I'll just get straight into this review; it focuses mainly on plot and music. The game is impressive for its visual style (not the best graphics, but I've covered this aspect) and plot. It's a basic third person shooter with the plot of a Tarantino movie. The only thing I thought was strange was the very end, where the fight against a character named "Tarantula" involves you being instantly transported to a battlefield and isn't a normal fight like the rest of them. It involves timed reaction commands (the button shows on the screen for about a second and you have to hit it RIGHT AWAY). Tarantula is actually the only character who really stands out. I was going to include a picture, but I couldn't find one. I'll try. She looks like a new x-men character and carries pistols with a blade below each barrel (similar, but more logical, than the Gunblade in Final Fantasy VIII).
I'd also like to include that the game can be completed in like 3 hours on the easiest mode. I'd also like to point out that "Golden Bullet" mode is excessively difficult, even though you kill all enemies (except the guys with miniguns, who require a special set of commands to kill, always ending in the sword going deeply into their crotch or, on rare occasions, down their throat).
The game is full of humor similar to what you would find in a Tarantino movie or in a Russian book. It also includes interludes in each chapter that are commercials from 70s drive-in movies. It even gives a break after the introductory tutorial mission to get up and get refreshments.
The plot is fairly straightforward, though about halfway through there was at least one twist I wasn't expecting and one that made sense because of that one (and a card for a character involved).
Throughout the game, you unlock various upgrades. There are two types of upgrades: Abilities and Weapon Upgrades. Abilities range from the ability to change who you're targeting to the wonderful "Human Wall Run Slash", which is exactly what it sounds like; you run up an enemy, use your sword on them, and jump off.
The weapon upgrades increase fire rate (for guns and the crossbow), damage, and ammo capacity (also, for guns and the crossbow). Rubi has five weapons to choose from: her katana, dual pistols, dual shotguns, dual SMGs (Submachine Guns), and dual crossbows (which is illogical if you've ever used one, but meh...the "darts" [as they're called in-game] explode on contact). All of the guns have limited ammo except the pistol (which with maxed fire rate is almost as fast as the SMGs).
The shotguns are (obviously, if you've ever used one) best used at close range, but are especially nice against the guys with miniguns, as are the SMGs, but the SMGs I would consider medium range weapons. The crossbow should really only be used against the guys with miniguns or if you only have a few enemies around you as they have a small ammo capacity and fire very slowly. The pistol is the overall best weapon to use whenever as it's fast, accurate, and can be used at any range. The sword is next, as if it is timed correctly, it can increase your score multiplier significantly (which is used to heal when you attack enemies).
There are two ways to restore Rubi's health (which is more like pain tolerance than anything): Alcohol ("to dull the pain") and a high score multiplier (when it's 2x or higher, you restore health with every kill).
There are many ways to raise your score multiplier, but the best is to use acrobatic slo-mo to your advantage. This can be triggered by sliding and shooting/slashing, jumping and attacking, wall running and attacking, human wall running and attacking, pole-spinning (not like a stripper) and shooting, shooting enemies from a zip line, or getting near a multiplier thing that each level seems to have.
The music all sounds like Tarantino picked it all. It's all reminiscent of stuff that could be found in either Kill Bill volume, though there's a little trend: Most of the songs are by bands with Corpse in the name or the songs have corpse in the title. The rest all have some synonym of crazy in them. The website for WET has a list of the songs and artists who did music and has five songs that are free to download. Three of them are songs I love (Gypsy Pistoleros'
The Crazy Loco Loquito, The Arkhams'
Insane and Knock Galley West's
Undead West) and two are created specifically for the game (they're the two by the same artist). The music is all phenomenal in my opinion, though it could handle less from the Hypnophonics and more from the Arkhams.
The main drawback is that it can be completed very quickly (around 1-5 hours, depending on skill and difficulty level) and has no replay value if you're not into completing "gun-and-run" challenges after you finish story mode (-0.5 pts). The plot is, however, deeper than most other shooters (or even just games where the main character is a mercenary).
There are also very few scenarios to play through. There are four main types of play in the main story: Arena fights (trapped in a room where enemies keep coming in until a certain event occurs or your block all the doors), "Rage Mode" (make the longest chain of kills before leaving the level), Car chases (where you jump from car to car while shooting the enemies), and action sequences/stationary gun pwnage sessions (there are few of these last two). This makes the game lose another 0.6 points on my scale.
My overall, score (not broken down, but on a decimal scale): 8.9/10
My advice: Play it for the Tarantino-esque plot and music and pretend you're watching a movie, then work on completing some gun-and-run challenges in Rubi's Boneyard (not what it sounds like).
I'd also like to point out that I LOVE this game. I'd also like to point out that I have updated my links on the side. I've replaced the Fallout link with the WET one and added Sumomo's reincarnated blog.
The weapon upgrades increase fire rate (for guns and the crossbow), damage, and ammo capacity (also, for guns and the crossbow). Rubi has five weapons to choose from: her katana, dual pistols, dual shotguns, dual SMGs (Submachine Guns), and dual crossbows (which is illogical if you've ever used one, but meh...the "darts" [as they're called in-game] explode on contact). All of the guns have limited ammo except the pistol (which with maxed fire rate is almost as fast as the SMGs).
The shotguns are (obviously, if you've ever used one) best used at close range, but are especially nice against the guys with miniguns, as are the SMGs, but the SMGs I would consider medium range weapons. The crossbow should really only be used against the guys with miniguns or if you only have a few enemies around you as they have a small ammo capacity and fire very slowly. The pistol is the overall best weapon to use whenever as it's fast, accurate, and can be used at any range. The sword is next, as if it is timed correctly, it can increase your score multiplier significantly (which is used to heal when you attack enemies).
-The others have no real activity and I often forget to post in them or can't come up with new material, so I can get rid of them
-At least one of my other blogs has been linked to by someone else (thank you, Dudel)
-I'll be able to use the spoiler tag to separate comments from the story, though it was never a problem and I could have done that on the other blogs
