So Much Blood – Review
Follow Genre: Shooter
Developer: Zachary Berenger, Eli Aldinger
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC

So Much Blood – Review

Site Score
7.4
Good: Addictive gameplay
Bad: Spawns are random, without warning, causing unfair damage
User Score
0
(0 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Making a quip about women’s menstrual cycle and the title of the game would be crude, unprofessional and too easy, yet also extremely tempting. The fact is that this game is purely as the title states, about blood. It has a very high ‘Binding of Isaac’ feeling. So settle down and pull the trigger, because you won’t have the time to wait until the blood has solidified with enemies spawning left right and dead-bloody-center.

So_Much_Blood_Logo_01

Story

Like ‘The Binding of Isaac’ you’ll be pitted against monstrosities in very barren environments. Unlike that game you aren’t relying on solely the feeling of crushing despair causing you to cry, but you are armed with guns. This means that you aren’t completely defenseless and that’s a good thing, too. You are a nameless, noseless chump, with a weapon in your hands and a thirst for blood. So what better way to quench said thirst than to shoot everything in sight.

So_Much_Blood_05The story is told in a single cutscene at the very start of the game. An ominous force has shown itself and has summoned minions to take over the world the protagonist is inhabiting. So kill em all or die trying. With a story so basic and overused, it’s sure hard to try and mix things up, but it also doesn’t really help to ‘up the stakes’. You’re just in it to kill things and absorb blood. As a player it could mean you aren’t really invested in the fate of the world you are saving or even the fate of the character you are controlling. Some conversation with the shopkeepers or some dialog with a defeated boss could make the story more intriguing and add to the immersion.

Graphics

The game has a very ‘indie’ aesthetic, somehow this might sound posh to some or pretentious to others, but hey, it has to be given a name, doesn’t it? 64 bit would be another name for it. Whichever name you prefer, it works. As you shoot enemies, the titular blood will be splattered all over the floor, but in this game blood doesn’t only come in the vermillion kind, it has all sorts of colours, giving you artistic freedom when wreaking havoc. Enemies come in all varieties of creepy while the battlefields are varied and the weapons all have different shooting animations. A fullscreen option would have been nice for immersion purposes, or avoiding misclicking, but alas.

So_Much_Blood_06

Sound

Now this is where the game goes is a bit of a hit and miss. So Much Blood only has one track. A very catchy tune, but it loops way to quickly and after about 10 minutes it stops, envoking ‘chill’ feeling and starts grating on your ears. One other aspect is that guns fire faster as you approach enemies or walls. This sounds like a truck scraping against a wall or a very loud electric surge. This happens when you are really close to a wall. Upon first hearing this, it almost sounds like your computer is about to short circuit. Though it means you are doing fast and copious amounts of damage, it doesn’t really help the audio. Guns have their own sound effect, enemies have their own deathcries. Sure so much effort being put into the audio should really pay off? However, with so much going on, it all drowns each other out andĀ makes things a little too overlapped for it to stay pleasant.

So_Much_Blood_03

Gameplay

So Much Blood is a dungeon crawling, shooting game. You work your way through chambers and shoot everything that moves. Upon killing enemies you are awarded blood points. These are used for upgrading your armour or weapons, or healing you when you are low on health. Shooting down enemies in a dungeon at your own leisurely pace is one thing, a thing So Much Blood won’t let you do.

‘You like taking your time?’ The game snorts. ‘Get out of here, we’re on a time limit here, buster, so get cracking.’ At which point the little timer on the left upper corner of your screen starts counting down. Every time it hits zero, new enemies spawn. You’d think that this would mean more fodder and thus easy grinding, you’d be both right and wrong. With every cycle complete, the counter in the lower right corner goes up. The number indicative of the amount of enemies spawning upon the next time it hits zero. The first couple of times, you won’t have a problem, but as more and more enemies spawn, things become hectic and chaotic fast. You’ll also have no warning on where they’ll spawn, so you might lose health like this and this feels like a cheap trick. This can become annoying fast when you are sprinting to the boss area upon death and being hit by a spawned enemy without warning.

So_Much_Blood_01

There’s ground based enemies and airborne enemies, however either type die to bullets, and seeing as there’s little to no aiming freedom allowed, the question is why have the difference? Well, there’s the armour specific to enemy type, but other than that it doesn’t really matter. Also purchased upgrades don’t stack nor stay purchased. They are kept between levels, but if you are to don your character with the skull helmet, to later upgrade to the steel helmet, you lose out on the blood points you’ve invested in the skull helmet as you’ll have to purchase thisĀ again. This is probably because blood is easier to get, but then again, if this is the issue, it would be better if it was balanced by adding more upgrades or better armour.

Shooting is done left or right and moving either way will change your direction of firing. This can be rather tedious when you are trying to backpedal out of an area only to be shooting into a wall. This also means you’ll have to strafe around an enemy to get to the other side in case you get boxed in. Being able to strafe in another direction while firing in the other would be fantastic.

Conclusion

So Much Blood is a fun game that might keep you interested for about half an hour, put down again, only for you to pick it up again and be equally addicted. Every time you play it, gain blood and buy an upgrade it really feels like an achievement which is the thrill that might keep you playing. If you aren’t into dungeon crawlers or time based shooting affairs, then stay away, for there’s only frustration in this game for you then. If however you are looking for a challenging game that forces you to keep your wits about, this might be something for you to pick up.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Q


First game ever was Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped, ever since then, gaming has been something that I've gravitated to. Reading's fun but not as interactive. Always up for a bout of online multiplayer. If that multiplayer is co-op. So if you are up for a friendly co-op session, hit me up. Rahenik's the name to search on PSN.

No Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.