Written By: Patrick Orquia
Title: Paranautical Activity
Developer: Digerati
Publisher: Digerati
Genre: FPS
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 28 June 2018
Price: $7.99
Also Available On: PS4, PSV, Steam, XB1, WiiU
When I first saw the trailer for this game, I had high expectations. I thought it was really cool combining 8-bit pixelated graphics with the FPS genre. I thought it would be fun and challenging and would provide great replay value.
I HAD high expectations.
Paranautical Activity was first launched for Windows in 2014, and have been since ported to other platforms, including the Wii U in 2016. And now, it’s back for the Switch. With the promise of kick-ass first-person shooting enjoyment, it has some fun moments to be had. But unfortunately, the game is just… bad. Really bad.
I tried hard to like this game, I really did. But each time I play a round, the same lingering feeling haunts me: why the hell am I playing this game? This game could have been really fun and I do appreciate the idea behind it, but the developers seemed to have missed every target point along the way in making this one mess of a game. The audio is loud but uninspired. The graphics look a bit bland and doesn’t really stand out in a 3D environment. Enemies more way faster than you do, and they seem to hit you with whatever they throw at you regardless of where you are in the room. Also, you are given very limited hit points and the game doesn’t give much after miraculously surviving a room full of 8-bit monsters. And the weapons lack variety, and add to that the bad controls.
But what is the game about, you ask? Well… the game doesn’t really say anything about what you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to accomplish. After a very long loading time when you start the game, you are just given a few options, like turn off the sound if you want, or adjust the field of view and mouse sensitivity. After that, you choose your weapon from a very short list of choices, then you are off to fend for yourself as you try to survive room after room filled with enemies, some of which have very unfair advantage over you. The, very like, you’ll end up dead before you know it. Rinse and repeat.
There are a few unlockables in the game, but honestly, I only unlocked one, after remarkably beating a room without getting hit. By the way, rooms are randomly generated, or so the game wants you to think, so the quality of fun that you would have during one round can vary very wildly. You may encounter just a few small and slow-moving midget-demons or fight a big boss that looks like Cthulhu that flies over you and fires hundreds of projectiles at you no matter where you are. You can run, but you will surely die.
So, needless to say, this game is very hard to recommend. There are much better retro-styled games with roguelike elements in the eShop, such as The Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon. Save your money, buy something else. This game is not for you, so don’t even bother.
REPLAY VALUE: very low
PROS
- Cool idea of blending 8-bit graphics with FPS genre
- Randomly-generated rooms could be fun sometimes
- Movement is quite smooth and fluid
- A large amount of unlockables
- Some rooms have treasures or shops where you can buy better items
CONS
- Overall bad execution
- Bad controls
- Bad lighting
- Animation could be better
- No multiplayer option
- Very long load time when the game boots up
- Loud, repetitive soundtrack
- Some enemies can have very unfair advantage over you
- Very low hit points given to your character, even with the strongest weapon
- Very small variety of weapons
- No option to change difficulty or lower the sound volume
- Goal of the game is not explicitly given, if at all
RATING: 2/5 8-bit mediocrities
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