mechanics are introduced, used twice, then immediately thrown away. Animations are stilted, movement is weird; the list of grievances goes on and on.

But despite what everyone seems to say, it's not a blight on humanity. I had no bugs or major glitches. I did not hate my time spent here, and I'm going to go for the platinum trophy. I've played WAY worse games than this, hell, most of the games I played this year I think are worse than this. It's creative and has ideas but just struggles on the execution of some of them. It's charming, the CG cutscenes are amazing, the character designs are fun and cute, the music is nothing but bops.

I legitimately had more fun playing this than I did playing Elden Ring, and I say that with complete sincerity.