uiner, a perfect game?
There is not much about Ruiner at surface level that didn't attract me. A world clearly inspired by the vintage greats of anime Akira and Ghost in the Shell, while drawing from Hotline Miami for it's gameplay. Well playing it I can't see I was not wrong. The visuals ooze the gritty neon streets of Akira and the soundtrack has the divine chant of Ghost. The setting has the classic cyberpunk motif but an interesting twist. Focusing on a virtual reality conglomerate that's body snatching the poor, manipulating gangs and using its technology to exert power in the classic evil Cyberpunk corpo way. Some of the enemy designs are really unique, like zombies that have been in the virtual world so long that their bodies have turned into husks for Heaven, the virtual reality creator to do with as they please. Other enemy standouts are Creepers, a gang of orphans who are mostly "3rd Children", born into a system that only allows two children. Or Harpies, skeletons reinforced and augmented so much they're no longer human, puppeted by Mother aka the Sick Sisters, the heart of Heaven. Even the menus and loading screen ooze Akira, with the protagonist riding his bike to the mission location. Unlike the presentation and setting the gameplay had a few more surprises. It certainly is a kinetic twin stick shooter like Hotline Miami, but it also draws from Doom. Levels are more like connected arenas and you even regain health and energy by executing enemies in a weakened state, promoting an aggressive play style. The core formula of the gameplay is dash, dash, slash. And in between this unload a barrage of bullets from your Ruiner pistol. Sound familiar? This is easier said then done as enemies are often as mobile as you. So lining up shots between your own dashes to avoid enemies and hit a moving target is no easy task. Often you'll let out a sigh of frustration, and just go in with your crowbar to get shit done. That's not a criticism, it's a cathartic risk reward. On top of these plenty of sci-fi weapons drop which you can pickup but have limited ammo. From shotguns to laser cannons to flame throwers, ice beams and miniguns. There are also melee weapons from the classic katana to the fire baton and more. Last are the abilities. These are wide, varying and can change your playstyle greatly. Like to play defensive? Well take the shield bubble and dash entire enemies with your turtle shell, while using the stun to lock them down and hack to bring them to your side. If you get low use the regen to convert energy into health. That's not my style however, I like my arena shooters with aggression. My style was all about overdrive. As the name suggests it increases your damage and speeds you up. Fully upgraded you have unlimited dashes, turning you into a ping pong machine neon samurai. Throw in some slow-mo and I quickly lost interest in all other abilities.
So far so good right? Sounding like the perfect game? Well it's certainly a tight 6 hours weaving through arena's and a dozen different bosses. I would say that's all done masterfully, the game itself. The story on the other hand? Not so much. It's okay, serviceable. You were hacked to kill the boss of Heaven, but failed. They were going to blow up your brain but She saved you. As you work your way back up to Heaven again, it's pretty obvious she has sinister motivations. Trafficking, a 200 year old kingpin who she turns into your mobile door opener is about to tell you as much, but gets his neurons zapped before he can speak further. The final boss are the Twin Sisters, ironic after Outland as Guacamelee 2 leads into Outland leads into Ruiner. It's a pretty disappointing boss fight if I'm being honest, the same Mother fight you've down twice with no major differences. But you quickly find out they're not the final boss, your brother who I never really cared about turns out to be the actual boss. And he, little brother, created Her and she created "The Brother" program to make you care and rescue him. When in fact it was to get through the security and kill him. Yes double twist, she betrays him. So your brain begins to shut down as you're put in a time and to go to the boss and prevent it, you need to slaughter your way through the rest of the security detail. OVERDRIVE LETS GO.
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