Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard

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List Price: $19.99
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Hello all, like my title says this came out at a bad time, most of you will be buying killzone 2 or halo wars or saving up for resident evil or recuperating from repetitve stress syndrome from street fighter when this little sure to be overlooked gem came out.

are the graphics good?-no

are the controls good?-no (but i got used to them couldnt figure out how to zoom at first)

is the story good?-not really (it is funny just convaluted and makes little sense)

is the game fun?-YES IT IS!!

I cant explain this game i put it in and played for a bit and i kept going cause i wanna see what happens next, after all it makes fun of some of my most loved games.I'll sum it up in one sentence, I got this shortly after getting killzone and i am playing this more than killzone. (thats not a jab at killzone, while killzone is fantastic on all fronts this game has just kept my interest, well that and im working alot of overtime and i want to invest all my attention on k2).

Summary: while this game is not great it is by no means bad it just came out at a bad time so i tell you all write the name down and pick it up later it is worth a play through.

P.S.please email d3 and ask them to really make a water pistol game!!!

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The run and gun gameplay gets repetative, but the story is fun and never takes itself seriously. From the Shatner sounding Gandalf looking character to the video games that it parodies, this is an enjoyable game that makes many pop culture references. If you've never seen a Schwartzenegger movie, some of the jokes will fall flat, but what are the chances that you haven't? Worth a rental, but no replay value.

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Premise

*You play Matt Hazzard, a video game star who's being cheated out of his own game. A hacker helps prevent him from being killed off in favor of a different main character.

The Good Things

*Graphics are not too bad. They aren't as detailed or intricate as other games, but they look slick. The sound quality seems good.

*Gameplay is a simple, straightforward third-person shooter.

*Controls are not too bad, but they are not the same as most other shooters, so there is a bit of a learning curve.

*Level design is not bad. They are very straightforward, but they have a lot of places to find cover and some destructible objects in the environment.

*The story is not bad. It is basically a parody of other video games and movies. It is quite witty at times, without being too over-the-top.

*The main character is fun to play; he's always talking about the gameplay while you're playing him, adding to the parodic comedy. He also gets to fight some interesting bosses. Not to mention, he reminds me a bit of Jason Statham...

*Cool music.

*Has trophies, some of which are ridiculously easy to get.

*Appropriate for teenagers and adults. Rated T for language, suggestive themes, and violence; none of it is very graphic at all.

The Bad Things

*No multiplayer games.

*Not for those looking for complexity or challenge. Enemy AIs are not terribly challenging and the levels are straightforward.

It's simple, straightforward, and brainless, so it's perfect as a shooting-game parody. It has quite a few funny moments throughout, but gameplay itself is a parody, as you fight against a ridiculous amount of bad guys and take on some ridiculous bosses. And the whole time, your character is making some funny comments. It's pretty fun in the end; it'll do until "Duke Nukem Forever" finally comes out...

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This game is a bargain bin item and it plays like one: the graphics are OK, the gameplay is average, the story is so-so and the music score is typical. But the main character quips and comments humorously in spades, and the sound effects seem pretty good. Just don't expect anything much from this title beyond some genuinely average videogame entertainment. 3 stars

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Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is a parody of the video game industry. Anyone having grown up with video games in the past 20 years will probably find something humorous in Eat Lead. Though developer `Vicious Cycle' is quite possibly making fun of its own heavily clichéd and flawed game.

The setting for Eat Lead is simple: Washed out video game actor, Matt Hazard is recruited by his employer for a comeback to recapture his former glory (and profits). Though once his adventure begins a series of events and a mysterious helper indicate that not all is at it seems. I'll leave out any major plot twists and spoilers. But suffice to say that anyone who has a shred of common sense will see the plot twist coming well in advance.

Graphically, Eat Lead is competent. The game won't win awards or wow anyone with its graphical prowess, however, that's not really the focus of the title.

Gameplay is accomplished via a 3rd person camera similar to Gears of War. Eat Lead even attempts to implement the same cover system featured in Gears though with mixed results. The cover and control system is really where Eat Lead shows its lack of refinement. Mainly the biggest problem lies in the cover system itself. Unlike in Gears, the cover system in Eat Lead is clunky. I found myself frequently fighting with the controls as much as with the enemy. Frequent and frustrating deaths abound because of the flawed cover system. Moving from cover to cover should be a refined experience in Eat Lead it is not. Matt Hazard frequently gets hung up on the environment or simply doesn't perform the action you're attempting to do.

There are other curious development choices too. For example enemies can use grenades though Matt Hazard cannot. Your only recourse to enemy grenades is to scramble to a different position. The game makes fun of itself for the lack of the feature... but frustratingly it's still not there, jokes or not. I get the humor aspect of it but ultimately the game suffers for it.

Another issue is the completely unbalanced difficulty. There are three selectable difficulties ranging from the Matt Hazard equivalent of Easy, Medium & Hard. I played through on the medium and pretty much flew through the game until certain choke points where the difficulty spikes. Boss battles are particularly difficult and cheaply frustrating.

Again, though the game is a parody it is squarely making fun of many of the mechanics it uses. At an early point in the game I realized that the basic premise of Eat Lead is to move from room to room, wiping out all the enemies along the way. That's basically all you get for the entire game. In that regard it differs very little from games like `Doom' where you're simply killing enemies, finding keys and moving on to the next level. Again, the game is making fun of a mechanic it employs and actually overuses.

The in game music is mainly comprised of heavy-metal tracks that serve the game well. A lot of the music is completely over the top and it's meant to be. It has a humorous effect on the game that fits well. The voiceovers are similarly cheesy, over the top voice actors. One particularly memorable wizard you must rescue in the game is the Dungeons & Dragons equivalent of William Shattner. It's hilarious.

I think that the people who will enjoy Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard are those that accept that the game is highly flawed and are playing more for the comedic value than those looking for a good game. I did laugh out loud at various points throughout the game and that is saying something. If only the developer had been able to iron out some of the control and balance issues this game could've really been something.