izigame.me

Danny Trejo's favourite video game.

From the very first seconds, EW exudes coolness, as the player is greeted by one of the most badass main menus I've ever seen in my life. And it’s a great representation of what Evil West will be as a game — something damn brutal.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901273061
If you've been following the game's marketing campaign, you know that EW is trying real hard to look as simple as possible; like "that old-school game" that Danny Trejo can just play, without being distracted by all the lootboxes and monetization. But it turns out that's not quite true. And that's great.
Thankfully, lootboxes and in-game monetization are, in fact, absent from the game. But I'm not sure if Danny Trejo could really beat it, at least on the higher difficulty levels. The thing is, Flying Wild Hog obviously realized that the gameplay revolution that Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal made should be taken advantage of and integrated into their games, while trying to bring something new to the table and highlighting the best features. This was evident in their last work, Shadow Warrior 3, and now in their new IP.
Gameplay Loop.
It’s very simple. Each level starts with a cutscene that explains why the next few minutes of the level the player will have to beat the crap out of devilish scum of various origins. The player then enters the level and beats the crap out of the aforementioned scum (which, in most cases, takes place in specialized arenas), while occasionally exploring the environment and solving very simple puzzles. Flying Wild Hog manages the gameplay tempo superbly, and they keep revealing something new to the player throughout the game, until practically its very end.
Plot and Characters.
The game unfolds in an alternate America, where a certain organization called Rentier Institute is fighting against evil in the classic setting of the Wild West. The plot, unfortunately, cannot boast many memorable events, but I have noticed one important feature. Despite the characters appearing to be basically caricatures, they're not as simple as they may seem at first glance, given the genre of the game and marketing campaign. Although the main character only knows how to do one thing, which is crush monsters, he absolutely doesn't feel worthless. On the contrary, he is fully aware of his shortcomings and understands that he is not a very smart guy. The protagonist's sidekick is prone to self-reflection and thinking about their profession. The only female character is intelligent and cold-blooded. In addition, some real-life 19th century American characters are woven into the overall lore. All in all, despite the overall background role of the plot, the events taking place are interesting to follow thanks to the characters.
Exploration.
In between arenas, the player will have to move through numerous locations. They are quite varied from an artistic point of view, but are rather primitive in terms of structure. Which, in my opinion, does no harm to the project at all. You can get from one arena to another very quickly, with maybe a few detours to look for money, which is scattered in places you can only find if you're interested in exploring the world. Exploration is well encouraged: the money you find can be used to buy upgrades for your equipment. Some of them can make your battles a lot easier. In addition to money, you can also occasionally find skill points, which are extremely valuable, since even if you find them all, that still won’t be enough to unlock the entire skill tree in one playthrough. The same goes for notes, newspaper clippings, and other things that expand the lore of the game. I want to thank the developers for being able to return to previous levels to get the remaining collectables without losing any main story progress.
Combat System.
In my opinion, the combat system is the cornerstone of EW's success. It's deep as heck. What's it like, you may ask? It's a mix of melee mechanics, shooting different weapons and using abilities. In fact, the player has a number of mechanics and abilities available, which he can mix and use in any order, thanks to being able to cancel one action into another. There isn't some fixed combo system in the game, but the player is able to combine attacks as they please. It's difficult to put into words, it will be much easier to understand the system if you have experience playing fighting games, and understand what cancelling and frame data is. However, I am going to try. Let's say a player punches, what could possibly follow? Well, anything, since you can cancel your punch into another action, such as another melee attack, dash to the side, roll, weapon shot, launcher-move, ability, etc.
This can continue until you drop the enemy to the ground, or until you have to retreat. The player does not necessarily have to start the battle in close combat. You can shoot from medium and long distances with practically no limitations. And now we can get to the part of what exactly FWH are doing with Doom's legacy. Every enemy in the game, of which there are a lot, have their own unique pattern of behavior. Knowing their weak points and using the right weapons will make your battles much easier, which marks EW's similarity to the last two Doom series entries. In fact, the game even has its own Glory Kills system, which works by the well-known rules.
In addition to the hero being able to deal with the enemies himself, the arenas have spikes and dynamite scattered all over, which are very fun to use against your enemies. A little advice: some of the chasms from which your enemies crawl can also be used for environmental kills.
The game also has an energy cells system: the player can spend special energy cells for some electricity-based abilities, as well as entering into the so-called "supercharged mode" and deal the maximum possible damage.
I'm not going to list all the weapons that are in this game; let's just say that the arsenal is extremely impressive. The character doesn't have a set amount of ammunition, everything is limited only by the cooldowns for each of the guns. Therefore, it is recommended to constantly switch weapons for maximum effectiveness (which is another throwback to Doom).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901308378
I mostly talked about how the attack part of the system works, but I would also like to mention defense. In particular, I want to highlight the character being able to both dash and roll, which I don't remember seeing very often. This adds freedom to your movement. The player must feel that they can move exactly as they want to or as the situation demands. In addition to this great movement system, the player can also block/parry enemies' melee attacks, and interrupt unblocked attacks with a kick. Of course, such attacks are highlighted, making it clear which of the options the player should use. It's also worth noting that enemies will regularly attack you from blind spots. However, just before the attack, directional arrows will appear on the character, allowing you to react to what is outside your line of sight.
The Bad.
- Although artistically the game sometimes draws rather beautiful scenery, the technical side of the game feels outdated. Some of the objects' textures are of extremely poor quality, and a number of minor characters even communicate without opening their mouths, lol.
Evil West is a great action game, with a deep and elaborate combat system. It has a simple story, but colorful characters. It's a good start and a great foundation for a sequel.
My Steam curation page.
My Telegram channel with overviews of the games including the games from other platforms (EGS, Playstation, Nintendo Switch).