• PS3

by Arcee on 09.08.11

Have any of you ever seen Ugly Americans on Comedy Central? If not, you are really missing out on one of the funniest and offensive animated programs out there. The type of humor and writing style on that show easily is some of the best Comedy Central has to offer aside from The Colbert Report and South Park. So you could only imagine my excitement when I heard that Backbone Entertainment (Death Jr.) was developing a downloadable game based on the series that would be available for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace called Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon - and, in an attempt to draw in those older gamers, it would be done in the vein of classic arcade games Gauntlet and Robotron. Now that is a way to get someone’s attention.

The storyline for Apocalypsegeddon is actually written by the writing team behind the series; and the voice acting of the characters is done by the actors who voice their respective characters as well. This goes a long way to making the game actually feel as it would fit into the universe the animated series takes place in. Of course, when you have those two genuine factors from the show already in place for the game, how much more of a stretch would it be for the crude humor of the series to be added into the game? None whatsoever; and that that is what makes the game as good as it is. Not that the gameplay is bad, and I’ll get back to that in a minute, but when you have a property as unique as Ugly Americans is, you need anything associated with it to be just as genuine and unique as the source. I am more grateful to that factor being in the game than anything else.

Of course, since it is a video game, there must be certain other aspects aside to draw in the gamer. A great story and genuine feel are great, but if the game play sucks, why would gamers be inclined to stick around? Thankfully, since the developers did draw inspiration for the game from classic dual joystick games like Gauntlet and Ikari Warriors, there really wasn’t much that they could mess up. Using those classic games as a base and adding in their own twist to the types of weapons the player would be wielding (such as snow globes, golf balls, baseballs and so on), the developers of the game manage to keep the game fun and respectful of the series at the same time. But just because most gamers will be familiar with the type of game play found in Apocalypsegeddon, don’t expect the game to be a walk in the park. You still have all those enemies to deal with.

The enemies you will face are straight out of the series, with a few new ones created by the series’ staff just for the game. You will have your cranky and foul mouthed birdmen to deal with as well as some emo/rebel demons, stupefied zombies, rocked out brutes and several other types of undead and unholy creatures to deal with. Each enemy has a certain way to easily dispatch of them, but for the most part unloading your weapon on each of them is the best way. Of course, you will have your occasional boss battle to deal with, and those can get mighty tricky. With several life bars at their disposal, the bosses can take quite a while to defeat on your own. Thankfully you do have a rechargeable special attack in your arsenal that deals major damage to any and all enemies. But if you still find yourself dying multiple times at the hands of some of them, why not invite a friend over to play and help you out?

With online and local co-op, you can easily take care of the monsters at hand by having up to four players take control of four of the series characters. (Just make sure to leave Callie Maggotbone alone as she is my favorite character and I like playing as her.) All joking aside, I had a blast with this downloadable game. Backbone Entertainment took great care in respecting the source material of the game while delivering a fun and nostalgic dose of gaming in Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon. While there may be other fun, downloadable games that will certainly get more attention than this game will, Apocalypsegeddon is certainly one of the finest games you will miss if you don’t keep your head up. Do yourselves a favor and try the game out for yourselves; it will be some of the best $9.99 (or 800 points) you will drop this month.

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