NeverDead by Konami follows the tragic story of a five hundred year old demon hunter named Bryce Boltzmann. After being defeated by the Demon King Astaroth, Bryce is forced to live an agonizing existence of immortality while assisting the National Anti-Demon Agency (NADA). Along with his partner, Arcadia, our undead hero must battle countless demons while trying to keep his head on his shoulders — literally.
NeverDead combines elements from both the hack-and-slash and shooter genre and in someways it resembles the Devil May Cry series. The game’s protagonist hacks, slashes, and shoots his way through multiple levels infested with demons and bigger-than-life boss encounters.
During gameplay, Bryce gains XP while killing his demonic adversaries. The experience earned during combat is used to purchase new abilities. Simply known as the ‘Shop’, this shopping system can be accessed anytime during combat by pressing the ‘Select’ button. The Shop displays a list of available combat skills that can purchased. Once the desired skills are purchased, they can be equipped in the ‘Equipped Abilities’ menu. This menu can be accessed from the Shop screen by press the R1 button.
The game mechanics rely heavily on Bryce’s ability to severe his limbs. Certain levels have access points too small for an entire body to enter. When confronted with this scenario, fuse boxes can be used to severe your limbs. In this state, you can control Bryce’s head and roll through smaller sections like air vents. Once you have reached the other side, you can rejuvenate your body and limbs by holding the R3 button. However, rejuvenation can only occur when the Regeneration Eye insignia is full.
Combat is not for the impatient or the faint of heart. Bryce tends to lose his limbs quite often, and in some cases, they end up far out of reach. Since the only thing useable at this stage is your head, the ability to fight is drastically reduced. It is possible to attach Bryce’s arms to his head and use his handguns, but it’s impossible to shoot accurately. It’s actually funny to see a head rolling along the floor with arms and legs attached with guns firing widely into the air. It’s an interesting concept to say the least.
Your stock handguns can be replaced with additional firepower during the course of the game. Weapons like the Assault rifle XN28 Carbine and Sub Machine gun help greatly, especially during boss encounters. Having the capability to assign a firearm to each hand is a plus. Since combat is non-stop, ammo re-spawns at various locations for just about every weapon you have in your possession.
The environments can be used to your advantage during combat, especially when you’re surrounded. Slicing through a pillar with Bryce’s Butterfly blade will send parts of the ceiling, and the pillar itself, crumbling down to the floor, inflicting damage to all enemies close enough to the impact zone. Bryce can also be injured when this happens, so it’s important to avoid the debris.
Most of NeverDead’s puzzles are fairly straight-forward. They usually entail rolling your head through small vents to reach rooms to unlock doors and/or rooms. Some puzzles require you to rip your head off and throw it to reach scaffolding and air ducts. The controls are very responsive and a targeting system is used to help aim your head. The boss encounters, on the other hand, require some ingenious thinking.
While fighting Quad Jaw, a three-headed dragon-like bee demon, you have to tear off an arm and toss it into its mouth to expose its weakness. This is far more difficult than it sounds. The only time this tactic works is when Quad Jaw inhales his surroundings. If you are too close to Quad Jaw when this happens, Bryce’s limbs are torn from his body and thrown to different ends of the level.
To make matters worse, creatures called Grandbabies appear to consume your limbs. While it is possible to avoid these creatures by charging your head and propelling forward at high speeds, reassembling your body can be a frustrating affair.
Bryce technically cannot die, but if his head is consumed by a Grandbaby, a QTE (Quick Time Event) appears giving him one chance to free himself before being trapped inside its belly. The QTE is a simple bar with a yellow indicator. To free yourself, you must press the X button as soon as the slider covers the yellow indicator. Missing it will end the game. Typically, this encounter – just like the other boss encounters – are based on trial and error.
NeverDead offers a solid story complimented by decent voice acting. While they may not win any awards, the cinemas are compelling enough to keep you interested. Bryce’s wisecracks during combat tend to grow old fast, though.
Graphically, NeverDead looks impressive in HD. The backgrounds, main characters, and creatures come to life with vibrant, high-res textures and colors. The boss creatures are especially impressive since they fill half the screen. Developer Rebellion spared little in this department.
NeverDead, while not the best in its genre, offers enough action to keep DMC fans entertained. The controls are solid, the music composed by Megadeth keeps your adrenaline pumping, and the boss battles are far from easy. The only complaint is the camera, which acts buggy when you approach enclosed areas.
With that said, gamers looking for a new experience will find that NeverDead offers enough to satisfy.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 3
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Konami
ESRB: M (Mature)
Price: $59.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |   |
| NeverDead's graphics look great in HD. | |
| Sound | |
| Megadeth did a fantastic job composing the soundtrack. | |
| Gameplay | |
| Defeating bosses and solving puzzles with your limbs adds a unique twist to the gameplay. Now If only the camera didn't get stuck in corners. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| While not as good as DMC, NeverDead offers enough originality to stand on its own. | |
#1
Do I really have to say it? NeverDead is a prettay damn good game. People need to give it a chance.