Creators of adult cartoons make weirdly fun video games. The Simpsons arcade game is iconic. I genuinely enjoyed the exploration and gameplay of The Fractured But Whole (unfortunately I never got around to The Stick of Truth). And I might have had more fun pooping on my friends in South Park on N64 than I ever did playing Goldeneye.

So, when I heard about a new game coming out by the creators of Rick and Morty, I was immediately intrigued. I played through that one — unfortunately before this blog existed (well, technically, between iterations) — and really enjoyed the references, meta jokes, and humor. It’s a bit crass and gross, sure, but that’s to be expected.

If you like the Rick and Morty style of comedy; with the stammered speech and jokes that make you both laugh and feel existential dread, this will be right up your alley. I do tend to enjoy it, so I was happy to hear that a sequel was made; and knew I wanted to spend more time with Gus, Sweezy, and reluctantly, Creature. I downloaded it, and dove in.

The Premise

In the first game, you learn that an interplanetary cartel plans on capturing the entire human race, because we apparently make for a pretty great recreational drug. You team up with a different race of aliens and become bounty hunters, in order to take down the cartel and save your planet. The aliens you team up with are Gatlians, from the planet Gatlus. And they take the form of various firearms.

Yep, alive, sentient guns, each with their own personalities and abilities (and voices you may recognize). They’re also the primary speakers in the game, talking to any NPCs you interact with; and giving information and telling jokes to the player.

If you missed the first game, there’s a bit of an intro montage that catches you up to speed, and a museum right outside your house that you can explore that’ll explain everything if you interact with each eccentric exhibit.

After taking down the cartel, it turns out some extremely wealthy and powerful people have taken an interest in the consumption of humans. They’ve decided to go the “legal” route, though, getting humans approved for medicinal use through the “proper” channels.

So now, you’re on the run from bounty hunters (for breaking the code) and the police/paramilitary robots (for helping a “terrorist”), all while you’re trying to stop a major pharmaceutical company from turning your species into drugs (technically becoming a terrorists yourself, and gaining a huge bounty on your own head).

Gameplay

The second game plays very similarly to the first one, save for the fact that now you can traverse the world on a skateboard. Which, honestly, feels a little shoehorned in.

Sure, you can get around a lot more quickly, and it makes for some interesting side quests. Not to mention giving height to the world and additional areas to explore. But all of that is just sandbox fun stuff, has nothing to do with aliens, or guns, or saving the race or anything like that.

That said, the game built in some additional content to take advantage of it. It’s pretty fun to ride, and you can attack with it too; launching it at an enemy as you skate toward them. The game also has random skate parks scattered throughout the worlds and levels, with (after a certain point in the game) teenaged aliens challenging you to obtain a high score.

Your score is based on collecting letters around the park within a certain amount of time, spelling various “dirty words” the kids want you to spell. And you can take those letters to Reptical’s secret store to get some pretty powerful upgrades for the skateboard.

So, while it’s not just a gimmick; it does seem like the effort spent here could have been spent fleshing out the world and ironing out the kinks.

Exosuits

Something else I don’t really remember from the first game — maybe it was in the DLC so I missed it — is the Gatlians’ “exosuits”. I guess robotic versions of the “hand-horses” from their home planet.

When you’re back at your base, the guns are all largely in those things (seemingly) able to move independently. Though, they never do.

I thought maybe there’d be a mission or something where the guns are acting on their own, and I’m just using Knifey or something. But they were only visual, when at the base. It’s small, but it was one of the first things I noticed that was new, because, again, I thought they would actually come into play later.

I guess technically, there was one mission where a Gatlian was seemingly moving around in their exosuit, but I don’t really count it. Overall, though, there’s a lot more of the same here from the first game, executed in a slightly worse way.

Hilarity Ensues

One of the primary factors driving the enjoyment of this game is the random events, humor, and meta-ness throughout. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I feel like all of this wasn’t executed as well as the first game. This one definitely feels rushed. But I still found myself laughing out loud at various times.

Like the first game, the “tutorial” is unique and hilarious. In this one, you’re flashing through various points in the characters life over the last few years. Sometimes you’re fighting (learning those mechanics), sometimes you’re being interviewed (showing what’s been happening between games), and at one point you find yourself on a wipeout-style gameshow where you learn how to jump and maneuver.

I love wipeout and thought that was great. Honestly, I wish I could’ve played through a whole episode…. It was a disappointingly quick bit.

Another example of the zaniness this game has to offer was finding the subversion of the “press a button to gain money but someone, somewhere dies” trope. I was a little disappointed to find out it wasjust for comedic effect; and I didn’t get to keep the pesos. But it was hilarious and I’m not sure where else — outside of maybe GTA or Saints Row* — you’d find something like this. And even those lean slightly more into realism than this, so…. Only here.

