High On Life – Review on INDIAN

I’m not going to lie to you – I often struggle with not knowing how to properly start a review. What should I talk about first? First, how to get your attention? However, High on Life, which has just been reviewed, is a little different, because, on the contrary, I know exactly what I want to talk about. I just don’t know how to give it to you simply.

Okay, okay, I’m not going to walk around in the mess. High on Life is primarily a sci-fi first-person shooter. But what distinguishes him from the very beginning and at first glance is his whole style and, above all, his humor. Of course, not only the name was on his shoulders, but also the main concept, and most of the ideas, and even one of the main dubs. Justin Roiland. You may know him as the co-creator of the hit Rick and Morty, which should tell you that the word “humor” is not being used in the usual sense here. And High on Life is well aware of this.

As I already mentioned, the game is a first-person shooter, and this partly determines its greatest uniqueness. The weapon that you will have is talking to you. You will constantly have several different and interesting… “characters” in your field of vision that react to many of your actions. For example, they will yell at you when you try to shoot your sister; they will cheer you on when you kill innocent gang members (don’t understand that oxymoron), chat with each other, or, of course, push the story forward. The question remains why. Because it’s fun, why not, and because it’s a story. These three phrases can answer most of the questions you may have about High on Life.

As an unintroduced and unnamed protagonist, you witness the start of an alien invasion of planet Earth. At first, of course, you don’t understand what’s going on. But soon you will find out that this G3 space cartel wants to conquer the human race as a great source of drugs. Not that we created drugs, but that we ourselves are drugs. And wait, it gets worse. Soon you will get your hands on the first Gatlian; an alien race of weapons that not only shoots, but also talks. And wait, it gets worse. Soon you will be taken to an alien world to find the legendary bounty hunter and use him to get revenge on the cartel. And wait a little longer, it will get worse… But you have to understand this yourself. Even if the history of High on Life did not see a point of depth even from the expressway, there are still a little more nuances in it than it might seem at first glance. It’s mostly superficial though. The gist of the story is easy to understand and of course, like the rest of the game, it’s based mostly on humor.

And this is perhaps the main conclusion of the review. This game is based on humor. And not only stands, but also falls. The peculiar and not entirely correct humor of Justin Roiland, which in many respects cannot be easily classified, is the basis of your experience in this game. And this means only one thing – if it does not suit you, then this name will offer you little. And if, on the other hand, it suits you, you will enjoy High on Life immensely.

If we look at the surrounding aspects of this game, we will find that it is actually quite an ordinary shooter. The feeling of shooting is pleasant, but that’s all – it’s just nice. The individual weapons you get access to are pretty standard in every way in terms of functionality. There is a pistol, machine gun or shotgun, and only three types of weapons. And the individual locations that you visit, although stylistically well designed, will not amaze you with their uniqueness. After all, a city, a sewerage system, a forest, or even a western town are not alien to us, earthlings.

But I definitely have to commend at least the general originality regarding the context. Where you go is not so interesting. Under what circumstances, why and what awaits you there, but usually it is. And things like an alien training camp or a drugged multi-billionaire are amazingly original and fun when combined with otherworldly nature. Like the general poll. In addition to the main projectile, each of your weapons also has a special skill; you can use this not only for combat, but also for movement, and thus for exploring the world and manipulating the environment. Once everything falls into place and you use one weapon after another in quick succession, you will enjoy. And this is whether you follow the main story or choose to take the time to find the hidden boxes, which act as the only form of collecting and therefore, unfortunately, the only real initiative to get off the main path.

This seems like a big shame to me because the core of the game for that matter is built on a very good and fun foundation that for some reason it just doesn’t want to use outside of the main story. More than enough space for interesting side quests. There are even hints of something like that – a lot of secondary characters who talk to you or sometimes want something from you, something that you can easily give them, but it’s extremely superficial in every way and you just get the impression about it, that it was some extra thing added at the end of development.

And like I said, it seems like a shame. Because the rest of the creators worked with a good base, which is simply not used much outside of the main campaign. After about eight hours, you will finish the game, and after that you will not have much reason to continue playing. And from how many ideas the creators have and, of course, how many duplicating talents are available to them, it just freezes. Which brings me to another complaint, which I prefer to put in the form of a question – why isn’t the protagonist talking? Why, in such an incredibly chatty game, is my character silent, and my weapon is responsible for it? It really hit me like a punch to the eye.

In conclusion, however, I still have to praise the graphics themselves. The stylization that the creators chose for this game really suits it in every way. Everything looks so nice animation, the animation is great and especially the color palette is great. This, of course, includes the aforementioned dubbing, in a word, first-class, and high-quality music that combines several genres; but unfortunately you don’t notice it as often in the rush of action.

To sum it up, High on Life is a pretty solid, if at heart, pretty average shooter that stands and falls on its humor, great styling and voice acting, and a few unique ideas. It’s a shame the creators haven’t taken a few more steps to offer interesting content beyond the main story, because there’s a foundation for that. Thank you, and because of this, the game gets a seven out of ten from us.