I appreciate the humor of Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland. I do. I wouldn’t say it consistently makes me laugh, but I understand why others enjoy it. The non-sequiturs and inane ramblings actually make for a fun and unpredictable ride. Well, as long as you can’t predict it, that’s true. But if you’ve watched a few seasons of Rick and Morty, you already basically know how this is going to go.
High on Life is a brand new title from Roiland’s own studio Squanch Games. In it, you have a filthy alien living in your house that may defecate on your couch, but he’s also built a teleporter, so maybe he’s worth putting up with. More interesting is your gun, or Gatlian – your gun is your friend. He’s sentient, he shoots bullets, he’ll chat to you in Morty’s voice and become a relative voice of “reason” (when compared to the rest of the world, at least).
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High on Life is going to live and die on how much you enjoy the humor it’s aiming to achieve. If you’re a dedicated Rick and Morty fan that eagerly awaits each new episode, then you’re going to get a lot out of this. If you’re entirely jaded and disinterested in Rick’s intergalactic adventures, this is going to bore you to tears. I find myself somewhere in the middle. No laughs, but a wry smile, sure. I appreciate fourth-wall breaks and sheer nonsense as much as any other early-30s white man that spent too much time on the internet as a teenager. The Gatlian’s line about losing the “E for Everyone” rating is good, honestly.
So is the gameplay. Shooting enemies with the Gatlian feels decent. The feedback and response from the visuals, sound effects and controller vibration are all in place, meaning that this doesn’t just feel like a mockery of contemporary shooter titles – it actually is a conventional shooter. Aim-down sights, melee attacks and even a grapple hook are here, giving you the mobility and options you need to make combat feel constantly engaging. Special shots can even hold foes in the air while you blast them for extra damage.
You also acquire a knife that really likes to stab people. Anyone. It doesn’t matter. Having a sentient tool-cross-partner hybrid isn’t exactly a new concept in video games, but it is at least refreshing to have them be so unhelpful, in a weird way. The knife and Gatlian chatter away and, yeah, it’s basically Rick and Morty dialogue all the way through. Again, your preference is going to decide how much of this you can take.
But despite leaning closer to being a jaded old man than I’d like to these days, I enjoyed what I played of High on Life. While I can’t claim that I was roaring with laughter, I enjoyed what I played, and I feel safe in saying that as long as the game doesn’t outstay its welcome, it’ll find a few fans that might’ve never even considered it.
High on Life launches December 13 on PC and Xbox, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
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