8bit killer

5 Pure Unadulterated Awesome
I remember the glory days of the FPS, back when the genre was new and shiny and basically owned by id Software (get it right, people, the “id” is lowercase…). I somehow managed to talk my mom into buying the complete 6-episode version of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold for me, after failing miserably to get her to buy the equivalent version of Wolfenstein 3-D. I think that when I started explaining undead frankenstein nazis, with Robo-Hitler as the last boss, I lost her forever on that front. But with the sci-fi James Bond of Blake Stone, I had all the carnage I could stomach and then some, and it was brilliant. To this day, I have a copy squirreled away on my hard drive, and I bring it out every now and then to beat it around in god mode.

What I’m trying to get at is that as good as Blake Stone was, I like 8-Bit Killer even better. The graphics are a brilliant homage to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the level designs are inspired – the “straight shot” first level threw me for a loop right away and let me know that I was in for something entirely unexpected – and the fun factor is through the roof. It’s the perfect foil to the ultracomplex FPS-RPG like Deus Ex, or worse, the disgustingly popular Halo series. I have yet to beat the game, and as such I won’t comment on the story, but as long as the last few levels aren’t giant circular arenas filled with an endless repetition of the same enemy armed with weapons that kill you in one hit, I think I can safely give this game a 5-star rating. It’s arguably one of those games that can be used as an example of games as art, and it’s truly FUN at the same time!