Charlie Murder is a 2D Beat ‘Em Up with a strong emphasis on collecting loot and leveling up similar to an RPG. We have the choice of choosing from one of five characters, all having a different class and abilities. They are all part of the vocalist Charlie’s band and we actually start off in hell after being beaten to death by a rival band called Gore Quaffer. Each character has the same basic move-set of regular attacks, air launchers, blocking, and grabbing, each with a dedicated button. And you better figure them out fast as the demons are immediately trying to claw off your face to make you even more dead than you already are.
Luckily for us, we are resurrected before we are overrun and quickly discover the world of the living is a hell of its own due to a zombie apocalypse. Pretty grim stuff yet this game is equal part humor and over the top violence. For example, hell is known as The Netherlands, which got quite a laugh out of me once I saw that in the over-world screen. You’ll spend most of your time beating a multitude of baddies using your bare fists or whatever you can get your hands on, ranging from guns to your opponent’s limbs. Every weapon breaks and ammo runs out so you will constantly be trying out new things to survive.
Zombies are just the start, there is an absolute boatload of enemy variety like a broom-riding witch shooting up the place with her pistol or much more disturbing foes. As you kill your way through the levels, you’ll get followers on a social media site similar looking to Twitter and this is how you level up. The more variety you show during combat and the flashier ways you dispose of your enemies will net you far more than simply button mashing. This adds a nice reason for you to experiment with the game’s mechanics and break out of only using the same tactics. You can upgrade one of four stats to build up your character the way you want. To be honest, there is very little noticeable difference to upgrading them, the only thing keeping them from being useless is the gear needs a certain amount of stats to even equip. It just felt like artificial progress and will keep you from equipping many a nice piece of loot.
Much more useful are the perks you gain every couple of levels. For the Mage class I mostly stuck with throughout, I got cool abilities such as being able to rip the soul out of a knocked down enemy to heal myself. Another quite handy one is the ability to hold more items in your backpack and man, there is a lot of stuff to pick up. From shirts, french fries you found on the ground, and many materials you can later use to brew your own beer. Making your own beers can be a worthwhile endeavor as the end results gain you permanent stat boosts once you drink them. One can safely ignore all of the crafting if you so choose however, and is something I all too gladly did due to a pretty annoying issue. The UI does not scale with higher resolutions and everything appears tiny as a result. I found it too small even at 1080p since all of your menus are handled via your in-game cellphone’s tiny screen.
I’d say 720p was the sweet spot, which I guess isn’t too surprising considering this was originally an Xbox 360 title, though that hardly makes it acceptable when porting to the PC. With that said, I did not encounter any technical glitches through my entire time playing so it is not a terrible port aside from that future proofing flaw. Money plays a pretty big role in this title as well. A nice sum of cash flies out of your enemies as you defeat them, but where you’ll really make the big bucks is by selling the gear you collect. You can then use it to purchase more gear, stat increasing drinks, or more importantly, health items. Nothing is stopping you from carrying around dozens upon dozens of healing items, yet that isn’t as broken as it may sound. There is a 10-second cool-down before you can use another item. The things that heal typically get you drunk after having one too many, and the quality of what they sell gets better as you progress, making blowing all your money early on ill-advised.
Scattered throughout the environments are hidden QR codes that you can scan with your in-game phone. Doing so will typically get you some more than decent loot for having a keen eye. It is an absolute pain to try to do so on any resolution higher than 720p however. Your phone’s camera appears way too zoomed in and it will take you ages to pinpoint whatever you are looking for. Keeping your eyes peeled is also a good way to discover secret paths that can lead to some often times bizarre paths. In fact, being strange is one of this title’s biggest strengths. You will never know what to expect, one moment you’ll be shooting down bomb wearing sharks and soon after you’ll be playing a rhythm mini-game that has some of the best tunes that gaming has to offer.
These sections that deviate from your typical beat em up formula are usually a ton of fun and will give you plenty of memorable moments. Not all attempts at spicing up the game-play turn out to be good, sadly. Parts where you have to play it like it was a platformer, in particular, were the worst offenders. The viewpoint of the camera makes it really difficult to gauge depth and how far away you are from the center of say crossing a bridge. Falling off due to that or mistiming a jump will not kill you, though you will lose a good chunk of health for your efforts. Some others like a light gun section will be near unplayable if you don’t play on lower resolutions since your analog sticks sensitivity will be way too low and it will take ages to drag your crosshair across the screen. They throw in a ton of ideas and while most do stick, a few such as those feel like a cheap waste of your resources.
One thing Charlie Murder does not lack is boss fights. There are a ton of them to overcome and most will easily wipe the floor with you if you do not take them seriously. When the going gets rough that is a good as time as any to unleash your character-specific abilities to such as buffing your party, temporarily transforming into a dangerous creature, and summoning a meteor out of the sky to name a few. Some of them are effectively useless if you do not play with other players, yet you can still solo the game if you so choose without much issue. Many of the bosses are completely optional and are reached by solving a light ‘puzzle’ such as what a movie ticket item does or simply taking a branching path on the over-world. Fighting one particular secret boss will allow you to unlock different classes for your selected character as well. You will have to start at level 1 again, but that on top of four other characters to play as adds plenty of replay value.
There are two endings one can obtain and the way to get the good one is a pain for solo players. You will have to equip five special relics, and in order to do that with your single character, you’ll need to build him up in a specific way. It is odd that simply having all five in your inventory isn’t enough after you have gone through great lengths to get all of them. Either way, after you finish your playthrough you will unlock Chaos mode featuring tougher enemies, slightly different item placements, as well as the chance to fight the secret boss once more for another character class. Beating Chaos then unlocks Total Anarchy, an even more difficult mode. Considering its genre, it is not a short game by any means and you’ll have plenty to sink your teeth into after beating it. It features both online and local coop so you’ll be able to play with friends either on the couch or from across the globe.
Charlie Murder’s art-style has a cool hand-drawn look that in combination with its wacky humor, is reminiscent to flash games such as Alien Hominid. It is a signature look for the two-person team over at SKA studios and is as charming as ever. The music in their old game “I Made a Game With Zombies In It” was legendary and they really topped it with the awesome tunes found in this title. Overall this is a great purchase for fans of the genre that like it to be a bit more RPG heavy. There are a ton of clothing options each possessing different stats and effects, as well as five characters each with secret classes to unlock. You are looking at quite a bit of content to sink your teeth into. The gameplay is fast and fluid with a ton of weapons to vary things up, some not even available during your first playthrough. It has some missteps but you are more than likely to have a rockin’ time whether you decide to go through it solo or bring your mates along for the ride.
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