I’m gonna kill you old style.
Every once in a while I like to tone down all the thought provoking story driven games and just do like I did back in the 90’s – kill stuff. Luckily, Butcher lets me do just that, and for the most part it does a decent job with it.
Touting that the easiest mode is HARD mode, Butcher has players taking control of what I’m guessing is some sort of space robot killing machine that has arrived to eradicate all humans around. At least, that’s what the official website states. The story is almost non-existent in this game, and to be honest, that works for the best. I really didn’t care about the story, as I was more interested in the gameplay.
Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
MSRP: $9.99
Price I’d pay: $9.99
Butcher is a 2D side scrolling shooter that bleeds 90’s action the likes of Doom and Duke Nukem. Everything is pixelated and washed out. Add to it a color scheme of reds, browns, and blacks and I felt like I was running and gunning demons on the surface of Mars again. The gameplay itself all revolves around fast movement and picking the shots for killing an enemy while trying not to get picked off. Line of sight means that I can kill an enemy, but it also means they can shoot me as well. Staying on the move is the best strategy, but even then, picking when to pop out of cover is essential. While the Butcher can take a few hits, the enemies usually go down in one shot. That, of course, doesn’t mean they’re not deadly.
Since line of sight means both characters can hit each other, it feels a bit off at times due to my getting hit from an enemy that wasn’t on screen. It resulted in some cheap deaths here and there that got slightly annoying, but never game breaking, and since all the enemies are in the same spots after death, players can begin to memorize enemy placements if they’re having trouble in certain sections.
While each level is short in some sense, there are some that I could have used a checkpoint in. Getting killed in the last encounter and having to restart the level got on my nerves a few times, but even then, when brute forcing my way through a difficult part didn’t work, I learned to take my time a bit and figure out the best strategy for when it came to massacring the enemies.
The look and feel all work well with each other. It really does look like a game from 1996. Even the level splash screen looks like Doom. From the over abundance of gore and blood to the industrial rock soundtrack, it just oozes 90’s nostalgia. While it may be a slightly short experience, there are multiple difficulty levels to try out. This could go either way. It could be a game you pick up and play all the way through, or a game that you try for about 20 minutes and never look at again. It really all depends on what kind of mood you’re in. If you’re in a mood for a fast paced old school run and gun kind of game, this is it and it does really well for itself.
If you’re not or are looking for something with more substance, you may want to look elsewhere. Butcher is more for the players that want to turn off their brain for a little bit and just shoot some stuff, and you know what? It does a decent job with that.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
