Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint Review

After playing the ridiculously cute and sweet BattleCakes, I needed something that was going to bring down my sugar level. I feel like I need to play a game that is totally opposite to shock my system back into shape, thankfully Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint fits the bill! I have always been a fan of foreign movies and I am very familiar with the super violent titles in my film collection like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy, and Lady Vengeance to name a few. All the titles have a similar theme running through them: the title character is trying to get revenge for something horrible that has happened in their life. Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint fits right in with these titles. 

The game begins with us seeing a guy watching a late-night crime documentary about a case that led to a crazy chain of events. In 1996 the children of a local police officer were kidnapped by a serial killer, somehow the brother escaped, but his sister was never found. Lim Jeong, the boy who had gotten away is now an investigator conducting a personal investigation of this case as the killer is still on the loose. A new series of murders has started, all very similar to the original case. Is this a copycat or is it the original killer back to continue his reign of terror?

One of the first things that you will notice is how the game was created to be widescreen, giving it the feeling that you are in a movie. The look of this title is pixelated which looks wonderful, but I think a good reason for this is the amount of blood that you see. If this game was realistic, it would be pretty nasty, especially for some people. Though really if you weren’t a fan of violence in games or movies, this probably wouldn’t be a title that you would search out to play, especially when you can hang your enemies off of meat hooks. This title does not hold back! Now that you have been warned, let's get into the game!

When the story begins and you have control of Lim, you need to learn how to fight. Within seconds, you will be swarmed by a ton of goons — who bear a slight resemblance to director Quentin Tarantino. I am playing the game with an Xbox controller as that is what I am most comfortable with, but there is also the option to use a keyboard. To perform a quick punch use X, uppercuts are done with Y — they are slower but more powerful, to block enemy attacks the left shoulder button, and to roll away and dodge use B. During a fight, a prompt will pop up telling you to hit A and this will allow you to perform actions like using an enemy as a human shield to knock all the other enemies down, or to pick up a dropped weapon. There is no jump option, so you will have to rely on dodging the enemy to get away. 

All of your attacks are chained together to make a powerful combo to fill your Vengeance bar so you can perform special attacks like a rage punch and graphic finishing moves to defeat the enemy. During each battle, it feels like you are taking on over twenty goons all on your own. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed when a cluster of Tarantinos are hitting you with baseball bats! Some of these fights took a few attempts to clear as I was defeated and clearly needed to get better at blocking and dodging incoming attacks. 

There are a ton of references to Tarantino films in Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint, in particular Kill Bill. Besides having goons that look like the director, there is an enemy named Medusa who looks a lot like Darryl Hannah — Ellie Driver, she even has the eyepatch! The game is also split into chapters like that movie series was, breaking up the action into smaller segments, and has a bad guy named Mr. Pink to go along with Mr. Peppermint. This is all besides the huge amounts of blood and violence that you will encounter here.

The accompanying soundtrack was perfect for the never-ending action in the game. It was upbeat yet at parts felt like there was an Asian influence woven in, especially when you start a battle and a gong is hit to signal the fight has begun. The sound effects also fit very well, you got to hear every thud, blood splash, and scream from the characters being beaten up. The developer, Hack the Publisher, has definitely put in the time needed to bring this to life.

I’ve been having a good time playing Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint, but my biggest gripe is that it gets quite repetitive after a while, especially when all the goons you fight look the same. Sure in later chapters a few different-looking smaller enemies get introduced, but for the most part, they are all the Tarantino-looking guys. You are always moving horizontally, and since you don’t have a jump option there isn’t anything vertically to access. I think it helps if you play the game in shorter sessions as it may not feel like all you’ve been doing for hours is punching. If you are a fan of films like Old Boy, you will especially enjoy fighting off a hallway of never-ending enemies with just a hammer! The references in this game are great and made the game a must-play for me.