Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Back for the very first time
Film parodies have been around for ages. They were extremely popular in 70s and 80s with such films as Spaceballs, Airplane and The Naked Gun series. Recently, we’ve seen a resurgence of the genre thanks in part to the successful Scary Movie series, but we have never had a videogame Parody. Well that changes today with the release of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. While the game does make noticeable references to games of the last 25 years, it ultimately over-stays its welcome and feels like any other generic shooter.
Gameplay
Since the fictional 1980s, Matt Hazard has been the star of a bucket load of videogames from every genre out there. He’s done it all but his popularity has died in recent years and he is in desperate need of a comeback. When you begin the game, Matt is under the impression that this is just any other videogame he’s doing until an AI assistance called QA appears to warn him that the game doesn’t actually feature him as the star. Since he signed a life-time contract, the only way for the company to get rid of him is to actually kill him in a videogame. Hazard must battle through the various levels and ensure that the CEO of the company doesn’t successful wipe him out of the videogame world.
When it comes to parodying videogames, Eat Lead doesn’t shy from it. Essentially everything you see and do in the game has been borrowed from other games in the past. You’ll have blatant references to games like Mass Effect, Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D just to name a few. There are many other references that you’ll notice along the way, some are very visible while others might sneak past you.
Eat Lead is a strictly linear affair. You’ll move from location to location battling various foes along the way. Since the story revolves around a fictional videogame setting, the enemies you encounter are some of the oddest choices around. As you progress, levels change mid-play. You’ll begin in a House shooting random thugs then all of a sudden the room will be filled with Russian soldiers with AK-47s. Take out those soldiers and they’ll magically transform into Zombies. Every level has a basic locale, from a Restaurant to a Yacht, but the enemies you encounter will change a few times. In some situations, you will have a mix of different enemies to deal with at one time.
Because of this constant changing of enemies, the game forces you to continuously change your strategy. Since Zombies can only be killed via head-shots, you’ll need to aim properly to take them out. In areas where you are battling futuristic soldiers, you will need to use a different strategy to destroy them.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the game didn’t suffer from some of the worst shooting seen in a long time. The developers should get credit for trying to make each weapon realistic in regards to how weapon’s fire, but often the aiming is just completely off. You’ll have situations where the enemy AI will be able to shoot through walls and glass without a problem but you won’t be able to do the same. There might be times when you are shooting someone with a powerful weapon, but no damage is being taken. The worst is the hit detection with head-shots. On numerous occasions there would be situations where a clear head shot was made, but incurred no damage.
Enemy spawning is also a problem. You will be certain that you’ve cleared a room only for a couple more enemies to appear. They pop up wherever, the worst being when an enemy shows up right behind you and gets an easy kill. Because there is no quick-turn, the time it takes you to spin around to find the enemy will be enough to do you in.
Out of all of the references made in the game, Gears of War’s cover mechanic is the most obvious. Every level contains containers, walls and other objects that you should be using for cover. While it’s nice that it’s used, it ends up being a problem in many situations in the game. Because of the fact that enemies can spawn just about anywhere, you can’t rely on cover too much. Ultimately, it becomes easier to simply move and shoot and only use cover to regain health or to reload.
Overall, the Enemy AI is not that bright. They’ll give away their location and often can be defeated just by doing a melee attack. The game goes so far as to blatantly tell you that there are faults with the game. Matt will make ‘witty’ remarks about not being able to pick up grenades and even makes comments about the amount of enemies and their behaviors. It tries to be funny, but it happens so often that it just becomes boring and redundant.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics in Eat Lead are a mixed bag. In some stages, there is a fair amount of detail added to the environments. At the same time, there is not a lot of variety in the enemies you encounter. Yes, you do fight against different types of enemies, but each one looks similar. Once you’ve seen one cowboy, you’ve seen them all. The only saving grace is the bosses and cameos you run into. There are some funny references to Mario, Master Chief and Sephiroth. These are nice but very short. The developers spent more time in trying to ensure the references to other games were made obvious when they should have spent time giving us something varied.
Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris voice the protagonist and antagonist quite well but the rest of the game suffers from some really poor voice acting. If the developers were purposely trying to be funny with some of the stereotypical lines of dialogue, it only works for a few moments before it gets stale. Even the soundtrack becomes too repetitive. You will hear the same music during every fire-fight and even the boss music fails to stand out.
Value
Matt Hazard can be completed in less than 8 hours. Because of the strictly linear nature of the game, there is no reason to go back and play again. The game lacks any sort of multiplayer feature. This is actually a good thing, since I doubt the developers would be able to offer anything new or appealing to gamers.
Conclusion
While Eat Lead tries its hardest to be a funny game, it never manages to stay funny long enough to be enjoyable. Thanks to the game’s weak enemy AI and frustrating shooting and cover mechanics chances are that you won’t invest the time to see what happens to Matt. This game has Bargain Bin written all over it and even then, I would be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone.
Pros
+ Funny reference to some of the great games of the last 25 years
+ Star and Villain are voiced fairly well
Cons
- Stupid AI
- Horrible Aim
- Weak Cover Mechanics
- Funny references only last for a few moments or are over-played
- Fails to offer anything interesting
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
I can remember many Christmas mornings from my childhood spent excitedly flipping through the pages of a new book. This was unusual because as a young child, books and clothes were the only gifts I would dread receiving. However, the Christmas morning books that excited me so much were something special. Granted, they weren’t literary classics, but back then,... 
Shane
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