High on Life
Squanch Games returns with its biggest release yet , the profanity - laden FPS sci - fi adventureHigh on Life . It present a bed covering of crass humor , self - referential video biz image , and buckets of foreign blood to spill , yet feel far soft than the studio’sAccountingandVR - optionalTrover Saves the Universe . High on Life ’s length eclipse these two games put together , but it ’s also an emptier and flatter experience than its coloured screenshots may imply .
An alien invasion throwsHigh on Life ’s unnamed teenage champion into a bounty hunter spacesuit , now poised to assassinate high - ranking members of an alien criminal trust called G3 who look for to somehow turn human beings into drug ( the game ’s rubric is to be taken literally ) . The player is joined by their sister Lizzy , an over - the - hill alien amplitude hunter mentor name Gene , and a pocket-sized arsenal of Gatliens , talking accelerator which stand in as verbalize participants to flesh out out the silent - protagonist shtick .
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Gunplay and navigation in the game feel very limited at first , but expand after obtaining new Gatliens and movement abilities . Eventually , four discrete area become more easily traversable with these tools , though the existent combat feels serviceable at good , while imprecise at worst . The limited variety of foeman type does n’t help , nor do the unvarying successiveness where they on the face of it spawn advert nauseam . Rather than come off as active , exciting skirmishes , these encounters never amount to more than rote progress gate , preventingHigh on Lifefrom ever confidently hit its footstep as an FPS .
Still , with each Gatlien being a amply voice and fleshed - out quality , it ’s good play to earn a new teammate and learn what they ’re about , playact around with their projectiles , and experimentation with alt - fire in combat and occasional platforming puzzles . Aside from Creature , who basically spawn flyspeck carnivorousMr.-Meeseeks - like homunculiwho jump onto enemies , the other gun palpate surprisingly tamed and introductory , specially consideringHigh on Life ’s madcap presentation .
When Screen RantreviewedTroverin 2019 , the overproof concentration of humor evident in almost every corner and cranny of the game ’s humanity was a highlighting . gamey on Lifehas a problem - this secret plan is lengthier and heavy , but just ca n’t pack in as much content per straight mil or fill in every nook with a joke or clever hook . Instead , it present sizeable hub areas with bare flake of content to tail down . Some of these are still a good prison term and once in a while peculiar , and the game has a lowly fistful of twist which do hit their intended mark , but the legal age of these levels are simply empty .
StalkHigh on Life ’s streets and eventually there ’s a unknown NPC to receive and operate , but most of them are n’t all that interesting , and much less successful than the constant stream of survey on the many televisions to be found throughout starting area Blim City . Before long , those same television will have motorbike through their content , and the 10th time get wind the funniest of these improvised moment ( highly reminiscent ofRick & Morty ’s infamous Intergalactic Cable episode ) will wear down even the most fiery Roiland fan .
The same could be say of those guns , who repeat a minor musical arrangement of voicelines throughout . blank out to use an alt - fire power and they ’ll pedal the same monitor , dozens upon dozens of times , or displace off a straightaway barque celebrating the joyousness of power - skid on the floor as players rush to their next remote objective lens . Gatlien chatter can be tuned downinHigh on Life ’s preferences , but the game would be far more interesting and immersive if there was more differentiated audio throughout .
A cadre of amazing vocalisation actors are along for this ride , let in Roiland himself , with some surprise guests . Even armed with this careen - solid stable of talent , gamy on Life ’s vocalism lines get ground into the filth like well-nigh any other part of the game , even on top of an idiosyncratic soundtrack by tobacco plant that often vocalize like queasy alien shopping mall muzak .
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High on Lifeis a second-rate shooter punctuated by sporadic humour that misses more often than it hits . Its self - mocking TV game muzzle were tackled much more effectively inTrover , and the gossamer size of it of the experience only place its fault into greater relief . There are laughs to be had , secret collectibles to sniff out , and some genuinely screaming riffs on internet forums , but these are not enough to elate the canonical gameplay . in high spirits on Lifegets the job done , but not in a singular way .
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richly on Lifeis out now on PC and Xbox Series X / S. A digital PC code was provided toScreen Rantfor the purpose of this review .
generator : Squanch Games / YouTube
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