Kill It With Fire: HEATWAVE

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Kill It With Fire: HEATWAVE is a short first person game where I get to do something that sounds completely ridiculous but is actually pretty fun, hunt down spiders and destroy everything around them while I am doing it. I am basically playing as a licensed exterminator, but instead of quietly getting rid of the problem, I get access to an increasingly stupid collection of weapons and tools. The whole thing is built around finding spiders hiding in ordinary suburban environments and then causing as much chaos as possible while trying to kill them. The hunting itself is what I enjoy most. Spiders can be hiding in all sorts of places, so I cannot just walk into a room and immediately know where they are. I have to look around, use the tracking equipment and start searching through furniture and other objects. Once I find one, things can get completely out of hand because I can use fire, guns, explosions, throwing stars, a frying pan and plenty of other ridiculous weapons. I like that the game gives me an excuse to destroy the environment instead of treating every object as something I am supposed to carefully avoid. The fire and destruction are probably what make the game memorable for me. There is something funny about starting with the simple goal of killing one spider and ending up setting half the room on fire because I panicked when it disappeared. The physics also help because the destruction does not always go exactly how I expect. I can smash things apart looking for spiders, throw objects around and generally make a huge mess. It is not a serious simulation at all, and I think the game is much better because it completely commits to that ridiculous idea. I also like the fact that this is a free chapter rather than just a tiny demo that gives me almost nothing to do. HEATWAVE adds a new level, new spiders, new equipment and new upgrades, while also remixing some of the earlier content. That gives me enough variety to understand what the full game is trying to do without making me spend anything. There are also different objectives and challenges built around the levels, so I can get more out of them if I want to experiment instead of simply finding the spiders and leaving. The biggest weakness for me is the limited amount of content. The basic idea is fun, but I can only hunt spiders in so many different ways before I start seeing how simple the underlying gameplay really is. Once I understand the tracking system and get comfortable with the weapons, there is not a huge amount left to learn. The spiders themselves can also be genuinely creepy, especially when they suddenly appear somewhere I was not expecting, but that reaction can only carry the experience so far. The game is clearly designed as a short introduction to the full experience rather than something I am supposed to spend dozens of hours playing. I also think the humour will matter a lot here. I like the ridiculous escalation from normal extermination tools into completely excessive weapons, but the entire game is built around that joke. If I am not enjoying the idea of destroying a house just to kill a spider, there is not much else underneath it to keep me interested. For me, though, the combination of simple objectives, physics, destruction and the slightly stupid tone works well. It feels like a game that knows exactly what it wants to be and does not waste time pretending it is something deeper. Overall, Kill It With Fire: HEATWAVE is a fun little free experience that gives me a good taste of the full game's idea. I like searching for hidden spiders, using the tracking equipment, unlocking ridiculous weapons and watching a simple extermination job turn into complete destruction. The short length and limited depth stop me from rating it much higher, but I think the gameplay is entertaining enough that I would happily recommend it when I want something quick and stupidly fun. It is not a huge game, but it does a very good job of making spider hunting feel completely chaotic. Rating: 7.7/10