Coming in from Retro Army Limited, the same indie developer that brought us the well-loved Super Trench Attack, is Death's Hangover; a title that the company calls a "ball and bat" game, but in reality it's a more sophisticated version of the classic 1976 arcade game, Breakout. Death has taken two victims, Andy and his lovable sidekick Bob, and held their souls captive, declaring that they must defeat the Bastard Dracula or else Death will kill them... again. Needless to say, this is a game that is purely satirical, yet it offers unique and challenging levels.
Death's Hangover features not only single player mode, but also a two player mode as well in case you want to face Death and his army with a friend. Across 96+ levels, players will face a variety of enemies and bosses, all the while facing grueling the challenges that come with each one. Some levels have sides that can only be hit a certain number of times before your ball can potentially fly off the side, some have water that skews the trajectory of the ball, and some have levers that must be hit in order to remove obstacles from the play area. You never quite know what you're going to be up against until you get there. While the primary focus of this game is of course the arcade mode, once you beat it you also unlock puzzle levels which tack on a generous amount of replayability.
To further enhance the on-your-toes gameplay style that this title has taken on is the inclusion of a decent variety of power-ups; from one-time uses like the multi-ball and bomb, to actual pick-ups like the fart ball, bat glue, bat length increase, fire ball, and more. Some power-ups even allow for you to throw projectiles from the bat, rather than relying on the ball to hit enemies and bosses, such as the scythe and spike. At any given time you can hold up to two power-ups in your inventory, with the ability to switch between them on the fly by using the mouse scroll wheel, though be prepared to lose whichever you are currently using if you either get hit by a monster or fail to catch the ball. You're also able to control the speed of your ball, temporarily speeding it up or slowing it down, to help whatever situation you may be facing.
Your entire objective in Death's Hangover is to obtain souls for Death, get enough of them by a certain progression point and you're able to please him, however if you do not then you must face Death himself in an all-out battle. Since most players will not guess that you need to use these souls at a specific time, most will probably use them in a mini-game called Cheat Death; wherein if you have died, you can choose to spin the wheel of death to have a chance to start back at the exact moment you died, with a power-up at your disposal. Use too many souls to cheat Death, and you will not have enough when you need them, which leads to the ultimate challenge that this game has to offer.
The graphics have a really nice retro style to them, and it's obvious that a lot of time and effort went in to creating them. The bosses and enemies look fantastic, although it's the backgrounds that really capture one's attention. The soundtrack isn't half bad either, and the written dialogue will garner a few low-key chuckles here and there; it helps that the two main characters are men who have been trapped in the bodies of women thanks to Death. I grabbed Death's Hangover for $0.54 on sale, which is one heck of a steal for the amount of content that it houses. If you can get it for this price, I highly recommend doing so. Even the full retail price of $5.49 CAD is quite a bargain.
Rating: 4.0/5.0 - Excellent, highly worth playing.The Horror Network
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