NeverDead Review

Written by Erik Kubik, kube00 Monday, 13 February 2012 12:00

NeverDead was a game which tries to blend several game play elements together. Gamers can expect a heavy emphasis on crazy action as seen in games like Bayonetta, Vanquish, and the Devil May Cry Series. Throw in some light puzzles with exploding body parts, a few plot twists, a never ending escort quest and this sums up NeverDead. But NeverDead neither succeeds or fails at what it tries to do, instead it passes itself off as something average.

The idea behind this game sounded unique. An immortal demon hunter named Bryce is partnered up with a human, Arcadia Maximille, to stop the demonic invasion. Plot spoilers aside, the story in the game isn’t too bad. But it feels pretty generic when you compare it similar games. The puzzle elements of rolling around and throwing Bryce's head may sound entertaining but they end up being frustrating due to a number of small issues.

Ideally, one would think the combat would be the most fun in a game like this. Bryce's sword is much more useful when taking down enemies quickly than the dual wielded guns. Even the dual assult rifles were ineffective in combat compared to the sword. To make matters worse the combat controls are awkward, especially when trying to take down multiple enemies. I really wished this part of the game was more polished. If it had been I think a lot of the other smaller issues with NeverDead could have been overlooked.

To make matters worse the awkward controls are very noticeable in the middle of combat when a demon puppy rips off your arms and legs rending Bryce semi-helpless. Gamers are forced to slowly crawl, hop, or roll to get the pieces and re-assemble. This scenario happened far too often in the game. During the boss fights gamers should prepare to be rag-dolled all over the confined space. A lot of the bigger enemies are almost capable of instant dismemberment. Rolling around and trying to reconnect to the body as Byrce’s head also got old quickly. Bryce's body often ends up in an awkward position so re-attaching the head is frustrating. To make matters worse, the camera sometimes doesn't do a good job of following Bryce and his body parts. I enjoyed the unique challenge in all of this but the dismemberment happened far too often and as I mentioned, at the worse times.

Konami attempts to make NeverDead a little more risque with some interesting banter between Arcadia and Bryce but this gets old. In the end there are the co-op challenges if you can find 4 other people that have the game. Unless you are hungering for a poor man’s Bayonetta or DMC4 gamers should look elsewhere. If you still want to try this game, wait till it hits $20 or less.

I'd give it a 5/10 for now.