A great game with solid mechanics and plenty of fun, brought down only by fiddly enemy spawns and punishing difficulty.
I don't even know where to begin. I just can't understand how a game of this quality can be given a score like a 5.5 when the only major complaints are simply a matter of difficulty and play style.
Is Hell's Reach hard? Absolutely. Does it have annoying enemy spawns? Yeah, I'd even agree with that too. Is it impossible to complete – so much so that excellent, perfectly usable mechanics must be disregarded, and that the potential for fun must be thrown out the window, all because the game is clearly impossible? No. Not even close.
Now, obviously the GS review doesn't make quite this exaggerated of a claim, but I do feel it's fairly harsh, and that the tone of the review may put off potential fans of this game, fans who may really love this game for what it is – and what it allows you to do. To counter this, I present you with my own impressions.
To begin with, I think the best way to illustrate my point may be to make some comparisons to other, similar games on the market. Examine firstly the Resident Evil games, which most people will probably agree are games deserving of their success. Specifically, the mercenaries mode from Resi-4/5 is probably the most apt comparison to the gameplay of Hell's Reach that I can make here. Now, obviously the single player component of Hell's Reach is nowhere near as mentionable as that of either of those previously mentioned titles – in fact – it's essentially non-existant. For this reason alone I could see it receiving a lower score than either Resi-4 or 5, or even a game like Left 4 Dead -- because let's face it -- you do lose out on a lot character development, immersion, atmosphere, and narrative experience when taking this casual, arena-based approach (however, the excellent level design in Hell's Reach partially helps make up for this).
But my main argument for Hell's Reach is this: at its heart, this game is really a surprisingly deeper, occasionally prettier, and more continuously entertaining adventure than the multiplayer component of almost any other game out there – for an appropriate price of $20. At the end of the day, I've simply had more fun with Hell's reach than I ever did with with Resident Evil 5, and it's right up there with Resi-4 and the Left 4 Dead series.
Make no mistake, Hells Reach is a simple, straight-forward, zombie wave survival game in the same vein as titles like killing floor. However, just because the objectives of these games are very simple and repetitive, that doesn't mean that is the case with the methods you use to accomplish those objectives. In Hell's Reach, you are left with more tools at your disposal for dispatching waves of undead than I have ever seen in a game of this type.
You have a roll, a jump (a great jump mind you, that can be used whenever you want), close quarters combat weapons, various types of grenades, special weapons, a melee attack (which can be used – charged or uncharged – in any direction, whilst running, jumping, sliding, rolling, before you land from a fall, etc.), and finally -- did I mention the guns? The plethora of guns that all take advantage of some really fun physics? The guns that have spot on amounts of ammo to keep things hectic, upgrade nicely, and possess just the right amount of power to send your foes hurtling back to hell? Oh yeah, those things – which are totally viable for use, despite what you may have heard – ahem – elsewhere.
Essentially the quality of the gameplay is only as good as your imagination, and your skill at chaining together the various tools at your disposal in effective ways.
In conclusion, I feel that with Hell's Reach, you are left with a game that unabashedly features fun at the forefront. It's a crazy, sometimes clunky, occasionally humorous, digital zombie arena that hearkens back to outrageous games of yester-year – and gives you the freedom to kick, shoot, and Teutonic mace-ify, the hordes of hell at your leisure. Yes, it it could use a difficulty readjustment (maybe smaller waves, or some enemy spawn radius tweaks), and yes, its flaws can be at times frustrating and off-putting. But to be honest – as I kick a groaning zombie off a roof, spin around and drop his friends with a few well-placed shotgun blasts, and then jump to safety in a shower of fire and demon-bits as the dynamite my co-op buddy placed there earlier explodes – frankly, I just couldn't care less.