Evil West Review

ign.com:

When I think about what the real world would be like if it were overrun by vampires, werewolves, and zombie-like shambling corpses, that imaginary apocalypse doesn’t evoke nearly as much maniacal cackling from me as the one in Evil West. From the Tesla-inspired electricity weapons to the gratuitous gore and bloodshed, this old-school action game was some of the most fun monster murdering I’ve done in a while – unfortunately, its formulaic structure also make it some of the most repetitive.

Evil West’s roughly 12-hour linear campaign is spread across 16 different missions that all follow the same format. Each level has a clear start and end point with collectibles sprinkled along the way, broken up by throngs of enemies that assail you until you get a dialogue break during the next cutscene. While you’re technically free to explore levels a bit to find lore items or gold pouches, aka “bucks” for purchasing upgrades, the crux of your adventure is walking from one fight to the next and eventually capping missions off with a boss battle. Fortunately, the environments between each combat encounter are truly sights to behold with enough picturesque backdrops that range from the outlandish to the beautiful to make even the grumpiest cowboy shed a tear.

The formula of Evil West’s levels is rarely mixed up save for a few unique situations, such as a wacky mine cart segment or the handful of times you walk around the base camp while being spoon fed exposition. Its story puts you in control of Jesse Rentier from The Rentier Institute, an organization founded by Jesse’s father to hunt down and eradicate all manner of vampires and other foul beasts. Developer Flying Wild Hogs really latched onto the whole “Wild West, but Weird” idea