Imagine if you will, someone being given a liter of espresso, speed, and copious amounts of Studio 54-grade cocaine. Now imagine that person has the ability to make video games. You get ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN.
ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN follows Romeo Stargazer, a deputy who is about to leave town to elope with his girlfriend Juliet, only to be killed by a time-shifting monster. Saved by his time traveling Grandfather, Romeo is now part of the FBI’s secret time/space traveling unit to fix rifts in time.
Now. Onto the game itself. When it comes to the controls for the game, the basic controls for combat and exploring are alright; it’s just some of the other buttons that seem to be a bit complicated.
The art is decent, brightly colorful, but at times gets a bit too psychedelic to the point I think it’s done on purpose to troll people prone to seizures or migraines.
The Voice acting is good, and it has a talented voice cast; it’s a shame that they only use them sparingly, as most of the time, dialogue is in text form. The biggest thing I love about ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is the soundtrack; it’s absolutely amazing!
Gameplay-wise, when you actually get to play the game, it’s a lot of fun. It’s hack and slash and gun play. As you fight and kill monsters and zombies, you earn points that go towards unlocking new weapons and upgrades. There are levels that you can go to that are random each time, where you can unlock perks for Romeo. Now, back to where I said “when you actually get to play the game”, that’s what I don’t like about this game, there is A LOT of text on screen, long cutscenes, and other nonsense that goes on before you actually get to playing. There are random things and minigames that you do that clash with the game’s tone, and other things are so random that it’s like you’re experiencing someone else’s bad trip.
Overall, it’s hard to really pin down what ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is. It’s a strange melting pot of anime tropes, RPG, DOS 8-bit, hack-and-slash, among others; it clearly has no direction. It’s not as confusing or as random as Wanted: Dead, where it had way too many mini games and other mechanics that clashed with the game’s lore and story.
The amazing soundtrack and gameplay can’t save it from wasted voice talent, text dialogue in the middle of combat, an overcomplicated UI, an RPG system, and not picking a path as either a game, a comic, or an anime. As I said, when you actually get to play, it’s an amazing game; it’s just a bore getting there. ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is a 6/10.
If you’re still interested in checking this game out, it comes out February 11th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