And the game definitely got me with their fourth-wall-breaking achievements. They 100% accurately called me out when I signed up for Murder Con (if you know you know). And I just hope that there’s nobody browsing my trophies in the future who doesn’t understand (or remember) this game. I may get some confused looks.

*Well, GTA anyway

Slight Let-Downs

That said, there were a few moments that stood out not just because they were comical (and they largely were), but because they felt unfinished.

A couple of these fairly funny fiascos that stand out are when you find the guy trapped in the Party City in the mall, and when you find the father-son bounty hunting duo. The former talks about how he needs help getting out, and how he’s a real person and not a mannequin. All while Knifey makes comments about how he’s the most realistic mannequin he’s ever seen.

In the latter, you come across a father and son who are both descending on your sister with the rest of the bounty hunters. They both comment about how it’s probably irresponsible for the kid to be there. Absolute tom-foolery.

In both instances, though, there’s no payoff. There’s nothing you can do to open the Party City or let the guy out. And when you come back, he just might not be there anymore. Except sometimes he will be there, but there’s no more dialogue. It’s seemingly done and he just… looks at you. It’s strange.

And it seemed like a gaping oversight to have the father-son bounty-hunting duo be in a place where you’re ultimately taking out all of the bounty hunters in the area, just to… not show up again. At the very least they could’ve been hiding in a corner, or maybe they’re at the beach later talking about how that whole situation was scary or something. I don’t know.

They both just seemed like such obvious setups for gags later with no payoffs. And really added to the unfinished/rushed feeling of this game.

Overall though, it is fun to just explore, see what you can find, and what’ll happen if you try different things. There are all sorts of jokes, references, and ridiculous situations to stumble upon. You just never know what this game is going to throw at you next.

Weapons/Gatlians

Like I mentioned earlier, your weaponry is an arsenal of talking guns each with their own firing methods and special abilities. The abilities not only aid you in combat; each one is used in various ways to solve puzzles, getting you further along in your mission. Or even to find a hidden area with a collectible or upgrade.

If there’s an area that’s a bit too high to reach, the saw blades can be embedded into certain walls to act as a platform to jump on. And his “sucking” ability can be used to reveal spots to embed saws (as well as hidden items).

You should remember those two from the last game.

As for something new, one of the new guns, Sheath (who technically isn’t a Gatlian) can launch an electric needle that will kabob 2 – 3 enemies, and explode when you shoot it. I’ve been having a lot of fun with that. And outside of battle, he can combine nodes of electricity with wires in order to power doors to unlock new areas and create zip-lines.

There are several different weapons and Gatlians, each with their own abilities; and each more absurd than the last. I really love puzzles, and figuring out how to use each gun’s special abilities to progress through levels and unlock hidden items and areas has been a lot of fun.

It’s worth it, too. At first, I thought that the hidden areas were only giving collectibles (like comic book panels) or cosmetic changes for the guns. But as I kept exploring, I ended up finding modules that made actual improvements to your weapons. Keep your eyes peeled, I couldn’t find all of them.

I can’t say that any one Gatlian is better than another, combat-wise, I liked them all. I actually tended to cycle between them, slowing down a couple enemies at a time with Sweezy, then taking them out with one of Gus’ sawblades or shotgun blasts for example. And stunning, then brutally stabbing an enemy with Knifey is sadistically fun.

There are defensive measures you can take, too. Primarily, you’ll be dodging attacks. But you’re also able to return rockets and grenades to their launchers and throwers by timing your Knifey attack correctly.

And to further shake things up, some areas have creatures you can pick up and actually use as weapons. There are “Flint Turtles” that are fire-breathing snapping turtles that you can wield and flamethrow people with. And Hammerbirds — birds with mallet-shaped craniums you can use to bonk enemies on the head.

That said, this was another gimmick that didn’t add much more to the game. I don’t remember specifically needing to use a Flint Turtle or a Hammerbird to advance to another area or solve a puzzle or anything. Either way, they were fun additions that you can use to shake combat up a bit.

And I will say there was one gag that was paid off, when the kid who was super into the flint turtles when you first get on the cruise ship went crazy watching you use them against some bounty hunters.

Enemies

There are a variety of enemies in the game. The two biggest being the bounty hunters, who show up periodically during the story, and the law enforcement bots (or private paramilitary platoon, depending on the situation) ironically named the “Good Guys”.

Bossfights themselves come in pretty unique styles, too. You may not always simply be shooting at a bullet sponge, dodging telegraphed attacks. I won’t say much more than that, though. You’ll have to play yourself to see what I mean.

Bugginess

I couldn’t talk about this game in good faith without mentioning that it is quite buggy as of this writing. First off, this game has one of my biggest pet peeves in all of gaming. When you’re in the settings, the back button goes from the submenu you’re currently in all the way back to the pause menu; rather than simply going back a menu.

