The Bottom Line
- Creepy fun graphics.
- Ridiculously cool weapons.
- Not enough save points.
- Some parts too hard.
Description
- ESRB rated T -- published by Konami -- Game Profile -- Screenshots -- Cheats
- Graphics: Nice character design. The dark color schemes sometimes made it hard to see, though.
- Sound: The musics and effects are well-done, if sometimes repetetive. Love the C4 hamsters' giggles.
- Gameplay: Fairly standard for action-adventure and shooter, though the analog-nub is over-touchy.
- Multiplayer: No multiplayer at all; this is strictly a single-player game (fine by me, really).
- Replay value: Medium to low. You can go back to collect all the pickups or re-do any level, but why?
- Recommendation: Try it if you like action-adventure, but if you're easily frustrated, maybe pass.
Guide Review - Death Jr.
Great First Impression
Fans of Oni Press's comics will probably like the look of this game. It has stylish creepy-cute characters, and twisted levels (Meat World, anyone?). One of the weapons you earn is C4 Hamsters -- little furry rodents with C4 explosive strapped to their backs that run giggling at the enemy.
Deep Frustration
There's a lot of jumping in this game, and the controls are just too touchy. More often than not, DJ would just keep going off the edge of whatever he was aiming at. So I spent a lot of time trying to get him back to where he was in order to try again, and a lot of continues getting past pits of lava.
There are also some camera issues, compounded by the touchy controls that make DJ change direction too suddenly. And the auto-aim was often just not auto enough, making boss battles more difficult than they should have been.
In the End
For a portable game, there was a serious lack of save points. You can save anywhere, but it only saves your stats and items. If you save in the middle of a level, then quit, you'll have to start the level over from the beginning next time--not very convenient if your main playing time is on the bus to work.
Despite these hefty criticisms, I still really enjoyed Death Jr. When it was fun, it was a total blast.
