Sometimes when a license like Ugly Americans is taken into the gaming world, playing it without prior knowledge of the source material means the player is lost from the get go. Apocalypsegeddon doesn’t seem to suffer from that. Of course, knowing about the crew from Ugly Americans ahead of time gives a deeper understanding and an obvious insight into the jokes but there’s enjoyment to be had either way.
Players join Mark Lilly, Callie Maggotbone, Frank Grimes, and Leonard Powers in a New York City run amok. It’s the end of days, brought about by Callie’s father, the devil, marrying off his new favorite daughter to Twayne the Bone Raper. Bird men are attacking the populace, demonic teenagers are vandalizing the malls and the zombies are restless. It’s up to the player to guide their chosen Department of Integration warrior around the city to reform the freaks that are bringing down society. This rehabilitation is done through the use of the BSU 2000, a gun that can shoot everything from baseballs to flaming dentures at the enemy. Another keen accessory is an adorable, demonic baby. Aside from gurgling and cooing in horrifying ways, the babies grant the player extra powers like increased experience or higher damage.
Apocalypsegeddon is a run-and-gun shooter splattered with one-liners and jokes from the Comedy Central show. It’s crass, vulgar, and charmingly inappropriate. There’s nothing innovative her; run through a level, watch a cutscene and run through the next one with a smattering of boss fights here and there. What makes it interesting is the ability to play with friends locally or online but this can also be a negative since it can be difficult to get matched with other players at times. There’s also no level matching so it’s possible that players may get saddled with a lower level character dragging them down during important fights.
This also leads to another problem in the difficulty. Players that want to play by themselves are very limited in what they can do. There’s a lot of grinding to raise your level and stats in order to progress through further levels. Despite that, it’s still got a good enough balance to keep players from giving up too soon and if a match is found in the lobby, the game is a solid four player experience. The simple controls make the game easy to pick up. The left analog stick moves the character while the right stick chooses the direction of fire which is a good thing since enemies come from all directions.
The visuals in the game are spot on with the show. The cel shaded graphics of the characters and backgrounds are dated but consistent with the style of the show. It’s difficult, however, to reconcile the well done in-game art and animations with the terrible cutscenes. The scenes look like very lazily done animations to cut down on cost and distract from the enjoyable gameplay.
It’s become expected that television-based games get the actual voice talent from the source and Apocalypsegeddon doesn’t disappoint. The one-liners and vulgarity is delivered clearly and often. There’s nothing like hearing Leonard complain that there’s poo all the way in his socks or having the bird men yelling things that shouldn’t be repeated in polite conversation.
A final verdict puts this game at good, not great. It’s an enjoyable distraction and even a little addictive for those that remember with fondness days of old arcade run-and-gun side scrollers. The game may even bring more people into the fold of the show just to see where all this nonsense comes from. For a ten dollar download, it’s worth the grab.
