“High on Life takes the right design cues from Metroid Prime, though uneven comedy makes for a hit-and-miss adventure.”
Pros
Some genuinely hilarious jokes
Smooth traversal
Distinct visible model
Deceptively deep taking pictures
Cons
Hit-and-miss humor
Backtrack-heavy second half
Wears out its welcome
Late in High on Life, I expertise a young second amid all of the cosmic silliness. Two lovers (a star-crossed alien and human duo) discover themselves on the verge of a breakup, struggling to understand their sophisticated emotions for each other. A heated argument ends with a candy understanding that, regardless of the overwhelming absurdity of the universe, the 2 do love each other. That’s capped off by the alien turning to me and insisting that the second is honest, taking a shot at a lesser recreation that could be tempted to undercut that emotional beat.
“You’d be playing some Rockstar game, you fucking asshole,” he says, utterly breaking character as he spits out the previous few phrases by way of fun. I can hear somebody within the background of the recording cackling too, completely shedding it over the preposterously aggressive improvisation. It’s a second that greatest speaks to developer Squanch Games’ complete inventive strategy with its new sci-fi taking pictures journey. To hell with construction or guidelines — these are recreation makers who’re having the time of their lives merely making an attempt to make one another chuckle. Considering that I needed to pause the sport throughout that scene as a result of I used to be doubled over in my airplane seat cracking up, I’d say that perspective is infectious.
High on Life performs precisely like a Ricky and Morty joke riff: It makes a robust impression upfront, sustains that vitality for some time, goes on a bit of too lengthy for its personal good, and tapers off earlier than delivering a real punch line. It generally is a contact uneven at instances, particularly in its hit-and-miss humor, nevertheless it sticks the touchdown total due to its unbridled creativity and deceptively deep gunplay.
Interdimensional gaming
Allow me that will help you determine if this recreation is your jam in a fast sentence: High on Life is a first-person shooter created by Rick and Morty’s Justin Roiland. If you don’t have the tolerance for Roiland’s humor, then I doubt you’ll have the ability to abdomen over 10 hours of it. The comedy right here is essentially just like that of Ricky and Morty, because it’s loaded with sci-fi absurdity and grownup humor that gleefully swirls down the proverbial potty hand in hand. If you like that model, you’re in for a very good time. If you don’t, you’ll need to set the “banter” toggle to off.
A joke tends to lose its energy every time you hear it, and there’s plenty of repetition right here.
The story finds a anonymous protagonist and their sister flung in the midst of an alien battle whereas their mother and father are on trip. Their home is warped to a far-off planet the place a three-eyed alien named Gene enlists their assist (and their sofa) to seek out members of the G3, an intergalactic cartel that’s turning people into medication. The hero takes on the function of a bounty hunter, monitoring down aliens alongside an arsenal of speaking weapons, known as Galatians. The story has just a few issues to say about household and discovering one’s calling in life, nevertheless it’s largely simply set dressing for a planet-hopping journey.
The comedy right here is as hit-and-miss because it comes. The speaking gun schtick, as an illustration, oscillates between humorous and cloying all through. Roiland himself has the firmest grasp on the humor right here, lending the handgun-like Kenny his signature Morty stutter, however the voice actors are solely as humorous as their gun’s schtick. JB Smoove (who voices Gus, a shotgun equal) doesn’t get as many good gags to play with and Betsy Sorado’s Sweezy is inherently a bit grating. Tim Robinson, alternatively, will get to fireplace out some zingers as he performs the function of Creature, a dad who makes use of his youngsters like bullets and proudly watches them dwell out their brief life span. They develop up so quick.
There’s related inconsistency all through. A good quantity of gags fall flat, as they substitute yelling, swearing, or bodily features for an precise joke. Others had me cackling. A key emotional beat occurs at a “Space Applebee’s,” a hilarious riff on Nathan For You’s Dumb Starbucks. At one level, I discover a collectible card that simply has Frasier’s face on it, with taste textual content questioning if it’s even authorized for the builders to incorporate it. The greatest laughs in High on Life are those that really feel just like the Squanch Games crew simply making offhand jokes to 1 one other and together with what made them chuckle. The largest response I had was throughout an obnoxiously lengthy dialog with an “alien cum” vendor, which abruptly ended with Smoove breaking character as I attempted to purchase a vial. You can nearly hear the builders saying, “Screw it, we’re keeping it.”
High on Life in the end runs into issues which might be frequent in comedy video games of this nature. For one, there’s plenty of useless air to fill as a consequence of its size. While there are many good facet gags packed into each location (dueling broadcasts about Mothers For and Against Violence make for an excellent background goof), it’s arduous to maintain that degree of comedy all through. By the top, it felt like my weapons had been simply filling area with repeated voice traces. A joke tends to lose its energy every time you hear it, and there’s plenty of repetition right here.
That’s very true as a result of Squanch isn’t out to create a stroll within the park. High on Life could be difficult, with complicated fight that had me dying on its hardest encounters just a few instances. When one late recreation boss struggle gave me a run for my cash, I rapidly discovered myself rolling my eyes as I needed to sit by way of the identical Metal Gear Solid riff 4 or 5 instances. With the emphasis extra on authored jokes as an alternative of the emergent humor, I’m left feeling like High on Life doesn’t all the time benefit from what makes video video games a singular comedic platform.
