Review: Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is a generic shooter

March 18, 9:39 AMVideo Game ExaminerQuibian Salazar-Moreno

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The basic premise of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is that in this world, video game characters are compared to movie stars. The game revolves around Matt Hazard, a video game character who was huge in the 80’s, but after participating in some cheesy games throughout the 90’s, he’s looking to make a comeback. You play as Hazard in the game, hopefully being able to regain his former glory, but it’s all some sort of scheme by someone to get back at Hazard.

Now this entire Matt Hazard “history” is fictional, because this is the first ever Matt Hazard game. The marketing for the game did a good job of creating a backstory and making a world of things based on a fictional past. Too bad that’s all the game really has to live on.

Now with all the great third person shooter games out there like Gears of War, Dead Space, Mercenaries, even Resident Evil, you would think the folks behind Eat Lead would put a bit more effort into the gameplay mechanic to make it a bit more unique. But instead the game play feels real generic. Hazard can only carry two guns, he can take cover behind objects, shoot blindly at enemies, and get different powers-up that allow him to shoot ice, fire, or become invincible for a few moments.

All that is fine and good and in line with traditional third person shooters, but it’s the repetitiveness that really bores you. Except for a couple of boss battles which require to fight a bit differently, the game mostly consists of you walking into a room, shooting all of the enemies, picking up the ammo and heading into the next room. Then shooting all the enemies again, picking up the ammo, and walking in the next room. There may be a cut scene here and there, but that’s the gist of the game. And it doesn’t help that the aiming is clunky, the camera controls are subpar, and the melee attacks are just wacky. The only thing that really keeps you motivated is the story and the parodies of the video game industry.

Overall, the game isn’t the worst thing to ever get released, but it’s probably not worth the $60 price tag. While Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris do a great job voicing the characters, and the jokes are funny, the game is just mediocre.

Q’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Gamspot: 6 out of 10

Gamespy: 3 out of 5