Being immortal has it's advantages. Evidently, not dying isn't one of them.

If there's one thing that I really don't like when it comes to reviewing games it's playing through titles that fall so short of their potential that I'm left wondering what game the developers we're trying to do. Sometimes budgets and time get in the way and you're left with a title that tries desperately to keep up with the competition, but its limited production values betray it every step of the way. Then there's the other kind of letdown. When the production keeps up just fine, and the premise does exactly what it's supposed to (it peaks your interest) but every step of the way you're left frustrated and confused over the design choices that were made. Can you guess which one NeverDead is?

Look What I Learned In 500 Years

NeverDead puts you in the role of Bryce, a demon hunter who's been afflicted with immortality for over 500 years. It's really a story about revenge, though it's so poorly structured that it's hard to believe anyone wrote it down before it had to be used applied to levels that were built. As Bryce, you have a partner, Arcadia, who comes along with you for no discernible reason. Though clearly intended to make you responsible for someone who can die, Arcadia's life is rarely in danger and when it is you have an eternity to get her back on her feet. It'd be easier to forgive her uselessness if the banter between the two characters was interesting or funny, but sadly it takes until the last hour of the game before any effort is made to take her out of cookie-cutter status.

Now, you might be wondering how immortality is a bad thing, because really, not having to worry about death is pretty badass. Well it turns out that Bryce picked up this weird knack for involuntary dismemberment somewhere along the way. So it's good news/bad news. Bryce can't be killed, but he breaks into two arms, two legs a torso and a head anytime he's touched in a way that makes him uncomfortable, which seems to be every ten seconds. And this is the greatest misstep Rebellion Developments makes with NeverDead; they turn the games most innovative and interesting mechanic into its most frustrating feature. The amount of time you spend as a head rolling around trying to find your limbs is insane. One hit from an enemy, even the weakest ones, can send you crumbling. Bryce might not be able to die, but he sure as hell doesn't stay in one piece for long.

So if you can't die the game's a cakewalk, right? Well, yes and no. It's crazy easy since, as I said, you can't really die, but it's infuriating because the developers decided that it would be a good idea to send little rolling ball-creatures around during every fight. These things follow you around and wait for your arm or head to fall off then try to suck it up. If they get your leg you just need to pop them one and retrieve it, but if they get your head you have to complete a little button press mini-game. Both of these things are easy to do but they happen so frequently that you spend most of your time concerned with these getting sucked up than on the action in the game. And there's nothing worse than having to worry about these things while fighting bosses that split you into six pieces every thirty seconds. So NeverDead doesn't require any skill, it just requires immense patience for trivial annoyances.

A Harrowing Journey Through Sewers, And Streets and HQ's

For the most part, NeverDead is a straight forward third-person action game in the vein of Devil May Cry. As Bryce you can attack with either a sword, or various guns, which you dual-wield. It's pretty cool that dual-wielding allows you to use different types of guns at the same time, like a wicked shotgun-assault rifle combo. The thing is certain enemies can't be killed with guns so you constantly have to switch back to your sword. Furthermore, the guns are way weaker than they should be. Enemies that you can kill in one or two swipes with the sword can take multiple clips to kill with guns.

NeverDead boasts a pretty healthy upgrade list, large enough that I wasn't able to purchase everything until mid-way through a second playthrough. But like everything else with this title the upgrade system works better on paper than in practice. Many of the upgrades are frivolous, providing incremental benefits that are hard to notice while playing. Some only work if you're electrocuted or set on fire, but guess what usually happens when you do that? You blow up into tiny pieces. On top of that you're limited to a small number of upgrades at any one time.  At most, you can have about 14 pretty useless upgrades, or as few as four helpful ones. It's an unfortunate design that hinders the experience and makes one of the genres staples more frustrating than is should have been.

It boggles the mind to witness the limits of imagination when it comes to NeverDead's overall design. Levels are given names that you'd suspect were placeholder during development, and no one remembered to change them. The controls feel like they were made by two different teams. With the guns you use the triggers to fire but when you pull out your sword you have to attack with the analog stick. Making matters worse, when you're knocked down or forced to put yourself back together, you come up with the gun as your weapon even if you've been using your blade the whole time. Switching between the two, then, is a hassle all the time. Choices like this turn what could have been a fun, mindless game into something that you have to work at to enjoy.

I could tell you about the environmental destruction in NeverDead but I feel it'd be pointless. It's the only feature that seems to work as intended but if you're willing to purchase this game for that reason alone then I'm not sure you need to read game reviews.

Rebellion Developments' NeverDead is a functionally adequate game; it's just a dis-functionally designed one. Its only original idea becomes its downfall, forcing the player to spend more time rolling around as a head spouting the same one-liners instead of doing anything fun. Enemies provide nothing interesting, the story is half-baked and clichéd, Arcadia is a prime example of how game developers get women characters wrong and Bryce fails at every opportunity to be remotely original. On the most base of levels there is a fun game here, something that lets you hack and slash mindlessly. But I'd have had a hard time recommending NeverDead even as a budget title, so as a full price release it should be avoided altogether.

Final Score: 45%

46-49% - “Too Bad” We can no longer recommend this quality of game in its current state. Even its fans wouldn’t be able too. Whatever redeeming qualities it has are only ever brought up with “yeah, but at least It…”