High on Life Review
They say that tragedy + time = comedy, but in gaming the real tragedy is the amount of time we have to wait between quality comedy games. Thankfully, in the opening moments of High on Life, as my talking gun belittlingly whispered to me that I was doing a great job as I shot dancing aliens in the face, I got the feeling I’d struck gold. While it has bugs and performance hitches and occasionally frolics in unimpressive toilet humor, it largely succeeds at being the type of absurd space satire I’ve always wanted. Whether I was chatting with my shotgun about the merits of science and formulas, covering myself in alien poop to sneak into a secure facility, or inexplicably watching a full live-action movie from the ‘90s on nearby television, High on Life is a game that just knows how to have a good time, and there really aren’t enough of those.
This delightfully inappropriate first-person shooter puts its comedic premise and characters front and center and absolutely refuses to take itself seriously. After Earth is taken over by disgusting aliens who kidnap humans to be smoked as hallucinogenic drugs, you begin a ridiculous space odyssey to get revenge against the extraterrestrial drug cartel responsible. All the while, you’re accompanied by the stars of the show: the extremely rude weapons themselves, who serve not only as your tools of destruction, but as the story’s most important characters. These animate weapons (called Gatlians) are easily the best part of the adventure, and include Kenny, the easily flustered pistol that’s basically Justin Roiland doing his usual Rick & Morty thing, Sweezy, the foul-mouthed sniper rifle that seems to be a reference to Halo’s Needler, Creature, who shoots uses his rapidly gestating
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