Bryce, the protagonist of NeverDead is immortal, and like him you will tire of this gimmick rather quickly. Konamis latest third person shooter brings very little to the table in terms of innovation to a genre that sees at least one major release per year. If NeverDead is any indication of what TPS fans can expect from the genre, theyre in for a bumpy. Read on to learn why NeverDead should have never happened.
NeverDead narrative centers on Byrce a demon hunter who works for a secret organization. His day job has him slaying monsters, defeating bosses and containing outbreaks of a hellish nature. What makes Byrce unique is the curse of immortality. This immortality isnt the standard invulnerability youll find in other works of fiction. The game makes it very clear that Byrce feels dismembered limb, penetrating bullet and enemy attack.
The games dismemberment mechanic is its sole new addition to a genre that often follows a similar pattern: The protagonist defeats waves of enemies with the possible option of taking cover and defeating bosses. Throughout the campaign Bryce is able to lose his arms, legs as well as his head. Once a limb has been lost the only way to recover them is by performing a combat roll over them. This means that you cannot simply walk to reattach your lost limbs. You will find yourself performing combat rolls even in areas where there is little threat of being harmed simply because youve lost your leg.
Ive already shared that the dismemberment mechanic doesnt bring anything new, and unfortunately the core mechanics dont fare much better. Bryce has two different fighting styles to choose from going out guns blazing and using the butterfly blade which is conveniently mounted to his back. The default weapons including assault rifles, small machine guns and pistols feel almost like peashooters. You will pump countless rounds into some of the enemies only to find out that only drop after six plus bursts. The sword fighting fairs a little better but still has some awkward control issues. In order to use the butterfly blade you must press the hold the left trigger to engage the sword and then flick the left stick to swing the sword. The sword play is satisfying but there is no connection between the direction you press the stick towards and the animation that plays. The sword combat would have flowed a lot better if it had been mapped to a button rather than the left stick.
The level design in NeverDead could be described as clich at best. Youll spend the opening hours of the game playing through levels like The Asylum, The Museum and The Police Station. Each level features a number of objects youd expect in each setting desks in the police station, pieces of art in the museum and broken windows in the asylum. Unfortunately these objects tend to repeat and at times it can feel like entire sections themselves repeat.
In early previews of the game I found your A.I companion Arcadia to be more than capable of handling herself. She does a decent job at helping dispatch an entire room of enemies even when your fully dismembered shell come to your aid. Now that Ive had the ability to play the game on multiple difficulty settings I cant exactly give the same praise to Arcadia. Playing for a short period youll think that the companion A.I is more than capable but a few levels in one of the games central flaws become apparent your friendly A.I is are never in trouble because the enemy never target her. You are the constant target of all enemies on screen regardless of the situation, making the entire point of the friendly partner completely pointless. In a mew robust title the support characters are able to hold their own and provide some level of support while leaving the major hurdles to you. In other games these characters are sometimes overwhelmed or surrounded. This creates a sense of urgency and pressure on you to perform and save your companions before they meet their end. NeverDead never achieves this by providing a seemingly invincible sidekick.
The awkward controls, haphazardly implemented dismemberment mechanic and repetitive gameplay could be excused to an extent if NeverDead wasnt filled with technical issues. During the opening chapter I came across a few collectables that would have granted me valuable XP if the game would have let me use the dismemberment mechanic properly. Oddly, there are sections in the game that will prompt you to use moves that you either havent learned or purchased yet. I also came across a few instances where Bryce was presented with a power-up with no explanation as to its use. Add to this seemingly random moments that will have you flying across the map as a severed head and a few levels where you can escape the levels geometry and you have a game that feels half finished.
At the end of the day NeverDead seems to be Konamis answer to the Devil May Cry series. At first I thought I was drawing parallels that didnt exist but the more I think about it the clearer they become. Both games feature a demonic (or cursed) protagonist who uses self-depreciating humor to lighten the mood, both characters wield guns & swords and both games plots are almost undecipherable. Sadly, NeverDeads humor falls flat, the gameplay is repetitive and at the end of the day it will make you want to play a much better game. It is hard to recommend NeverDead as a purchase or even a rental given that there are much better third person shooters on the platform, even if those games are a few years old.
