Charlie Murder is a side-scrolling beat-em up arcade title where you team up with your friends to lead a punk rock band, Charlie Murder, in an epic quest to save the world from rival death metellers, the Gore Quaffer and their legions of evil followers. Whilst this is a beat-em up title, RPG elements allows you to collect loot to buff your character, unlock powerful finishers and team up moves to unleash hell on earth. It’s a punk rock-pocalypse!
When you start the game you will be introduced to the game mechanics via a short tutorial level which will have you battle some weapon wielding undead, you are then lifted high in to the sky only to find that you are being resurrected by a creepy sounding paramedic and being brought back in to the real world. Sucks for us… or does it? You awake to find that you’re now in an apocalyptic world and your enemies are going to stop you however they see fit. Undead hordes and gruesome bosses are waiting for you and the only way to win is to get physical!
The story evolves around the tale of two friends; Charlie and Paul. Charlie becomes famous and starts a new band named Charlie Murder, but without much thought, he doesn’t take Paul along for the ride. In turn Paul becomes destructive and decides he wants to crush his old pal and take down his crummy little band. The game is short in length, you aren’t going to be playing this for days and it could easily be completed in one sitting, however after some time it does become a little repetitive, so a short story does keep things simple and easy. Take it or leave it, the length of the game is going to please/displease people.
Charlie Murder takes queues from the more accomplished side scrolling titles such as Castle Crashers, The Simpsons Game and Scott Pilgrim. The game allows you to choose from five playable class types which include Berserker, Tank, Mesmer, Mage and Shaman. Each class has their own unique abilities and traits. Levels that you gain with each character do not pass over, which is a shame, if you wish to change class then you will have to start at level one and work your way up.
Each of the characters have special moves which you can change and upgrade as you play, these new moves come in the form of tattoos which you can purchase from the stores after each level has been completed. You are also able to purchase other items which can give you health boosts and anar-chi boosts etc. Each item is different and costs a different price, so collecting as many coins as possible is a must!
The majority of objects in the game world can be used against your enemies; signs, cars and other weaponry for example. In turn, destroying objects and enemies will reward you with extra health and other items which you can pick up and store, or use instantly. Burgers and beer for example can be picked up and used later on when health is low, however, there is a time limit as to when you can use these items. Destroying some of them will also reward you with coins and other loot.
As standard you use the A button to jump, X to punch, B to grab and Y to kick. You can also use RT to trigger a special move followed by any of the standard buttons. Blocking an enemy attack is also easily done by pressing LT, this comes in handy as you upgrade your characters to use deadly counter moves. These can be initiated by the X button and when a good block is executed, a powerful attack can be relayed back to the enemy. When unlocked, you can also team up with your co-op buddies and unleash hell by pressing both triggers down when directed to do so.
One down point to the fighting mechanics is the hit detection, even when you think you’re hitting an enemy you sadly aren’t. You can be standing directly in front of someone and you will find that your hits wont register, but you could be getting your butt handed to you left right and center.
As mentioned, this game contains RPG elements which allow your character to level up their strength, speed, defence and Anar-chi! Points are allotted as you fight and continue through the levels, when available you can open up your mobile device using the d-pad and allocate points to each of these categories as you please. Everything evolves around your mobile phone, you can connect with people, or fans as they’re known, and change your characters stats and special moves. You will also be updated on what you can do in the game world via this phone, hints and tips are also shown, so if you’re stuck you can always go back through your messages for help.
As much as I enjoyed tinkering around with my characters stats and other upgradeable items, I found fumbling around in the menus a messy business and tried to stray way from it as long as possible. The harm comes when accidentally switching to your phone after having unlocked something new, the game doesn’t pause so the only time you can upgrade is between fights and that’s only when you remember to do so. I accidentally went three levels without allocating my points, no wonder the enemies were slightly tougher!
Clothes are also a big deal in this game, not just so you’re pretty to look at, but so you’re kitted out to be the hunter rather than the hunted. Better clothes give you more health and reduced damage, like most things however, they usually come at a price unless you are able to get bigger bosses to drop something worth picking up. If you don’t want to keep your inventory clogged up you have the option to sell your unwanted good at any of the stores using an ATM machine, this comes in handy when running low on cash as some items can give you more than enough for a new powered-up beanie or jacket.
In between gameplay you will be able to sit back and take a load off your fingers by watching some amusing cut scenes with some down right catchy music. During these cutscenes you are sometimes asked to press particular buttons as they reach a white line, think Guitar Hero but on a much smaller scale. I found these parts of the game pretty useless and annoying, they sometimes popped up during gameplay and always when you least expected, resulting in failure. I’d rather just watch the story unfold and not have to do any QTE’s (Quick Time Events).
Fans of playing co-operatively are not let down either, as you can play locally or online. The game plays out exactly as it would under single player circumstances with a few more enemies for you to deal with, however it’s always nice to have an extra helping hand. One downside to this is that the screen can become clogged with enemies and human players, the amount of enemies that spawn during co-op games seems to double and that can cause one big mess. I would sometimes find myself wondering where my character had gone to, only to find he was under a pile of ninjas being beaten down.
Those of you who enjoyed The Dishwasher series will be pleasantly surprised with this new ultra-violent title from Ska Studios, there is something for every beat ‘em up fan in this particular game, and the RPG elements mix things up a little for someone who wants just that little bit more fighting power. Whilst bosses aren’t exactly tough and feel like bigger basic enemies with slightly larger health bars, they certainly break up the near endless hoards of smaller minions and give you a sense of accomplishment you wouldn’t otherwise feel whilst playing. Charlie Murder is packed to the brim with content so you’ll keep coming back for more even if you’ve already played it half a dozen times before. I found myself on several occasions just taking a load off inside one of the shops listening to the in game radio, which if you listen, can be quite amusing.
Re-playability is there, with all the extra content you could easily play through this game a couple of times, but the length of the game lets it down. With around three to five hours of gameplay you’re not going to be in Charlie Murder’s world for long, but then again I don’t think I’d want it to be longer than what it is. Slick visuals, a great soundtrack and just an overall skull bashing fun game all in the name of punk rock, you’ll love it!
Charlie Murder is available on Xbox Live as part of their Summer of Arcade promotion for 800 Microsoft Points.
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