Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond. This mix between a 2D shooter and 2D platformer presents you with a game that is fun to play at times with a variety of diversely challenging missions and objectives. Although being rather short (2-3 hour playthrough), it has just about enough replay value to make a brief lasting impression.

The game’s key objective takes the form of a rescue mission with a slightly innovative twist to it. Matt Hazard has to travel back through time to save himself with the fundamental idea that his death could change the course of history. 8 levels of mayhem play just  how you would expect from a 2D shooter. Jumping and dodging enemy attacks are what you will be doing…pretty much all the time. Although the different level environments create a new setting for each mission, the basic controls and and gameplay for each remains the same throughout. Its a fun to play fora while but there are very few changes to the gameplay which makes it quickly become sterile. Therefore it soon becomes repetitive, and that’s not particularly good for a game that is so short.

Boss encounters are some of the highlights to the game and are a good releif from the monotonous point and shoot gameplay. Most bosses in the game have a typical attack pattern which you simply need to respond accordingly to before making a counter move. Fortunately, there are a good variety of weapons in the game, thanks to the weapons power-ups. These vary from machine-guns, shotguns, rocket launchers and even a flamethrower, just to the delight of those pyromaniacs. As the gameplay mechanics are rather simple, there is not very much skill needed for a successful playthrough. The boss fights are the only places where you might be in for a challenge and need to restart the level. They are also really satisfying to defeat. Toppling a giant walking lighthouse with give you the utmost satisfaction. If you do find it hard then you can quite simply turn the difficulty settings down a bit.

You would expect the word “replayability” not to be too heavily associated with this game. However, as mentioned previously, there is some, but only if you want to get as much as possible out of the game.  This comes in the form of collecting loot. Each level is home to 3 hidden cartridges and by collecting them all you will be awarded some bonus extras with references to previous Matt Hazard games. Its a bit like the collectibles in Lego Star Wars only there is much less incentive to spend ages trying to find them. The rewards do not equate to your efforts. Finally there is the multiplayer aspect to the game. There is no online co-operative play but you can team up with a friend off-line. This is by far the best way of having an enjoyable playthrough.

Overall, Matt Hazard: Bloodbath and Beyond delivers a fairly unsatisfying experience due to its lack of innovative methods of gameplay. There is definitely some fun to be had out of it in terms of boss battles and co-op play but most people will probably look for a more solid game without quite so many limitations.

 + Boss Battles offer a thrill.

+ Offline Co-op play is more enjoyable.

- Repetitive gameplay throughout.

- Very short story.

- Little redeeming value

6.2/10