Probably my biggest issue with the game though was what passed for a story. I can’t see any good reason for this and it was frustrating as it made some collectibles missable. Eg, I squeezed through a gap in the landscape but then couldn’t go back through the gap. In more than one place where I had a choice of paths and realised I had gone the main route and obviously some pick ups would be down the other, the game didn’t let me backtrack. I had questions about other aspects of the game design. Moreover, you just know as soon as you enter a large open space what is about to happen, there’s very little suspense and few surprises in this game… I also found the pacing of the game in places slightly strange – on more than one occasion I defeated a boss (possibly technically a sub boss) then was thrown straight into another such (sub) boss fight with no exploration or story exposition at all between encounters. I didn’t find this particularly enticing though and just worked my way through the trees without much thought about how it would translate through to the actual gameplay. There are “light RPG elements” in the game – you can upgrade both Jessie’s skills and his equipment. There are extremely perfunctory sequences between fights (I hesitate to call them puzzles) but these are generally no more complicated than shooting something or pushing a train car down its rails a bit. As noted, Evil West does not have any of that so in my opinion is a decent, solid, but not great game.įurthermore, although it is really well done, the combat for me got repetitive quite quickly. I really enjoyed God of War 2018 but not due to just the combat – the ancillary content and truly compelling story were what raised that game to greatness for me. It only really delivers on the combat though.Īnd that might be absolutely fine for you – if ten to fifteen hours of bashing the hell out of vampires and other assorted monsters sounds like your idea of fun then Evil West will certainly supply that in bucketloads.įor me though, it’s not enough. Evil West clearly takes a lot of “inspiration” from Santa Monica Studio’s flagship title – even down to the way Jessie opens chests, the animation is eerily similar to Kratos doing likewise. Don’t be expecting God of War style environmental puzzles, fleshed out narrative or side quests because there aren’t any. The combat is well implemented, highly satisfying and the range of weapons and attacks available to the player is pleasingly varied. Which is just as well as you’ll be doing a lot of it. punch an enemy into a pile of TNT or shoot said dynamite to unleash an explosion.Īs you progress through Evil West your arsenal is expanded by the likes of a flamethrower, crossbow, shotgun and an electrocuting “zapper”. It is incredibly satisfying to upper cut a vampire into the air then train your revolver on it for a follow up attack! There are also basic environmental attacks where you can e.g. Jessie’s different assaults can be tied together into combos which can combine both his punch attack and a gun. The ranged attacks are not limited by ammo so there is no aspect of resource management in Evil West – instead they are all confined by cooldown periods which compel the player to use their different weapons sparingly and strategically. ![]() We start the game with a simple combination of punching and shooting but this is quickly and steadily added to by more exotic means of destruction. Jessie has a wide range of attacks and weapons at his disposal, covering both melee and ranged strikes. The core gameplay mechanics of Evil West are all about the combat. Well, for those who fall into that category there is a lot to enjoy about Evil West. ![]() Plus, most people came here for some mindless vampire slaying, not a compelling narrative, right? ![]() It’s never really explained how America came to find itself in this predicament, we just have to run with this state of affairs. Jessie is the leading member of this institute and is joined by his father and a small supporting cast of other agents, engineers and doctors. The story revolves around an organisation called the Rentier Institute which leads the war against the vampires that America is plagued with for. The game is set in a fictionalised version of the American Wild West, blending in elements of horror and steampunk in an intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying manner. The player takes control of Jessie Rentier, a big tough cowboy vampire hunter (yip, you read that correctly) with a range of custom weaponry which enables him to mow down swathes of creatures of the night.
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