Next month we’ll see the launch of Mega Cat Studio’s Kickstarter campaign for Lethal Wedding. Retrolike.net had a chance to check out an early build made for the campaign and see how preparations for this high octane union on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis are progressing. The planners are hard at work in fine tuning this wedding with a vengeance, featuring an unhealthy dose of bullets. Let’s take a sneak peek and dive into our Lethal Wedding preview!
I Now Pronounce You Locked and Loaded
The day started out so nice. Joanne was about ready to say her big ‘Yes’, when she discovers some clowns went and kidnapped her hubby to be. Of course, this just won’t do! She’ll take it upon herself to seek him out and blow anyone that dares to get in her way to smithereens. And she’s not alone. Her mother in law, Shelly, got wind of the situation as well and she insists on tagging along. Who knows, she might still be able to talk some sense into the boy.
The two ladies each bring their own weapon with infinite ammo, creating a slightly different gameplay style. Joanne has a sawed off shotgun, which offers a fairly short range spread shot, where Shelly shoots one bullet at a time at longer range with her trusty magnum, that holds more bullets before needing to reload.
When playing solo you can choose either, but you can also team up and blast some baddies together in co-op. It won’t make the game a cakewalk though, as the enemies put up fierce resistance! It’s also good to keep in mind that the game is still being tinkered with and there are certainly some things I feel could use some adjusting, as at times the game can be frustratingly tough!
Killer Clowns from Outta Town
The game itself is played as an overhead shooter, somewhat similar to Zombies At My Neighbors and True Lies. With the latter and other action flicks also lending some inspiration for the writing in the game. In this romp there’s only one person to save though and he’s at the end of the game. So the main objective in the levels is generally to get to the exit and blow up all those clowns that dare get in your way.
And I’m not hyperbolic, it’s actually murderous, criminal clowns that did the kidnapping and who need their red noses filled with lead. For the few levels we can play right now, there’s already a nice assortment of these loons. Each with their own means of attacking that you need to get used to and with very district looks.
Levels are fairly short, but are open ended or maze like. You can also find some extra goodies, such as a variety of weapons, ammo or cake to regain lost health. Dispatched scum may also leave behind some presents, which I think add some ammo and possibly score at the end of the level. Each level has a finite amount of enemies at set positions, so no worries about respawn headaches.
The Running Bride
At the end of a level you are scored on a few metrics, of which I’m not entirely sure how they relate to gameplay. Time and kills sound familiar enough, but things like flex, nerve and bonus less so. But it seems to reward various styles of gameplay, so whether you try to complete stages quickly or want to take it slow and be thorough, there will be some reward.
Score, or experience, is used to buy upgrades for your character. These are quite varied, from extra damage to particular enemies, increased mobility, upgrades to your main weapon or a bonus to experience to name a few. Some are locked and at the start and you are also only allowed to purchase a maximum of two perks. Honestly, this feels a bit limiting. I tried a few setups, but always felt pretty underpowered against the horde of bad guys you’re put up against.
No Vows, No Glory!
At the start of each level you’ll be presented with three random vows and you’re free to take these on. In doing so, you’ll unlock some bonusses, of which new perks and perk slots will be most essential. These vows are challenges imposed on the following level. It can be fairly simple stuff like finding and eating all the cake in a level, to truly mean stuff like respawning with just 1 HP or using only a particular gun, which usually means you’ll be mostly avoiding enemies and running for your dear life.
It’s an interesting risk/reward system, but since getting stronger requires a lot of vows, getting some particularly nasty ones to show up can be quite frustrating and make a level neigh impossible if you would to take all three, or even a combination of two, on. There’s also no indicator of progress on screen. So if you took a vow to kill all enemies and you touch the exit with one still remaining somewhere, you get a game over and have to start the level over again, which can be quite annoying.
Get to the Chapel!
Another indicator I’m not a fan of, is the rose to represent your health. As you take damage it withers away, but it isn’t clear how much damage an incoming attack does or how much you can subsequently still take. Enemies do seem to do varied damage, at least I died from various amount of hits. It made perks and vows dealing with damage numbers kind of meaningless to me, as I don’t even know how much HP a full rose represents.
Playing the game on a standard 3-button controller is a pretty rough experience. Sprites look good, but are also pretty big, meaning a big hitbox. Enemies move and shoot fast and often times as they get on screen, you barely have enough time to react to their attacks. You do have the ability to roll and strafe, but I found these moves fairly awkward to use. There are some perks to help with enemy awareness however, so you can kind of sneak up on them.
Shooting can also be a little slow, mostly caused by reload times. I had most success with methodical take downs of preferably one enemy at a time. Plug in a (working!) 6-button controller however and things become a lot more pleasant! With dedicated buttons for dodging, reloading and strafing it becomes much more inviting to play the game as a fast-pace shooter. It’s still easy to catch a stray bullet, but it makes it much easier to move in on an enemy for a quick kill and manage the new death opportunities you have just scrolled onto the screen in doing so.
The game is a work in progress and I’ve been assured that things are still being tuned as they move forward. No doubt with feedback from the backers on Kickstarter in mind. But what is here already looks very promising and forms an amazing basis for a fun, new, action packed cartridge for your Sega Mega Drive or Genesis! Lethal Wedding’s Kickstarter campaign will start on the 4th of November.
