I was interested in this title from when it was first announced being a fan of Rick and Morty. So being an Xbox exclusive a console I don’t have I just assumed it’d fall into the category of games I may play one day. Then on top of that all the stuff Justin Roiland had been doing came to light and caused it’s own controversy which effected this game along with Rick and Morty. With him voicing the main gun Kenny in the game plus many many others NPC’s. I decided to go ahead and purchase it still whilst it was on sale. If for no other reason it supports everyone else involved,with Roilands involvement ending before the DLC High on Knife was released as well., squanch games acknowledging the wrong doings he’d done as well.
Now, I wasn’t completely sure on what the entire game would be outside of a first person shooter set in alien worlds and that all your arsenal are alien life forms that are talking guns.
It’s not a massive game by any stretch and even though the planets are slightly open world, the game is linear. There are no side missions to be had only story missions which are objective orientated. It’s mainly go here and kill these enemies along the way, with new weapons you unlock and the occasional new enemy type that appears.
The main plot involves the silent as well as faceless hero finding Kenny the Gatlian sentient gun. Whilst the G3 cartel invade Earth and begin smoking humans as a new high. Get the title now, ey ey? Your house gets teleported to Blim city and you meet a now injured and retired Bounty Hunter named Gene. You take up his place along with his bounty hunting suit. Where you then kill the G3 officers one by one.
There is five guns in the game all of which are their own personality and come with their own skill set. Now I’d argue Sweezy is the best weapon as you can fire multiple rounds into an enemy and use her special ability to multiply all the effects in one blast from holding down the firing button. Gus is the shotgun style gun, Kenny the pistol and creature shoots his own babies who attach to enemies and explode. Plus the best character is knifey who pretty much gets forgotten about once you get Gus. You have Lezduit for the final mission only who is the most powerful gun in the game.
Combat is mid in this game, its competent enough and each weapon does feel different when fired, so not entirely bland, but it’s nothing like what you’d expect in a standard AAA budget game or even a lot of AA games. There isn’t much to it to be even remotely be counted as standout and the enemies aren’t particularly numerous or difficult. Just a few variants in melee, shooting, sniping or the bigger hulk, bullet sponge style character. It’s all cut and dry stuff you’d expect. Knifey only stabs or you can do a critical execution style move, something that could’ve had more life put into it. He also doesn’t get any upgrades in the base game.
In terms of setting each area isn’t massive and the only explorable parts are when looking for lugboxes which are chests that contain either money, weapon upgrades and collectible cards. This is mostly only worthwhile doing if you want the platinum trophy.
The worlds and creatures that inhabit each place though are colourful and varied enough to give the game enough setting and world building. With a start of in game lore coming from the many talking npcs who talk loads. You traverse across a jungle mining planet, a desert and futuristic cities. They are similar in style and aesthetic to that of Ratchet and Clank, but lacking the part where you return to find golden bolts whilst unlocking new areas.
The game won’t be for everyone as well, due to its humour and the sheer amount of swearing. It’s offensive and definitely aimed for fans of rick and morty style comedy with the toilet humour cranked up to a rather healthy 10. At one point there’s a drug addict who’s coming down and ends up passing out in his own ‘shit piss’. I found this game to have some real funny moments in it but I can definitely see why someone wouldn’t.
Something else the game would do that if the humour isn’t for you the 20 adverts that are in the game will annoy the shit out of you. Some of them are fairly funny others do grate on you a bit after the third or fourth time you’ve seen them.
Also if you don’t fancy playing the game there are I think four full movies in game you can stand your character in front of a TV and just kick back and watch it in their entirety. There’s also a warp disc that can be purchased that transports you to a cinema which is dedicated to this past time.
You can buy and find upgrades as well, so you can increase ammo capacity, fire rate, damage, health and shield capacity. So all of the usual suspects in these sort of games. I’d argue they are lacking a bit though as if you didn’t purchase or find any of them it wouldn’t really impact you’re ability to complete the game in anyway.
In terms of traversing around the game, again, it isn’t world breaking you can use knifey to latch on to points, magnetic boots to help climb silver paved areas and a bit of a weak jetpack. Which even once it’s fully upgraded the fuel still runs out quicker then what’s useful. Plus it has a weird height restriction on it. Sweezy and creature help unlock hidden areas for lugboxes but don’t do much else.
I can’t say I ran into any technical difficulties or glitches during my play through. Something that was an issue on release for the Xbox Series. This could be due to patches and fixes it’s since received but my experience was pretty solid. I’m not one that cares all that much about frame rates or other nit picking shit like that. As long as it doesn’t freeze, crash and stutter I’m a happy guy. This falls straight into that category.
Overall I’d rate this game a decent Tasty gaming 6/10.
The game isn’t too long about 10 hours to complete so it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. I think the shooting could be a bit tighter and a bit more to combat as a whole. A few side missions to help build the world up and give you more of a reason to explore. Better upgrades and more challenging enemies. All of which could easily be corrected in a sequel. I find myself often saying this for first entry games of a new series. That it’s a strong foundation, and that is the truth here. Keep everything they’ve already done and just add to it. A few passive skills to unlock wouldn’t hurt. The humour isn’t for everyone but if it’s cheap enough it’s worth giving ago if you’re a bit short on anything to play at the moment.
Released July 22nd 2023 on Sony Playstation 5.
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