Developer: Groovy Milk
Publisher: Groovy Milk, GrabTheGames
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC with controller
Creepy Road – Review
Do you have a safety plan in your home? I don’t mean the boring kind in case of a fire, an earthquake or flooding. No, I mean do you have a plan when the zombie apocalypse happens? Sooner or later our scientists will finally succeed in accidentally almost wiping out humanity and you better be ready for it. What should be in such a plan you ask? At all times should you know were loved ones are and how to get to them fast if needed. Having a dozen guns and plenty of ammunition at your disposal will also make the apocalypse less of a hassle and more of a walk in a zombie infested park. Working on some cardio is usually a good plan too, as well as stashing away a Twinkie or two because the supply will run out fast.
Story
The story of Creepy Road is a simple one, Flint Trucker, the main protagonist of the game, is a truck driver as you might have guessed from his name. He works the long distance jobs, which means he’ll often be gone a longtime from home. Good old Flint is driving back home late at night after delivering his load of pickled sardines when suddenly a crazy party hat wearing bear attacks his hauler. His hauler crashes and Flint loses conscience. When he wakes up again he realizes that he is going to have to walk. So with his lovely girlfriend Angelina on his mind he sets out on an epic journey. The story will take Flint through a wide array of locations, from a circus to the subway, a skyscraper and for a brief moment flying through the sky on a missile. Tidbits of information are presented through dialogues between Flint and creatures he encounters. Flint doesn’t have much character development, he is a man of few words with only one goal. The story does take an unexpected turn when Flint finally reaches his angel Angeline.
Graphics
Creepy Road has a very colorful 2D style. The game features a lot different locations and all feel very different. In this kind of game it’s often very important that you can visually as well as audibly recognize the enemies you’re dealing with. The enemies feature very distinct silhouettes which makes them easy to spot. A lot of creativity went into designing most of the enemies, a bear with party hat on a unicycle, a zombie girl with a selfie stick and birds who drop swordfishes on you are some of more exotic ones you’ll encounter.
Sound
As far as the sound goes it complements the game, it’s up tempo electronic rock beat gets your blood pumping and your fingers itching to blast some monsters. While our protagonist Flint is usually a man of few words/grunts, the voice actor does a good job bringing him to life in the short dialogues throughout the game. Sound effects for the plethora of guns is on point, as is the sound of the different enemies, they have clear distinguishable taglines. All in all sometimes a little hectic when a dozen enemies flood the screen all the while you’re bombarded with missiles.
Gameplay
Creepy Road is a side scrolling shooter with some of the weirdest monsters and weapons to date. When the apocalypse happens and the world goes mad it’s good to live in a country where you basically trip over guns if you don’t watch your step. Flint, the main protagonist will throughout the game wield about a dozen different guns, some of those are your basic revolver, AK-47 and shotgun. While on the other more exotic end of the spectrum you have laser weapons, a boxing glove gun and the icing on the proverbial cake, a poop ray. The poop ray isn’t as dirty as it sounds, the gun simple emits a ray which will turn the first non boss monster into a tiny pile of poop. So watch your step. You also have a small array of throwable weapons such as grenades and Molotov-cocktails.
There is no shortage of enemies, from simple slow melee zombies to riot shield grenade tossing cops, mechanical chickens, angry farmers and clowns with AK-47s. The game gets more bizarre as you travel further on your quest to save Angelina. Most of the regular enemies are not too punishing by themselves, yet they do travel in packs and often the environment is also working against you with fire, missiles, land mines and birds that drop swordfishes on you. A clever fast player can sometimes use this to his advantage.
On the other hand you have hamburgers to heal yourself and checkpoints to save your progress. These live savers feel equally spaced and usually an abundance of items means you’ll get ambushed by a large group or an boss battle is around the corner. Talking about bosses, they are not always as exciting as they look, they do feature a huge health bar but they might turn out to be pushovers once you master the trick. However this trick to defeating them is not always obvious and can cause a little frustration. Sometimes bad collision can also cause problems and turn something challenging into a frustrating experience. It must be noted that a patch has been released and the developer is keeping a close eye and ear on the community.
The game features simple controls and advises you to use a game controller. It seems the overall audience agrees with that advice. However it’s up to you to find the best way for you to play.
Conclusion
Creepy Road is overall an entertaining game, it sometimes suffers from spikes in difficulty or collision issues which can cause mild to severe frustration. This however isn’t a deal breaker, the game still packs a lot of fun. But a fare warning to people who aren’t the agile platform hopping, missile dodging players as this game will test your wits.
Creepy Road - Review,
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