Game Reviews

Rip 'Em A New One review - "A slightly aimless action game"

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iOS
| Rip 'Em A New One review
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Rip 'Em A New One review - "A slightly aimless action game"
|
iOS
| Rip 'Em A New One review

Rip 'Em A New One nods back to a more innocent time, when top-down shooters ramped up the militaristic ultra-violence to Arnie levels.

Unfortunately, while it preserves the look and difficulty level, it falls short in the fundamental areas of controls and handling.

Going commando

The game casts you as a pumped up commando with an itchy trigger finger and a license to to level your immediate surroundings.

Each level funnels you through a daunting obstacle course of gun-toting grunts, snipers, RPG wielders and more. Along the way you can free captive soldiers, who will then join your assault (until they inevitably die mere seconds later - some liberator you are).

The controls are standard twin-stick shooter fare - the left virtual control stick for movement, the right for aiming and shooting.

I say 'standard', but this is actually one of the worst-calibrated efforts I've played in a while. The aiming is way off, with your character seeming to take an age to shoot in the direction you want, frequently skipping past your target altogether.

Unfriendly fire

While we're on the subject of poor controls, the way your character shuffles along facing the last direction you shot is really irritating. Why they don't face the way you're moving when you're not shooting, I don't know.

Another handling mishap comes with the treatment of those rescued soldiers. Rather than move and shoot on their own, they essentially turn into clones of your main character, mirroring your every move and shooting where you shoot.

This would be fine, but it just makes the action supremely messy. The levels are small and full of snaggable objects, so your comrades are always getting stuck on the scenery.

The way they mimic your moves also makes it really hard to decipher which one is your character when under heavy fire (which is pretty much all the time).

Ripped

Don't get me wrong, these controls aren't a total write-off in isolation. But their general jankiness is exacerbated by the game's crazy difficulty level, and by the all-out assault that comes your way each and every level.

The graphics are a nice nod to the past, with a familiar pixel-art style and a knowingly silly sense of humour. But it's nothing we haven't seen done many times in recent years.

Ultimately Rip 'Em A New One is just a little too much of a wearisome grind to keep bringing you back for more - even for committed action junkies.

Rip 'Em A New One review - "A slightly aimless action game"

Rip 'Em A New One nods back to the action games of yore with a whole bunch of fireworks in hand, but lacks the slick handling necessary to justify its tough demands
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.