Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond Review

Written by: Steve Martin Posted: 25th January 2010

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	Action
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Vicious Cycle
	D3Publisher

16+

Out Now

Matt Hazard has graced the Xbox 360 and PS3 previously in a mediocre 3D third-person shooter and now he has his first sequel in the Xbox arcade and PSN, which has seen him travel back to his (fictitious) 2D roots to save his 8bit self who has been kidnapped. Although he has shifted to only 2 dimensions for Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond, he has managed to retain his tongue-in-cheek parodying of big name games but also the mediocre gameplay.

The style is very old-school with obvious roots in side-scrolling shooters such as Contra, with levels awash with enemies who fire projectiles at Matt. The only nod to the modern era the ability to switch your aim into the background to take out enemies in the distance of the backdrop, everything else reeks of 90’s coin-op games, even the graphics are unimpressive, and are described as basic at best, although this does allow plenty of enemies and projectiles on screen at the same time with no frame rate issues. The backdrops are uninspiring and remind me of a Scooby Doo cartoon, as similar sites are reused over again throughout the level, with only 2 dimensions to deal with they could have put more effort into the locations and the character animation.

There are also a variety of power-ups to change your weapon with a limited amount of ammunition, some of which are rapid firing, which helps to stop the constant thumb ache from continuously hammering the fire button with the standard weapon. These power-ups range from shotguns , ice blasters, plasma guns to lasers, most have a specific situation that suits them best, like the shotgun is obviously best close up, whilst the machine gun is better for bosses and screens full of enemies thanks to its rapid fire mode, however every single one is better than your pathetically weak standard weapon, that often takes several direct hits to kill even the most basic of baddies. Killing enemy’s fills up your Hazard bar that once full allows you to activate Hazard time that grants invulnerability and wider firing lines for a short time, that can be useful for clearing lots of enemies quickly. A “precision” aiming mode can also be activated by holding down a button, this roots Matt to the floor and allows you to directly control where he shoots, but this is so haphazard and difficult to adjust correctly and by stopping you from moving makes you an easy target. Unfortunately this mode is required to hit some of the trickier enemies placed above or below you on the screen.

There are only 8 levels to shoot your way through and each is very similar to the last with modified enemy sprites who fight in the same way with repeated use of set-pieces such as bunches of enemies appearing from the fore-front of the screen and shimmying down ropes to attack Matt. The only breaks from the tedium is one mini game involving a space lander that is more irritating than fun, but fits in with all the old-school gaming parodies nicely. The games saving grace is actually the amusing parodies that it incorporates into the levels and in particular one boss battle that sees you taking on a Johnny 5 look-a-like robot, as well as random question mark blocks more commonly seen in a certain Nintendo franchise. Another Nintendo franchise is heckled by a level containing creatures called Death Wuzzles, where creatures are raised by humans to fight, I’m sure you can guess which one that one is too! But whilst these are amusing, they can’t save a game that relentlessly repeats itself and is at heart a basic, frantic side-shooter that is just too short on fun.

The game is also really, really hard be prepare to die a lot, even on the easiest difficulty (called “Wussy”) I struggled to complete the game and the easy difficulty gives you infinite continues, once you get onto the hardest difficulty (encouragingly named “F**k this s**t!”) the game is almost unplayable unless you are the god of video games! There is an option to play a Co-Op mode with a friend which may help the game become winnable by mere mortals, but may end your friendship as they realise that you actually hate them because you’re making them play this underwhelming budget title!

In short, it’s hard to recommend such an average game even at this budget price, there is just not enough to warrant the purchase. Yes, there is some humour but the gameplay, graphics, and audio and almost everything else is dull, repetitive and uninspiring! It is not terrible but is terribly average. All in all, you’re best off avoiding this Hazard!

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond - The Verdict

4/10	Positives + Quick-fire fun for shoot-‘em-up fans + Contains an end of level boss that is a parody of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and other humorous moments + Budget price... Negatives - Budget price = budget gameplay = repetitive gameplay! - Crushingly hard on higher difficulties - Precision shooting is badly implemented - Only 8 (similar) levels to play though



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