Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land
One time I was riding an elevator in a Marriot for some convention. A bunch of high school basketball team players were in it with me from another event. When one of them started hitting the other in a peculiar fashion. Then I swore I heard Rigby's voice about punchies. I said, "Regular Show" and we all started going, "Woahhh!" just like in the show until we reached the lobby.
I'm a fan of the show, since I saw it's pilot go online only to be taken down after about a week. I've gabbed with the cast and crew at Comic-Con and continue to watch new episodes.
Its first game, not counting the online flash, is an old-school mess of homage and hardship. For younger players it can become tedious compared to the new games out there. For older games it will remind you of how games use to be played. The game captures bits and piece of the show reminiscent of Japanese game developers of the past trying to shoe-horn in any media they've seen, making enemies out of everyone. Kind of surprised Benson wasn't an enemy shouting missiles out of his mouth or something more crazy. The game misses the point of the show which is to be funny and goes old-school platformer all the way.
WayForward went with the idea of making a old-school game like so many Mordecai and Riby play in the series , problem is many of those games look much more fun in comparison. Too much of the show was tried to be put in one game, instead of sticking to one episode reference the game is filled with multiple enemies from many episodes. What might be the most sad of all is it's lack of the other characters including Pops, Benson, Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost. They aren't even present for how much I've played and I'm on world 3-3.
You play as a Mordecai and Rigby, if you haven't seen the cartoon they're two slacker best buds working at a park, weird stuff happens to them on a regular basis. One's a blu-jay the other a Racoon, early 20's. 80's references non-stop. They get sucked into a video game world. You"ll be jumping around, destroying snails? Don't get that choice, and then fighting familiar enemies from the cartoon like the blonde cult bad guys from a certain episode.
Platforming moves have Mordecai and Rigby using different powers. You can also switch them on the fly for what goals need to be completed. Mordecai can double jump while Rigby can get into tight spaces. Mordo can turn into a spaceship that shoots lasers and Rigs can play with top down view, both allowing new styles of gameplay that just weren't that engaging.
Getting a power-up, a mullet allows you to take another hit before dying and lets you shoot out a punch if Mordecai; if Rigby you shoot a laser.
With power-ups based on hair styles and turning into spaceships you'd think the game would adhere to the fun of the show, but no. It's the same bland action of fighting the same bland characters over and over. Some hard platforming jumps and hard to shoot enemies will slow you down and take away lives, eventually you'll learn the pattern and beat the game.
Boss fights are troubling and should have had transformations like in the show and in other games this one pays homage to. In Regular show when the Destroyer of Worlds (first boss) showed up Mordecai and Rigby summoned a giant video game character composed of other games. When the goose boss (second boss) reminiscent of King Ghidorah appeared in the cartoon's 100th episode Mordecai and Rigby summoned a giant Voltron/ Optimus Prime like cyborg composed of four baby ducks. Yes, those are weird concepts, but they made the cartoon stand out. Instead you jump around as Mordecai or Rigby to fight in these giant boss fights. That's just plain hard. It reminded me of fighting Duck Dracula in the recently re-released DuckTales game where that end boss takes up most of the screen. That's a fun fight and coming from the same developer you'd think the fights would look as good or that old style of frustrating fun.
No. The first boss is just frustrating and reading some other reviews I found many "cheated" as I did to beat the first boss. No doubt, this "cheat" to beat the first boss was left in to remind you of the games it's trying to be. No, no telling you the cheat.
Trying might be the best word for this game. With a lack of a real story or any dialogue, the rest of the cast missing and a bland game universe the game is just trying. If you've seen the show you might agree with me that Skips needs to step in and help Mordecai and Rigby fix what went wrong. Too bad he hasn't shown up so far as I've played it. Attempts to make a fun game are here with send-ups to old games, references to the show and some fun ideas. Transforming into a spaceship should have made this game and instant classic. Instead the game just doesn't entertain and becomes more of a training exercise in platforming, shoot-em ups and top down fights.
If Benson was in the game he might go, "Fix it next time or you're fired WayForward!"
Game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
