NeverDead Review

NeverDead is Konami's latest game, a collaboration with developers Rebellion Software and is a less than typical action title featuring hordes of demonic creatures waiting to be killed in a multitude of ways and a sassy partner to share the fun times with and you; Bryce Boltzman is a demon hunter with a difference.

Working for what seems to be a government agency, your task is to keep demons out of the cities. Demons from times long past have descended upon the earth once again, and are in search of someone. You and your partner from the agency, Arcadia, are there to stop them getting their grubby, malformed mitts off their prize.

So far this all sounds pretty standard for a horror action gaming title, but that's where you are wrong. The hero of the game Bryce Boltzman is a man with alcohol issues, sounds like he smokes 40 a day and is every so slightly immortal. Bryce is 500 years old and technically a demon himself in body, although not in mind. I won't go into how this all comes about however as the story is told pretty well through some nice flashback sequences.

Being immortal means that you are immune to death through the conventional methods, falls wont kill you, neither will the demons which is good, but all this comes at a rather interesting price. Whilst the demons cant actually kill you, they can slow you down somewhat by pulling your limbs off. One by one you will watch your legs and your arms disappear as either demons pull/slice them off in the heat of the action, or you partake in a spot of self-decapitation - pulling your arm off, gun still attached and throwing it at enemies is one example of just why you would be doing this. You can pick your fallen limbs off the floor by rolling over them or regenerating them.

Losing a limb would be game over for most other games but for Bryce, it is just an inconvenience that opens up a multitude of ways to kill your foes besides the standard gun and sword that you have equipped. It is a very unique mechanic, one that works very well too. Its a lot of fun pulling your arm off and using it as a grenade or taking your head off and throwing it down ventilation shafts in the hope of finding some hidden treasures. Sadistic, but fun!

Alongside flinging your extremities around the place, there are also several guns which can be found. Guns are duel-wielded and are fired with the shoulder buttons, it's up to you which gun you want in each hand, just cycle through with the D-pad to find the combo most pleasing to use. All the guns are pretty satisfying, especially the shotgun which is a little bit evil, if not a bit slow to reload. As well as guns, you have your butterfly blade which is pretty lethal, once selected, holding down a shoulder button will lock on to the nearest enemy/object that you can hit and its down to you then to direct the hits by using the thumbsticks. You can choose to flail manically and do less damage overall but cover a wider area, or time your strikes with precise, powerful blows which do more damage but only really effect one target. There are also several leavers, buttons and chains that can be activated/broken only with the sword so it is invaluable to your success.

Gameplay is a mixture of both first person shooter and hack and slash genres, all aiming and gunning down of foes is done in the first person but the overall feel of Neverdead isn't too far away from the likes of Devil May Cry or even Bayonetta. Each area is usually gated until you defeat the waves of enemies, much like the seals on doors in the aforementioned Devil May Cry. Demons come at you by way of monster spawners placed in the rooms, these spawners will continue to chuck out demons until they have been taken down. They can be taken down via the previously mentioned methods or by clever use of the environment around you, by utilising things like chandeliers or hitting electrified signs with your sword you can cause utter mayhem with just the environment alone as nearly everything you hit can and will be destructible.

As mentioned before you are not alone in fighting these waves of demons, Your partner Arcadia is right alongside you helping all the way. At first I feared that Neverdead would become one long and tedious escort quest, but ended up very pleased that Arcadia is no damsel in distress, she kicks ass on the same level you do - minus the removable limbs! She never really feels like a hindrance to you and your progress throughout the game which is nice as I have played many games where escorts and AI controlled partners have somewhat ruined things, Resident Evil 5's Sheva being at the forefront of my memories. The relationship these two have is also hilarious at times, with well written and witty exchanges back and forth from them, especially when Arcadia exercises her authority over Bryce and he's there back-peddling on what he had previously said or being a grudging suck up to her. These exchanges give the characters believable and likable personalities that push you forward into playing more.

Whilst NeverDead is fun to play, it can end up feeling a little samey, even with its outlandish mechanics, as you begin to realise that beneath everything, the game is essentially move from room to room, kill spawners, kill boss, next area affair which can get a little bit boring on extensive play sessions. This is remedied however by playing shorter segments of it as this allows you to just enjoy the game again rather than putting yourself into the mindset of ugh...another room, another spawner and this detracts from the game and all the fun things there actually is to do here. It is also worth pointing out that with the immortality mechanic, you are unable to die which means game overs rarely happen and are only possible if Arcadia goes down and you cant revive her, or if you get your head stuck in one particular kind of monster. This does remove a fair amount of challenge from the game as your only real punishment for getting hit from enemies is your limbs falling off, which you can pick back up or regrow yourself.

Whilst your in the game world, you will notice that things are actually rather nice to look at. Environments are well detailed, and are filled with the things you would expect to find in such places in real life, but not necessarily in games. For example in a museum level, there are displays and fact sheets about the Egyptians which are actually filled out if you take the time to look at them. Character models are also very nice, with impressive facial expressions and well designed costumes and clothing that move with the wind and general movement. The voice acting that goes alongside these characters is great and allows you to enjoy the conversations between Brice and Arcadia even more. NeverDead can however suffer from the nemesis of most action games, a dodgy camera. These issues are especially obvious when you are trying to maneuver Bryce's head around tight areas and trying to make precise jumps to obtain collectible items and such. It isn't game-breaking for sure, but it can be pretty irritating.

You can look forward to various guitar solo's and metal in the background of fighting sequences and elsewhere which seem to fit the overall feel of the game pretty well, and fans of the band Megadeth may recognise the style of the theme song 'Never Dead' as it was written and performed by them which is a nice touch.

There are online multiplayer and leaderboard features also in Neverdead but at the time of writing this review, I was unable to go online and test it due to it being a pre-release.

Konami have confirmed that NeverDead will continue to receive support in the future by way of DLC and add-ons, however no further details have been given regarding this.

Overall, NeverDead is a fun action game with a unique spin on things. The limb loss system works well and is actually pretty comical combined with dialog from both Bryce and Arcadia. Things can start to feel a little repetitive sometimes but that is the curse of hack and slash style games in general. One definitely worth picking up if you're looking for something different, and with the confirmation of DLC, it is a game that will continue to be supported for a while yet.