What concerns me most about Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond is its price. There is no online muliplayer, only 8 levels, and you can blast through it without a need to stop in less than 2 and a half hours. You won’t feel like repeating the levels alone, and playing it with a local friend would get boring after beating it once. The writing and design is hilarious and remeniscent at times, but eye-rolling and annoying at others. At 800 points I would recommend it to fans of the series and those ready for a smile or two. At 1200? It’s not Hazard Time.

Game Details			Loading Reality Scoring
Format	Xbox LIVE Arcade (all XBLA reviews)		Score Meaning: Slightly above average. There is nothing incredibly special about it, but there are enough good qualities to make it worth a look for fans of the genre.
Publisher	D3 Publisher
Developer	Vicious Cycle Software
Category	Shooter		Presentation
ESRB	M		Gameplay
Online Players	0		Graphics
Offline Players	2		Sound
Price	14.99		Value Factor
Release Date	January 6, 2010		Final Score

At This Price? It's PASSING TIME!

Just when you thought he was gone, Matt Hazard is back in action and this time he’s heading to another dimension, or back a dimension, if you will. Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond is a 2D side-scrolling shooter that aims its satyrical guns at many popular video games of recent years. The story can be played alone or with a friend in cooperative mode, maximizing the hilarity factor. The field of games created to joke about games themselves is a small one, dominated by Matt Hazard, but is this latest entry in the series worth the 1200 point price tag it demands? Is it really…HAZARD TIME?!

Right off the bat, the game makes you aware that it understands what it is. The dev team knows that its previous games have been busts and that this one may not fare any better. I knew all this going into the game and was amused that the developers were up to admitting it. If you’ve played a Matt Hazard game before, then you will know that all the dialogue is creatively written and attempts to poke fun at as many games as possible. Your partner helping you through the game converses with “codec-esque” cutscenes resembling those in the Metal Gear Solid series, and he looks just like Otacon. Every level is filled with references to popular titles or cliches in the video game universe. It was a trip running through each level and recognizing each new relation to a past title. Of course, the main draw of these games is just that, so it better be well done in that aspect. Luckily, it is, and you’ll constantly find yourself smirking as you see a new familiar character run on screen, or you are jumping through a level and find yourself in an environment from a game you played last year.

Seem familiar?

How well is this shown on the screen in the graphics department you ask? Well enough, I say. The game isn’t trying to be the next Gears of War, but its blend between cartoony and sharp graphics is pleasant. You never know what to expect as far as environments go. One minute you’re in a sewer from Bioshock, the next you’re in outer space. The environments are exquisite, filled with interactive objects and obstacles that keep you on your toes. Experiencing each of the levels the first time was the best part of the whole game. The enemies were a bit graphically lacking, some seeming to need a bit more polish, but oddly fitting with the environment. It’s not that they couldn’ve have made them better, but I think they were definitely going for that style. The graphics are a plus for the game, not a negative. Sound design is cheeky and nothing special, that’s for sure. You won’t really be blown away in that department.

Since it is a side-scroller, you already know what to expect. You shoot enemies as they jump on screen and dodge incoming bullets and hazards in the meantime. The game employs a shooting tactic where you are able to hold a trigger and shoot into the background of the level, aiming at enemies in the distance. It adds that needed extra level of interaction that is essential to making this game more than another side-scrolling monotony. The enemies vary in artificial intelligence level and some are actually pretty smart in reacting to your actions. You’ll have to use your full arsenal of flamethrowers, lasers, shotguns, and other cliched weapons to their full potential to maximize your killing efficiency. The guns are dropped by killed enemies and offer a nice variety of ways to dispose of your pursuers. You’ll find yourself trying to maximize the usage of the special guns, since your regular gun is not that fun to use, is single-fire, and is the least powerful of the bunch.

As you progress through each level, you’ll attempt to shoot certain enemies that drop “Pachinko” chips. There are 10 in each level and for each one you collect, you get to drop a rag doll into game related “Plinko” board at the end of the level for extra points. It’s another quirky addition that helps get you to watch out for those harder to kill enemies and makes the levels a bit more of a challenge, because who doesn’t want more “Pachinko” rag dolls? You’ll also be lead to collect three pieces of a fake Matt Hazard game in each level to unlock a description of the game. More puns and one-liners are always a plus, and that’s what you’re here for, so there’s nothing wrong with the collection aspect of these chips and game pieces. Unfortunately, what IS a problem is that they are attached to achievements. Don’t get me wrong, I liked most of the achievements, but the ones based on collecting are sort of ridiculous. You’ll find yourself screaming in anger as you get to the end of the level, thinking there’s no way you didn’t collect all the chips, to be sorely disappointed with your total of 9/10. There are just too many enemies running around in the level to be able to hit them all on every level within an acceptable amount of tries. I can understand the game boxes thing, but I missed a heck of a lot more game pieces in each level than I thought I would and I can’t believe I didn’t explore that much of the game.

3 / 5

Written by :

CrAzYbRoS

 

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