Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Konami
Release: 31.1.2012

Neverdead is a brand new IP born of a surprising - East meets west -development fusion featuring Konami’s Shinta Nojiri and English game studio Rebellion. This kind of pairing interests me as I like the quirkiness and values of Japanese games. Nojiri san had previously worked closely with Hideo Kojima on some of the Metal Gear games, while Rebellion is known more recently for the terrible Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, so I was curious as to how the game might turn out.
Neverdead tells the story of Bryce Boltzmann, a demon hunter of some 500plus years of age and is a game that offers a unique gameplay twist. You see, five Centuries ago, our hero Bryce was defeated by Astaroth, the King of Hell and bizarrely, was rendered immortal as punishment for his defiance! He now plies his trade as a Demon Hunter for hire and here we see him working for NADA, (National Anti- Demon Agency) with his reluctant partner; a lovely Blonde named Arcadia.



So we find ourselves with a third person shooter come melee hack and slash game with a difference. The game focuses on Bryce’s immortality in new and unique ways never before seen in a video game. More often than not, while playing Neverdead, you’ll find yourself missing at least one limb, and frequently find yourself hacked into five pieces, with you controlling Bryce’s decapitated head as you frantically try and re-attach to your body. You may find yourself, hopping on one leg, running around armless, with only your kicking ability to aid you, or you could be legless, rolling around on the floor but still have your arms attached, enabling you to at least fire guns. The enemies come thick and fast for the most part and the action gets very frantic at times as you have your limbs constantly hacked off by the onslaught of demons. The location of lost limbs is helpfully highlighted with little direction markers on screen and a simple diving roll onto them is enough to re-attach the missing body part. Alternatively, you can simply wait for the power meter to fill and click the left stick to grow a new body! So “How do you die”? - I hear you cry! “Where does the game’s challenge come from”? - You proclaim. Well, Rebellion has thrown in a little enemy called a Grandbaby which are always present and will endeavour to devour any limb you leave lying around. Should it devour your head, you have to successfully complete a quick time button press to have your head released, otherwise you will spend eternity being digested In the Grandbaby’s body and it’s game over!! Also, if your mortal partner Arcadia cocks her toes, then that also ends the game. On Normal difficulty, she very rarely gets into trouble, but I found that on Hardcore she was downed quite a lot, and I had to quickly scramble to revive her.



So clearly, finding the right balance with this new gameplay premise was going to be a challenge for Rebellion and is a refreshing gamble and one which is welcomed and much needed by the games industry. We need games like this to be a success in order that more such gambles are taken, and we aren’t just left with constant re-hashes and sequels. I really wanted this to be a good game. So how does the all-important gameplay fare…..?

As I’ve mentioned, in Neverdead, you alternate between dual wield firearms and a big sword as you fight your way through a never-ending supply of demons. There are also various unique offensive moves involving your limbs. I did have quite a lot of fun. However there are various underlying issues that make this an average experience overall. You start out with pistols, and eventually acquire smg’s, assault rifles, a shotgun and grenade launcher. The sword is controlled with the right analogue stick after depressing the left trigger to enter sword aiming mode. This works quite well, but the absence of a move-set of any kind makes it a shallow experience and you are left to just hack and slash vertically and horizontally. The timing of your swings does improve effectiveness but that’s about it from the melee combat. There are no combos, no specials, no finishing moves and no multiplyer. There is also no sense of power or impact from the hacking or the firearms. You never really know if you’re attacks are making contact other than by watching the depleting energy bar of each foe. The guns; at least at first, are pretty underpowered, (apart from the grenade launcher acquired late on), and I found myself using the sword for the majority of the game until the last few stages and wondering initially if there was going to be any point to them.



Some of the most satisfying gameplay results from the hacking of the fully destructible environments. Most of what you see can be destroyed or dis-figured and you can bring whole balconies and pillars crashing down on the beasties. This indirect way of killing demons is actively encouraged by the game’s loading screen hints and is pretty good fun.
Additional combat abilities involve unique use of Bryce’s limbs. As the game progresses, you gain the ability to throw your arms across the screen, still with gun attached, in order to shoot at targets from a distance. Later still, you gain the ability to explode your detached arms at will, like grenades or mines.





The action is occasionally punctuated with the odd puzzle, usually involving Bryce’s decapitated head. The first of these sees you rolling the head around some ducting to reach a room on the other side, then re-forming in order to open the door. Future puzzles see you lobbing your head up to an inaccessible area and such like. Another situation requires you to set yourself on fire to light the way through dark sewers. These attempts to take advantage of Bryce’s immortality are good fun but aren’t exploited nearly enough. The puzzles are few and very simple.



I found this a topsy turvy experience. Initially, the game was fun. The graphics are bright and lovely, with the destructible environments making for some nice spectacles. The CGI cut scenes are particularly beautiful. After a while though, the repetitive, limited combat began to grate a bit. There isn’t much variety in the enemies and there are few set pieces to speak of, just wave after wave of enemies. The gameplay is frustrating at times, as the camera can’t always keep up and the enemies come at you so fast and from all angles, that there is no room for a considered combat strategy. You will get hit frequently from behind and you find yourself in vicious cycles of decapitation- reforming and instant decapitation again leading to angry outbursts! Obviously, qualities like this degrade the overall experience. There are other little niggles that hinder the smoothness of play such as the fact that you can't shoot or change weapons while jumping.

As you progress though, the game does improve. The XP system enables you to purchase upgrades to your abilities such as improved gun power and the limb tossing abilities. Strangely, you get the sense that the upgrades are there to fix the broken gameplay somewhat, and to some extent they do! Unfortunately some of the good ones come along very late in the game and you have relatively few inventory slots, meaning you can only equip a few upgrades at one time when you really want more. A good strategy however is to swap inventory items during play, when you think you a different upgrade will aid a particular situation.
The boss battles are actually good fun. Aided by the fact that they take place in more spacious environments which suit the gameplay and the camera a lot more.

After completion of the game, further upgrades are made available which calls for further playthroughs.

The plot of Neverdead is very thin on the ground. The cut scenes gradually reveal the events of the battle leading to Bryce’s immortality, but the characters of the game are never fleshed out at all. You get to know nothing about them which is a shame as they are well designed and you can see the Japanese influence in those designs and also the quirkiness of some of the dialogue. Some brief time spent in Arcadia’s apartment, where you can look around and interact with the fixtures and fittings such as the shower and put your head through a wash cycle in the washing machine, was particularly reminiscent of Japanese titles and humour. Bryce particularly enjoyed opening Arcadia's lingerie drawer!



There is a multiplayer aspect to the game, but as I was unable to find a lobby at time of writing, I will insert details here at a later date................

Synopsis.

Neverdead is a nearly game. I did enjoy it and I’m looking forward to another playthrough on Hardcore with the new unlocked abilities. The graphics are very appealing and it has some quirky qualities and ideas. I so wanted it to be better than it is. Whether time or budget constraints took their toll, I don’t know, but so much of the game seems a bit lacking in effort, although I’m sure it took a lot of effort to get the game’s unique gameplay designed.
This game will draw the inevitable comparisons to Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, even God Of War and Bulletstorm. The combat systems and action in those games are deep and you have the tools to perform combos, blocks, counters and specials while feeling totally in control. Neverdead’s combat is a lot more random and shallow and as such gets a lower score as a result. However, if you take the game in its own right, it can provide a decent amount of enjoyment.
With more puzzling and time spent on the combat system, characterisation and set pieces, Neverdead could have been so much more. Here’s hoping for a sequel.

7 out of 10