R.I.P.D.: The Game: PS3 Review

     Much like the movie this is very loosely based on, R.I.P.D.: The Game has a terrible charm about it.  It is not a good game, but it's not even close to the worst movie tie-in game either.  I picked this up on a whim about a week ago on the Sony Playstation Network because it was only $2.99 and decided to give it a chance.

The graphics really aren't too bad.  Having no witty banter to listen to is quite unfortunate.

     What I found instead of the typical dismal story game with a series of simple levels, ended up being a 2 player co-op horde mode story game.  Oddly enough I found I actually enjoyed it as well.  Being limited to the 2 main characters from the film- Roy (Jeff Bridges- in the film, he's just his character from True Grit) and Nick (Ryan Reynolds playing himself in the movie as always).  Sadly there are no other choices, not even their alternate looks from the film- James Hong and Marissa Miller- which would've added a nice dash of fun and hilarity to the game, I mean the weapons these 2 avatar versions use in the film are both unlockable (a Banana and a Hair Dryer), so why did they exclude the 2 extra skin options?

Playing as James Hong would've been hilarious.

     Another major thing lacking is here the voice acting- neither Reynolds nor Bridges were used.  There is barely any dialog and the story is through comic-booky art and text.  Where is all the witty repartee from the characters from the movie?

     The gist of the game is similar to the film in that it is essentially a supernatural ripoff of Men in Black.  You are tasked with hunting down a Deado named Hayes and to do so you must fight through 5 encounter waves of Deados over and over at the handful of locations.  When you've done it enough a last level appears that has a few minor things to complete before taking on Hayes himself.  Incidentally the difficulty on the last level is roughly 10 notches above the rest of the game.

     Since none of my friends had the game I couldn't play with a second person- and there are no bots to help you through- so it got a bit tedious towards the end.  The lightly progressing weapon system was a nice, albeit a very minuscule, addition.  There are mini challenges in levels and a betting system (I couldn't use because there were no 2nd players encountered) as well.  But that is about it.  All the trimmings that may have been added were somehow forgotten.

     There is a lot wrong with this game- hit detection is horrendous, no instructions so everything is trial and error, no way to crouch or cover, and it all-around fails to really explain anything- BUT- I found I still really liked playing the game.  There is something about this stupid, plain-old horde-shooter that I can appreciate.  Being that this game is essentially a knockoff game, being God Mode same maker Old School Games, of a knockoff movie I am surprised it turned out to be remotely entertaining.  If only they spent a little longer- adding things like random multiplayer matchmaking, more locations, more skins, and more variety in general and much, much more content- this game may have been able to rise above its lackluster quality.