R.I.P.D.: The Game
Score: 35% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atlus Developer: Old School Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Third Person Shooter/ Online
Graphics & Sound: I enjoyed God Mode. It was an unpolished mess, but it was still a lot of fun. It would stand to reason, then, that I would enjoy R.I.P.D: The Game, a near-clone of Gode Mode from the same developers (Old School Games and Saber Interactive). That isn’t the case. While God Mode had its flaws, R.I.P.D.: The Game does little to improve upon its predecessor’s issues. In most cases, changes to the core experience seem to magnify those issues, or make them more noticeable. R.I.P.D.: The Game doesn’t look or sound great, but is passable in both areas. The two main characters, Roy (Jeff Bridges) and Nick (Ryan Reynolds), look like their real life counterparts, so the game has that going for it. Character animations are a bit stilted and lack any sort of personality, which is a big deal considering the lack of any sort of story element. Much of the film is built on the character’s personalities, so it would have been great if a bit of that had carried over into the game in some fashion. Environments are varied and offer some of the game’s better visuals. Unfortunately, each is populated with the same dozen or so enemy character models. Nearly every enemy you face looks exactly the same and, like the main characters, lacks any sort of personality. The same could be said for God Mode, but there you at least had some variety.
Gameplay: Like God Mode, R.I.P.D.: The Game is a wave-based shooter similar to Horde Mode found in Gears of War or other shooters. There is an attempt to build some sort of story into the game, though this never goes beyond a short set-up cut scene and an unlockable final boss fight. This is largely due to the lack of any sort of single-player component. Although you can set up a solo game using the Custom option, it is not the most exciting of options. Prior to each match, you select one of the two characters, a map and your load out. From there, you fight through five increasingly challenging waves of enemies. I rarely had much fun in a match. Enemies aren’t bright and offer little tactical challenge beyond your trying to not get pinned into a corner. At the end of the fifth round, you are given the choice to arrest a suspect (opening a timed protection mission) or you can execute them on the spot. Arrests offer a larger bounty, though this isn’t always possible since I ended up accidentally killing my suspect multiple times due to technical issues. The ideal way to experience R.I.P.D.: The Game is with a co-op buddy, though unless you have someone on hand to play with, it is highly unlikely you’ll get a chance to play the game as intended. Finding other online players is a challenge, not because of technical issues, but because few people are actually online. The few times I was able to match up with someone, they either bailed on the match mid-wave, or cruised the map doing their own thing. Again, you can set up a single player game using the Custom option, though a solo game is a massive slog. The gunplay isn’t very good and you lose options like Betting, which adds a fun dynamic to matches.
Difficulty: R.I.P.D.: The Game goes for the "More enemies = Harder" approach. Enemy A.I. is terrible. With the exception of 2 – 3 specialized enemies (snipers and healers, mainly), enemies simply swarm you. Since it takes a couple of hits to actually kill anything, mostly due to suspect collision detection, death isn’t uncommon. If you stick with the game long enough you’ll unlock better weapons, though the system is so restrictive you’ll probably lose patience. There are attempts to introduce side goals during matches and a betting system where you predict how well you’ll score in certain areas (kill count, for example). In theory, both systems work and add to the challenge. However, the core experience of shooting enemies and surviving waves isn’t tight to start. What would be awesome challenge points become frustrating, boring messes as a result.
Game Mechanics: R.I.P.D.: The Game only works if the core action of firing a gun is fun, which it isn’t. Even when switching into targeting mode, shots rarely seem to go where you intend, resulting in a lot of wasted shots. This wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t dealing with ammo limits and large groups of enemies, but both will cause you problems. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of extra ammo, though once or twice I had to break off an attack to search for another clip. If you do manage to rack up a couple of kills without dying, you’ll gain access to a series of perks, such as ghostly chains or a turret, though these are rarely much help and not worth deploying most of the time. Between matches, you can purchase new weapons using money earned from bounties. I like the system, though it seems incredibly limiting. Weapons are pricey, usually requiring multiple plays to get weapons that actually seem to do decent damage. Better weapons add some fun, though it takes so long to get there the journey doesn’t seem worth it. To be fair, R.I.P.D.: The Game probably had a lot going against it. For one, it is saddled with a license that I’m sure placed a couple of restrictions on what could be done with the game. I’m also fairly certain the developers were under a tight deadline to get the game out just in time for the movie. That said -- a bad game is still a bad game. It also doesn’t help that R.I.P.D.: The Game is built around attracting a playerbase, which it clearly has had difficulty doing. Without a stable base of players to pull from, it is hard to find a match, crippling the experience. If the core concept sounds fun, God Mode is a better option.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
Related Links: PlayStation Illustrated's Review of God Mode
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