Neverdead proves to be more frustrating and mindnumbing than offer anything remotly fun. It's really hard for me to find anything positive about the game.
*****INFO*****
- Genre: 3rd Person Action Shooter
- Age Rating: 15+
- Contents: Violence
- Format: PS3 - Xbox 360
- Release: 2011
- Developer: Rebellion
- Publisher: Konami
- Difficulty: Fair
*****INTRODUCTION*****
THE POSITIVES
- Sword swinging is pretty decent
THE NEGATIVES
- Constantly having to dismember your limbs to proceed through certain areas isn't fun
- Gun play isn't as exciting as you'd expect
- Ridiculous dialogue
- Boss fights a rather dull
- Frustrating controls and camera views when dismembered
- Repetitive environments and enemies
- Ridiculous enemy design
*****REVIEW*****
The plot follows Bryce Boltzmann. Over 500 years have passed since Bryce (how was once mortal) endured a life-altering tragedy at the hands of Astaroth, the Demon King. His wife murdered, left defeated and rendered immortal, he now moves through life without aspirations other than where he will find his next drink. Lending a hand to the clandestine group, the National Anit-Demon Agency (NADA), he pursues redemption through the extermination of demonic forces within the modern day world along with his agency partner, Arcadia.
NeverDead is one of those game that could have been something good, but ended up being something dull. NeverDead is probably one of the most frustrating games I have ever played, and I don't mean the good kind. I've played many frustrating games that are actually good, and felt rewarded after passing a certain point or boss fight. NeverDead isn't like that. Nothing in the game felt rewarding to me. Enemies take way to much damage to die and I swear on more than one occasion an enemy didn't even take any damage at all from me attack it. The gameplay is absurd and consists of the following; the attack enemies, move to the next area, an enemy appears that spawns more enemies, which you have to kill quick before you are over swarmed, whist trying to reattach your limbs and keep Arcadia alive, and repeat throughout the game. It's very easy for you to get hit and causing your limbs to fly all over the place. This seems to happen a lot and it's very, very annoying. When you're fully dismembered, you take control of your head and you have to roll about whilst pressing the dodge button to reconnect your limbs. This can prove to be more frustrating than actually fun when it happens more than once in the same scene. The camera view can make it hard to see, especially when there's a lot of debris and enemies around. Getting your head to reattach to your torso is pretty awkward. You can't just simply attach yourself to your torso like you can with your other limbs by being close enough. You actually need to be near the neckline to reattach, with can be frustrating. Sometimes the neckline of your torso will be facing a wall or structure, or sitting up right making it impossible for you to reattach, which will result in you frantically jumping and rolling all over the place trying to attach to your torso, or waiting for your regenerating meter to fill so you can regenerate all your limbs quick. Bryce may be immortal, but that doesn't mean there is no game over screen. There are two ways you can die (game over), Arcadia dies, or a ball like enemy sucks in your head in when you're full dismembered, which is pretty pathetic. Boss fights are rather redundant because the real challenge isn't kill the boss, it is trying to keep Arcadia alive and avoiding the ball like demons from sucking your head in when decapitated. Looking after Arcadia is more trouble than actually playing the game. You can't enjoy it when you have to revive her a lot because she seems to stand in the most awkward places ever, like right in the middle of many enemies. The most horrible level in the entire game is the subway level where you have to kill all the enemies in the area, whilst dodging oncoming trains. This adds to the frustration due to Arcadia's poor A.I., because she has no scene of moving out of the way from danger.
NeverDead is a 3rd person action game and you have two weapon types you can use. You can use standard guns that range from pistols, a shotgun, a machine gun and a rifle. Your other weapon of choice is your sword. The guns in the game aren't very satisfying and enemies tend to take way to many bullets to take down. Some enemies can't actually take damage from bullets, so you'll have to use your sword. The gunplay isn't very fun. It can be quite tricky to aim and guns don't really seem to make great impact. Your sword can pretty much damage any enemy you face in the game, but it'll mean you'll have to get up close and personal to deal damage to your enemies. Taking down structures with bullet fire or by using your sword will cause debris, which is another way you can deal damage to your enemies however, if a structure falls on you, it could cause dismemberment and may even make it tricky to reattach your head to your torso, if your torso is hidden underneath a structure. You also gain experience points for killing your enemies, which you can then use to buy upgrades to better your abilities. For example, you can upgrade your sword and gun damage, more damage dealt with debris, better move ability when dismembered, jump higher, or explode your limbs. Unfortunately, the countless times you'll find yourself dismembered is rather monotonous, and Arcadia's A.I. system is poor. Dodging is another aspect that proves to be more frustrating and helpful. Pressing the dodge button will affectively dodge oncoming attacks however, more often than none you'll find yourself awkwardly trying to dodge an attack but get stuck on obstacles and environment structures.
Another tedious aspect is that you actually need all your limbs attached to actually pretty a button to open a door etc. Even if you only have your left arm missing (your press the button with your right arm) it doesn't work. You need to be full assembled.
Bryce can dismember himself by either throwing his arms as beat to drive enemies away and explode it as a grenade if you have the upgrade active, or take of his head and throw it, wherever. There are points in the game where you have to dismember yourself you pass through a small hole in the wall or roll up narrow passage only your head can fit. These points aren't fun and it just feels like a cheap way of using your dismemberment abilities.
It was hard for me to play this game. Not hard as in the difficulty (I played the game on Hard Mode), but hard as in it was hard for me to gather the strength to finish it. About 20% into the game, I just wanted it to end. The game just consists of you hopping all over the place trying to reattach your limbs and attacking redundant enemies. It's just not fun. Throughout the game you can pretty much destroy everything in the environment like wall and structures and cause debris to fall on your enemies. But in a story related point, you actually have to find keys or press buttons to proceed through the game?
Overall I found the game rather dull and not fun at all. It had the potential and ideas to be something good, but the end result ended up being… NeverDead!
*****FINAL OVERALL SCORE*****
- Story – 3/10
- Life Value – 4/10
- My Thought Score – 2/10
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- Presentation – 3/10
- Graphics – 5/10
- Gameplay – 3/10
- Sound Design – 4/10
- Originality – 2/10
*****EDITOR'S OVERALL THOUGHT SCORE – 3/10 *****
NeverDearReview by Simon