Like, if I want to adjust my audio settings, and then change my video settings, I can’t simply go from one to the other when I press the back button. The back button goes back to the main pause screen, where I have to select “settings” again, then I can pick which setting I want to change next

It becomes especially egregious when you’re not 100% sure what setting you’re looking for, or if you’re simply trying to see what can be changed. Granted, I’m not a game developer. I don’t know what goes into this. But I can’t imagine anybody at Squanch played this, and thought that was acceptable. It’s not.

Later, I spent entirely too long (nearly 30 minutes) at the end of the Muppy Doo fight, which had a lot of potential to be fun and relatively one-of-a-kind, but it took time to work out for me. Spoilers Ahead

When Muppy Doo infiltrated my suit and I had to “fight” him in the settings menu, I couldn’t. Suit-O was talking and moving around. And some of the items on-screen were moving when I hit them; but otherwise, nothing was happening.

It seemed like maybe I was supposed to find him by searching through the various settings, but the menu wasn’t switching or anything. I ended up restarting the save a couple of times even, but I still couldn’t progress. At one point, I thought i was supposed to hit those orbs floating around the “S” in the middle of the pause menu, I was basically going crazy.

I really like to figure things out. And if there was something I was missing, I wanted to figure it out myself. So I was hesitant to google anything. But eventually, I had to.

Turns out, I wasn’t missing anything. The game was supposed to do what I thought/was trying to make it do. It just wasn’t doing it. I closed the entire game, and when I opened it back up and got back to that part, everything finally worked fine. That was super frustrating.

Another time, I stumbled upon a speed dating game. I didn’t know how it worked, so I tried to temper my answers (turns out I could’ve matched with all of them ). And when I finished talking to all of the potential matches, I was stuck. The game wouldn’t let me get out of the chair. I could turn and interact with things around the room, but nothing I pressed allowed me to actually get up.

So naturally, I restarted the game (again). When I came back, though, it was as though I had gone through the whole speed dating scene. When I walked back up to the clerk, they said to “give it some time before coming back” or something like that. So that was something I just…. Didn’t get to experience.

I mentioned it feeling unfinshed earlier. There’s more…

Something that was a bit more comical was a side mission where I had to guard a guy’s vehicle. Earlier in the game you find this guy and he asks you to watch his bike. You may recognize him from the first game.

This time, though, some guys start to mess with the bike, and you… kill them. Naturally (this game doesn’t have a “stun” option). He comes back and of course freaks out like “wtf, you didn’t have to kill them. It’s just a bike, it wasn’t that serious”. Then the bike disappears anyway. It’s an alright callback.

Later in the game, you find the guy again. But this time he asks you to watch his car. You ask if he remembers you, but he doesn’t seem to at the time. You shrug and say ok, and the guy walks off.

Inevitably the car starts to get attacked, but this time I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t kill the guys. The Gatlians even implied I could let the vandalism happen, saying something along the lines of “hey, do what you want”.

I just ran away from them when they came after me, and waited until they were done. When the car owner came back, though, he still freaked out about me killing them. He again said I should have just let them scratch it, it wasn’t that serious etc. etc. (and, of course, afterwards the car disappears).

I did let them scratch it! Why are you yelling at me? If they weren’t going to change the dialogue, they shouldn’t have given the option.

Not for nothing

Also, this is nit-picky, but when you’re talking to different people and Gatlians back at the base and they run out of dialogue options, they’ll let you know. Eventually, they’ll say something like “I don’t have anything else to talk about” or something. But if you walk away as they’re saying that, get offended if the player walks away during a conversation triggers and they’ll be like “what the hell” or “fine, just walk away then”.

Mfer You’re the one that said you had no more to talk about! I have to imagine that came up frequently in testing. Feels like an oversight for that to happen. And now that I’m typing this and thinking about it, that may have been the case last game, too.

I was also really disappointed to find out that I wasn’t able to ride/fly one of those creatures that Tiffany, Kreg, and the Buttons Gluttons Gang rides. I thought for sure when the game showed us those early on, there would be a case where we rode/flew them, too.

No dice, though, unfortunately. More of the teasing/underwhelming feel that seems to be the hallmark of this game.

Conclusion

All in all, I’m mixed on this game. I have to say that most of the “pros” of it is the humor and references; but gameplay left a lot to be desired. And while I realize the game is bigger than I experienced, I didn’t really feel motivated to seek out much of that content. It was either irrelevant to the overall game (like with skateboard/skate parks), not all that worth it (like with the underground fight club); and at the end of the day, I wasn’t even 100% sure I’d be able to actually experience the whole gag (like with speed dating)

So, like I said, even if I was aware of the other things I could’ve explored and experienced, the bugginess of the game really made me not want to even try. Which is disappointing, because I’m sure I missed some quite hilarious stuff. But given the inside jokes, meta humor, references, and relatively short time to beat; I can’t say I’m disappointed at all to have played this to the end. And there’s always YouTube to catch me up on anything I missed.

Thanks for reading! Let me know over on YouTube or Threads what you thought of High on Life 2. And be sure to check back for more awesome gaming content!

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