Review: Matt Hazard - Blood Bath & Beyond

Overpriced piece of excellent entertainment.

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8.9

The Good

Unique, highly functional sense of humor * Beautiful backdrops with a stunning amount of depth * Very well-done animations * Action is fast-paced, intense and fun * Tight controls

The Bad

Overpriced * Lacks online co-op

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Side-scrolling shooters are so ubiquitous on digital distribution channels nowadays that it’d be surprising not to see one for every dozen games you browse. Decades have past since the first side-scrolling shooter surfaced and the fundamental concepts of the genre haven’t changed a bit and injections of new ideas into the formula haven’t exactly been forthcoming either. Unless it’s a renowned franchise like Mega Man or Contra, another been there and done that side-scrolling shooter can hardly be convincing enough for a download. Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond doesn’t feature anything that you haven’t already experienced in the scores of games before it. At its core, this shooter is a simple run-and-gun effort. But it’s the little things built around the action that makes MH: BBB stand out from the crowd and amaze you.

For the uninitiated, MH: BBB is the sequel to last year’s retail title Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. While the later was a full-blown 3D third-person shooter, it was generally ill-received by critics who bemoaned its derivative level designs and cheap enemy placement. MH: BBB folds the 3D third-person shooter design into a 2.5D side-scrolling adventure, transforming the second entry in the franchise into a smaller and more accessible downloadable package. While this means that the sequel is inevitably simpler, it’s essentially a smart design choice by the developers to focus more on the original elements which helped the first Matt Hazard shine. The said was well-known for its parodies on the general videogame industry and references to specific popular games like Halo, Mario Bros., Wolfenstein and so on and so forth. MH: BBB continues this tradition and the result is a game that is very humorous.

It’s easy to see that MH: BBB is a game which is constructed with a great level of attention on details. Right from the get-go, MH: BBB pokes fun at its predecessor and is not ashamed to cite poor reception of the first game and low budget as (supposed) reasons why the franchise has turned from a 3D third-person shooter retail title to a side-scrolling 2.5D downloadable shooter. The humor in the text-only dialogue (the game indicates that it doesn’t have enough budget to hire voice actors) is genuinely funny and unique. For someone who constantly plays blockbuster titles, it’s really refreshing to see a change of pace here in a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The humor is complemented by consistently beautiful backdrops spread across the 8 missions. There’s a stunning amount of depth in every intricately crafted backdrop and it’s really delightful to see environments from your favorite blockbuster games given such skillful levels of reproduction. BioShock, Mirror’s Edge, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and a little of Super Mario Bros. and Dead Space all get faithful environmental representations here and it’s a nice touch when additional references are drawn from some of these games. For instance, you get to face off against Big Daddies in the Rapture-themed level, while the Mirror’s Edge stage highlights platforms where you can jump off from in red much like the source material and the Team Fortress 2 level sports the engineer’s sentry guns and control points, while you get to hit golden boxes from Super Mario Bros. for power-ups and points (there’s even a flag which lowers at the end of the stage!). Matt Hazard is a celebration (or parody, depending on how you view it) of all successful videogame franchises and it’s very difficult to find any other game in the market which does that. For that very reason, MH: BBB is a special game and it’s very good at what it does.

The animations are equally well-done. Some of your enemies are essentially Stikfas figures (hey, parody of Stikfas!) and when they fall, they crumble with comical results. Occasionally, an enemy will get slapped onto the screen after taking a huge blow from Matt Hazard (insert Street Fighter 4 Ultra Combo animation parody here). All in all, there’re some really high production values here and the keen observer would find MH: BBB a pleasant play.

Tear away the surrounding framework, however, and you will find a simple run-and-gun shooter with a mild level of strategy. Like other side-scrolling shooters, you run from the left to right, shooting everything that moves on sight. It’s a dull concept if not given the extra, proper treatment. Thankfully, there’s a great variety of enemy types and weapons to keeps things fresh throughout the game. Each level introduces new enemy types with various attacks and more and more weapons become available as you break through the stages. There’s not much in the way of offensive strategy as each enemy can be put down using brute firepower and the boss at the end of every level, while varied, follows a fixed pattern of attack that isn’t too difficult to spot. Mild strategy comes in the form of the ability to shoot into the background. The game takes advantage of this capability, sending in enemies from the left, right, background and foreground so essentially, you’re getting assaulted from all directions. All factors combined, the side-scrolling action is fast-paced, intense and fun, though not quite original. The tight controls help in getting the job done.

The only complain I have of this game is its steep price. At 1200 Microsoft Points, or US$15, MH: BBB is a tad too expensive as the 8 missions would only set you back at 2 hours. There’s the option to play with a friend in co-op mode, but it can only be done via local play. The omission of online co-op is puzzling and besides unlocking a retro version of the game, there’s isn’t much else in terms of content. At 1200 Microsoft Points, one can get Epic Games’ Shadow Complex and yet get more content out of the purchase. However, MH: BBB is a very good buy if you don’t mind paying a little more for an overpriced piece of excellent entertainment.

Closing comments
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond is more about the unique, highly functional sense of humor and skillful references to blockbuster titles than the action itself. It is complemented by beautiful backdrops with lots of depth and well-done animations. The action itself, while not quite original, is fast-paced, intense and fun, with a mild layer of strategy in the form of the ability to shoot into the background. The game is definitely overpriced though. Is it worth getting? Yes. But only if you don’t mind paying a little extra. For this very reason, the game doesn’t score a 9.0.