The sense that I don’t have full command of the action was not helped by the addition of a ‘background’ button. Pressing a shoulder button made Matt aim in to the screen at a perpendicular angle to where he is standing, allowing enemies in the background to be slaughtered. With skewed angles confusing perception this often made sections where I was required to attack enemies located behind the main action laborious, and frequently lethal as the enemies rushed Matt, avoiding my inaccurate fire.

 

 

Level design is another stumbling block. Though linear in its progression, platforms through areas were frequently hard to discern thanks to them blending with the detailed 3D environment. While this is forgivable once or twice, as I hacked my way through the fifteen-minute stages, using the poor jump mechanic, I found myself cursing any area that required more of me than running in a straight line.

 

 

Talking of fifteen-minute levels, it is worth noting in this kind genre this is exceedingly long. Environments go on forever, and while they don’t loop the sense of being in the same place soon becomes tiring. It is a problem not helped by instant deaths from water or jumping to high off screen, which feel like relics of a gameplay design ethos that seems to be under the illusion the while experience is too short.

 

Old games in this genre tended to be short experiences, made longer by constantly needing to restart when all continues were lost thanks to the challenge they presented. Matt Hazard has retained much of the same thinking, but without adjusting for the shear size of each area. I would remain locked in a single area until I had defeated all of the respawning enemies, frustrated at yet again being unable to hurry through the game at my own pace.

 

 

Perhaps the worst example comes in the form of bosses, which take forever. At the end of one level I still had multiple continues so decided to try an experiment. Standing astride the huge submarine the formed the end of the first stage I aimed straight down at it I unloaded everything I had at it. I lost two continues (each with five lives) and still the fight lasted more than two minutes using all of the grenades and power-up presented to me. Playing the area ‘properly’ avoiding attacks, served only to extend the repetitive experience.

 

 

It is hard to directly pinpoint the thinking behind moving Matt Hazard from FPS to 2.5D shooter. Maybe it was the acclaim lavished upon Bionic Commando: Rearmed or Shadow Complex’s reimagining of a classic game play style in a 3D engine, perhaps it was inspired by its own fake history and Contra rip-offs, or maybe it was simply a easy way to make use of the 3D assets the team had left over from the first game.

 

Here with "Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond" is an example where less could truly have been more, with a retro graphics and shorter levels this could have been the throwback game I hoped it would be, and a more entertaining experience. I applaud the concept whatever the thinking, but somewhere between level design and fiddly controls the game descended into mediocrity.

 

 

 

 

+ Classic gameplay style
+ Some nice self-aware humour
+ Fun in co-op, but no different