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GamesRelay Score
Good
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Name: Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond is the sequel to last year's Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, not following the same route as a normal sequel would, the developers haven't gone with the original games 3D gameplay, instead, they have gone for the more traditional side-scrolling shooter, with HD graphics, big guns, big monsters and a bag of humor thrown in for good measure.
The games evil Marathon MegaCorp corporation has kidnapped the 8-bit version of Hazard and as such the present day Matt Hazard must travel back through his previous games to save himself, a strange but fun concept. Some of the Matt Hazard games go back years and as such they couldn't compete with today's graphical masterpieces by far, but while Hazard has to travel through his previous games the graphics don't actually change, whether this is a good thing or not is a good question, but fans of the series and previous games will recognise some of the finely re-created levels with the smell of nostalgia.
Throughout the various levels including the challenges gameplay doesn't make any significant changes, it's a case of running to the right, or left in some cases, and shooting and knifing everyone you come across, the enemies will come from all directions as they attempt to take you down, with this being a side-scrolling shooter one would expect the enemies would come on the same playing plane as Hazard but they don't, they come from the background as well, giving some depth to it all. While you can fire in any direction you like, firing at enemies in the background would usually be difficult, but not for Matt Hazard, since you can shoot into the background to take down the enemies before they walk onto the same plane as yourself. You get the odd ambush from the guys in the background but usually it's a case of shooting the enemies before they get chance to do anything on the same playing area as Hazard.
As a shooter, the gameplay is fun, it's something you can pick up and have a blast on without too much thinking, jumping and ducking are usually the means you'll use to stop yourself from getting hit but the core gameplay isn't what makes the game stand out in today's crowd, it's the humor.
Matt Hazard is very similar in some respects to Duke Nukem, he kicks ass, but he doesn't chew his bubblegum (or so we're told), the game has a great sense of humor which includes making fun of its own franchise, some of the lines will make you wonder how they got into the game but overall they are enjoyable. You'll encounter many references to other games as well; Super Mario Bros., Mirror's Edge, and more, we'll let you find them yourself but there are plenty.
At the end of each level you'll get to play the Matt Hazard minigame, one which uses the ragdoll effect the game has to great use, you'll play Ragdoll Pachinko, for those who haven't heard of it, then surely you must have seen or played the coin machines in the arcades where you have three slots to drop a coin into and as it hits the tray you try to land it so it pushes more coins out and into your pockets, well, this is the same, instead of coins, you use bodies. The whole game includes this ragdoll system to great effect and some of the flying bodies you'll inevitably encounter as you fire rockets and throw grenades at your enemies is quite amusing, while not totally realistic, it doesn't need to be because it keeps it fun.
The only real quibble with Blood Bath and Beyond is its price, its predecessor Eat Lead was completely overpriced upon release, it should have been a downloadable game and not a full retail release. The developers may have seen the error in their ways as Blood Bath and Beyond is a downloadable game but for what you are getting it is still expensive. The game offers some replay value giving you more for your money in the case of finding hidden retro game boxes of the previous games and offline co-op play for you and a friend where one controls Hazard and the other controls Dexter Dare, you'll also get to choose from three difficulties if you think you can handle it but the omission of any online feature is sadly missed.
Blood Bath and Beyond doesn't reinvent the wheel, it builds off of Eat Lead's shortcomings into a fun and humorous game with its only downside being its high price. So should you buy the game? Its main competitor is Shadow Complex on the Xbox 360 side which retails at the same price (1200 Microsoft Points/$15) and offers quite a bit more bang for buck, however you won't find Shadow Complex on the PlayStation 3 making choices limited. But overall any fan of Matt Hazard, or fan of the genre in particular will enjoy Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond regardless of its price.