Rick and Metroid
Though its humor is certain to be polarizing, the precise gameplay is much extra agreeable. High on Life takes plenty of design cues from Metroid Prime, delivering a first-person journey recreation with an emphasis on platforming. That side of it sings, as gamers unlock new instruments that slowly open up the world till each inch of it’s simply explorable. It begins with a grappling hook (connected to a bloodthirsty knife) that’s used to cross gaps and keep away from poison flooring, however builds up with satisfying traversal instruments like jetpacks. Platforming is quick and clean, giving gamers loads of alternatives to chain their talents collectively to make huge strikes.
Though High on Life will largely be judged on its humor, its strengths as an journey recreation shouldn’t be neglected.
There’s a robust sense of capability development all through the journey, as weapons themselves have utilities outdoors of fight. Sweezy is ready to freeze time, permitting gamers to squeeze by way of fan vents, whereas Creature can shoot his youngsters into pipes to entry locked rooms. Some mechanics can wind up feeling a bit of underutilized, as High on Life doesn’t ship too many brain-busting environmental puzzles, however there’s sufficient to make planet revisits worthwhile.
Understanding what makes a Metroidvania work, Squanch fills its alien planets with collectibles, sight gags, and hidden chests. The latter is a very powerful half, as chests grant pesos that can be utilized to purchase swimsuit and weapon upgrades. There’s an entire lot to buy, from well being will increase to mods that change how a weapon works. One mod allowed Kenny’s bullets to ricochet off enemies whereas within the air, utterly altering my playstyle as I targeted on juggling my foes. Though there’s a disappointingly slim choice of mods, I nonetheless discovered myself desperate to discover so I might nab all of them and experiment.
As an journey recreation, High on Life excels most of all in terms of its aesthetic. The world itself is a delight to discover as every location is filled with visible creativity (and fittingly soundtracked by a chill rating from digital musician Tobacco). Blim City is a compact metropolis that’s bustling with chatty aliens, goofy billboards, and hilarious loudspeaker broadcasts. Another planet, inhabited by a tribe of foulmouthed teddy bears, is a colourful jungle that’s wealthy with cosmic flora. Each biome has its personal distinct character, which retains the spacefaring journey’s momentum up — not less than till it begins repeating areas in its backtrack-heavy second half.
Though High on Life will largely be judged on its humor, its strengths as an journey recreation shouldn’t be neglected. Squanch Games will get what made video games like Metroid Prime so particular and connects that to Roiland’s knack for creating distinct sci-fi worlds. Those two are a pure match for a modest journey recreation that’s refreshingly crafted in comparison with plenty of in the present day’s extra bloated recreation worlds.
Meeseeks and destroy
What’s most surprising about High on Life is how effectively it features as a first-person shooter. Early on, its fight appears skinny. Kenny can pepper enemies with handgun pictures and use his “globshot” (a phrase you’re going to get sick of very quick) to launch enemies within the air. However, every of the sport’s 4 weapons steadily layer on complexity till battles change into a fast-paced gloop warfare.
As quickly as I received the hold of every gun’s nuances, I reveled within the deep combo potential.
Rather than merely copying a standard weapon archetype, Squanch makes every gun really feel particular. Sweezy, as an illustration, features like a rapid-fire machine gun. But when aiming down sights, it’s capable of cost up a long-distance shot that snipes enemies from afar. On prime of that, it may possibly freeze time with its secondary capability, including a wholly completely different utility that synergizes with each different weapon. In a standard enviornment battle, I often discover myself freezing an enemy, siccing Creature’s children on it, sucking in one other with Gus’ vacuum capability to complete them off with a shotgun blast, launching one other patch of enemies within the air with Kenny’s globshot, and firing at one to ricochet pictures down on everybody else. As quickly as I received the hold of every gun’s nuances, I reveled within the deep combo potential.
High on Life retains itself comparatively brief and compact, which is an effective determination contemplating that it’s already stretched skinny as is. I discovered myself going by way of the motions a bit in its previous couple of bounties as I walked again by way of the identical few areas and accomplished extra wave-like battles that all the time go on a beat too lengthy (one thing that the weapons themselves joke about). It all ends in a surprisingly anticlimactic method that’s so abrupt that I used to be ready for a mid-credit twist.
That’s the place I largely see Roiland’s model of wandering improv riffs mirrored within the shooter’s construction. Like Rick and Morty’s Pickle Rick episode, High on Life doesn’t construct to a grand punch line. It’s extra targeted on these quick hits of enjoyable that’ll preserve gamers entertained within the second — you in all probability keep in mind “I’m Pickle Rick!” clearer than any precise plot particulars of that episode. Satisfying fight, clean traversal, and a smattering of hilarious vignettes make for an admirable journey recreation whose particular person components are extra memorable than the complete image.
Just don’t ask me why I’ve an achievement that claims I spent 15 hours in an alien strip membership.
High on Life was examined on PC and Steam Deck.
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