Comedy Central’s hit cartoon, Ugly Americans, entertains audiences with its over-the-top adult humor and tongue-in-cheek scenarios. Who couldn’t love Leonard the dysfunctional wizard with his drinking problem or Mark Lilly for his sense of duty to the Department of Integration. Then there are characters like Callie MaggotBone, a half human, half demon hybrid that constantly lusts after Mark. It would seem fitting to make Ugly Americans into a game; it has all the right elements after all.
The worst has happened in the Ugly Americans universe: Armageddon is close to happening, and some of our favorite misfits from the Department of Integration plan on intervening. Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is a shooter that plays similar to Atari’s Gauntlet. As either Francise Grimes, Callie MaggotBone, Mark Lilly or Leonard Powers, you must battle hordes of bird men, demons, zombies and other creatures in New York city.
As you run through New York city, you can destroy objects in the environment like park benches, telephone pools, hotdog stands and stone statues to uncover weapon upgrades and health. The weapon upgrades can include anything from baseballs to hammers. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses. The boomerang is a spread gun weapon that can kill multiple enemies at once, while the baseball – despite being a fast, single shot projectile – does less damage. It’s entirely up to the player to decide which projectile works best for his/her play style.
Both analog sticks are used to control the action. The left analog stick controls the character and the right analog stick fires projectiles. The R2 button executes a special attack that is unique to the character chosen. In the case of Callie MaggotBone, pressing the R2 button will unleash the power of her ‘Three Hole’, destroying everything on screen.
There is a leveling system that covers a wide range of skills. After dying or completing a stage, the points gained from battle can be added to enhance strength, vigor (to increase health), spirit (this will make special attacks more powerful), guts (which recharges your special attack meter faster), agility, and fortune (this increases your chances of landing a critical hit on an enemy). These skills are vital for surviving, especially during boss battles.
If multiplayer is more your style, UA:A offers a four-player co-op feature so you and some friends can work together to clean up New York city. However, the biggest disadvantage to co-op play is the lack of random players online, especially if your friends are unavailable. The lack of an online community really hinders the experience.
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is a decent shooter with enough action to entertain for a few hours, but it becomes redundant rather quickly. Most of the monsters seem to follow the same pattern and become predictable after the first few levels. Once you have annihilated a horde of zombies, there is no guess work involved the next time you encounter more.
Gamers who are not familiar with the show may not particularly understand some of the humor and references made throughout the game. Since very little information is given about the characters and the relationships they share, some gamers may find the experience somewhat confusing.
What’s really surprising is the lack of animation during the cut scenes. The art quality is incredible and resembles the cartoon, but the choppy, stilted animation is, to say the least, very unexpected. Since the original voice actors were used, the voice acting is top-notch and compliments the in-game experience.
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon isn’t necessarily a bad game. Despite some of its flaws, it will offer gamers a classic Gauntlet-style experience with plenty of mindless action. The enemies may become predicable after a while – and the cinemas may not do the television series any justice – but at its core is a simple, yet fun shooter that can be shared with friends. Even though it’s not perfect, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon offers just enough to keep fans interested.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 3 (Available on PSN / Also available on Xbox Live)
Developer: 345 Games
Publisher: 345 Games
ESRB: M (Mature)
Price: $9.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |   |
| The in-game graphics look decent, but the cinemas are poorly animated. | |
| Sound | |
| There's plenty of music and sound effects from the television series. | |
| Gameplay | |
| Repetitive gameplay with little variation to enemy patterns. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Fans of Ugly Americans will enjoy the overall experience. | |
