[h1]Two homosexual men bust out of prison![/h1]
[b]This alternate reality, revenge-driven story of Mario and Luigi is a nice example of a modern narrative co-op game. While lacking more complex mechanics and being a more linear, one-time experience, it is still a great adventure to play with your buddy.[/b]
[i]Two convicts break out of prison to protect their families and take revenge on a mob boss in a no-honor-among-theves-typa-situation. Will they succeed with law enforcement constantly on their tails?[/i]
Story-wise it is very akin to an action movie - we have a prison escape, high-octane police chases, firefights with gangsters and the final showdown with the Big Cheese at the end. The characters are well-written with their own personalities, motivations and things they want to protect. These things are established with good pacing, written into missions without ruining the flow.
Leo and Vincent have a cool and very natural relationship development - from distrustful strangers to straight up DUDES having each other’s back, being able to have split-second mutual understanding and even giving each other marital advice. [strike]Man I’m telling you, there had to be some sucking ‘n’ f.ucking going on between chapters.[/strike] Their personalities are also very distinct, influencing their dialogues and approaches to problems.
The game also does the emotional bits pretty well. You can really see the things these guys care for. As criminals, they are shown in a very sympathetic manner. There is also the finale which is a very bitter-sweet twist.
Despite the game featuring some choices that the pair needs to agree upon, it is a rather linear experience. The choices are basically ways of approaching the problem that won’t matter in 5 minutes. The game DOES feature two endings however.
In terms of gameplay it is mostly prompt-based - mash this button to open a door, follow the prompts to beat a guy’s as.s, hold the button, etc. One type of gameplay is being thrown into a location throughout which you can walk around, interact with items and try to solve the “problem” of the chapter, like getting past the guards or fixing a car. These environmental puzzles sometimes require both characters to interact with something - otherwise, you should divide tasks between yourselves and take care of them. There is also a lot of more superficial stuff that just adds “flavor” to the game. You can play baseball, darts, vidya or musical instruments. These prompt-based minigames won’t progress anything forward, but you can goof around with them.
The other type of gameplay often involves some chases or escapes. For example, one person drives the car and the other shoots at the pursuers. Or chasing a guy through a construction site and parkouring like Sonic. Or riding motocross. However, some of these dynamic sequences don’t let you both do stuff at once, sometimes they just cut the screen to one character and then the next one.
There is technically a third type of gameplay - the TPP wannabe. In the last 30% of the game you can choose a gun. Then there is about one mission that lets you just shoot gangsters while hiding behind covers, excluding the finale. The mission has some highlights like one person having to cover the other one with a sniper rifle. However, the model of shooting just feels cheap and stiff. Also if you choose the SMG it takes like 6 headshots to kill someone. Obviously, they didn’t spend much time on this aspect as it wasn’t essential to the game’s core. They shouldn’t make the finale about it though.
Musically it really fits the game’s atmosphere and tone. It is mostly this mix of distant acoustic guitar playing on a gas station amidst the desert, and a somber piano reinforced by some electric guitar while bleeding out on a rooftop (yes, that’s how I describe music).
Graphically the game looks very good and it works nicely as well. They made the most out of the fact that it is not a large open world. Nice models, lighting and textures. Great performance.
What I want to highlight is the creative direction of the splitscreen. Even in online co-op you still see your partner’s screen, in the moments of rivalry as well. When something crucial happens on one screen it slowly stretches and takes away the entire monitor, naturally fading into a cutscene for both players. Other times, the sizes change depending on a situation, highlighting specific moments. I like how it does not cut abruptly into scenes, but rather slides and stretches around smoothly.
To be frank, it is pretty much a one-playthrough kind of experience. There is not much replayability here, choices don’t matter much and the prompt-based gameplay lacking anything more complex does not encourage anybody to really come back to it. However, it is a great story-driven co-op adventure to play with your friend for a few evenings.
