After a LONG wait the Killer Bean game has finally entered early access, so of course I immediately had to grab it. Killer Bean the film is a cult classic because of its surprisingly good action despite the cheesy premise and plot, so I was excited to see how the game worked.
First off, the combat. The combat is nothing too special, but I did enjoy it once I figured out all the moves. Dodging feels fluid, the gunplay is... alright, and there's a decent weapon variety. Melee is encouraged due to the lucrative healing it provides - almost too much healing honestly, so I'm glad I only realised you could do it later in the campaign.
The levels are pretty meh at the start of the game, being fairly basic and boring, but the late-game has a lot more varied and interesting stages, with the grand finale being a pretty great spectacle where you scale a giant mech and have to survive. It's definitely stronger in the second half. The bossfights of the campaign also feel like this, with the first one being a pretty basic shootout, the second having annoying gimmicks, but the final 3 being pretty great; the penultimate level contains a bullet hell boss with some surprisingly well thought out and enjoyable patterns. I think the earlier levels could be easily improved by adding a lot more dynamic things such as turrets you could control, or more explosive barrels/environmental hazards, or more vehicles.
The biggest issue with the game is jank. There are a LOT of bugs; if this was a full release it'd be pretty bad, but since it's early access it's forgiveable. I also have to be honest, a lot of them feel pretty fitting for Killer Bean. My other most notable issue is the spin move; it's a great way to escape a bad situation and regain health, but it's SUCH a slow cutscene every time (other than when used on zombies). I think it'd be good to only do the cutscene shots in HUGE enemy hordes (every few enemies or so), or to fully remove that and make it a move that the player activates and then has to click to fire but gets to be invincible for a bit, making the game keep you engaged. Another issue is the awkward level transitions. Levels just kind of... end, even cutting off dialogue, and you go to the next one; it's really awkward having the screen suddenly blur. Even the campaign just sort of... ends... with no story resolution, which I'm not really sure if it's setup for a sequel or just because it's early access. Also, cutscenes are SOOO slow and unskippable! I didn't mind but it makes replays or loading back into a level SUCH a chore.
The game also comes with 3 side modes: The Party, Battle Arena and Conquest. The Party is a 5 stage roguelike where you go through several recreations of the opening party scene from Killer Bean; this is easily the most iconic scene so it's definitely a good thing this is in the game, and the arenas are pretty fun and also stressful and it's a relatively short mode. Also, it has an actual level ending animation and transition, which is an improvement over the main campaign. Battle Arena is just your standard arena mode where you fight waves of enemies, pretty good if you want more, not much else to say. Conquest is a mode where you can fight alongside many friendly NPCs to take control of an island vs an army of enemies; it feels like the war mods for GMod which was pretty nostalgic for me and it's very customisable so there's a lot of fun to be had. It DOES feel like it should be multiplayer but it works singleplayer too and has no issues so it's a fun addition.
All in all while it may not be the best game ever I think this is definitely a solid grab if you're a Killer Bean fan, and you will enjoy the roughly 3-4 hours of gameplay it provides. If you're not a Killer Bean fan it might be a harder sell, and I'm not entirely sure if I'd recommend it. I can easily see this game improving over time if Lew puts more work into it though, and it's an admirable effort for a solo dev - definitely early access, but the full release could end up being pretty great! 6/10.
