High On Life 2: Our Full Review
▼ Summary
– High On Life 2 is a comedic first-person shooter offering a 10-12 hour escape with the irreverent, Adult Swim-style humor characteristic of Squanch Games.
– The player, now known as The Outlaw, battles the pharmaceutical company Rhea Pharma, which aims to distribute humans as prescription drugs for aliens.
– Combat is enhanced by talking guns called Gatlians and a new, satisfying skateboard mechanic for fast-paced movement and chaotic battles.
– The game is praised for its creativity and well-executed silly ideas, though it suffers from technical issues, including crashes related to a new character named Jeppy.
– Despite some bugs and platforming imprecision, the game successfully delivers stylish combat and consistent humor, making it an entertaining distraction.
High On Life 2 arrives as a perfect antidote to a gloomy moment, offering a hilarious and creative escape into its bizarre universe. Squanch Games delivers another dose of its signature, irreverent humor, reminiscent of Adult Swim programming, packed into a 10 to 12-hour first-person shooter. While the adventure occasionally feels stretched, it never overstays its welcome, thanks to terrific combat enhanced by a fantastic new skateboard movement system and a world filled with rewarding secrets.
The story continues the saga of the Bounty Hunter, now rebranded as The Outlaw after a botched mission turns them against their own kind. Their new target is the nefarious Rhea Pharmaceuticals, which is now pushing to legally distribute humans as prescription drugs for aliens. The narrative’s social commentary on Big Pharma is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but it’s woven into a well-written plot that makes the blunt satire engaging.
Your primary tools are the returning Gatlians, a crew of chatty, personality-filled guns. Each fulfills a classic firearm role, Sweezy as an automatic pistol, Gus as a shotgun, and possesses unique abilities that aid traversal, making them feel like essential team members. Their constant, wacky banter remains a highlight. A new ally, Jeppy, a human-Gatlian hybrid who can unleash powerful electrical attacks, adds to the chaos. However, a significant technical issue plagued the Xbox version during review, where summoning Jeppy frequently caused the game to crash. While no battles required his use, it was a persistent and frustrating bug amidst otherwise stable performance.
Where the game truly shines is in its fluidity of movement. The new skateboarding mechanic transforms navigation, letting you grind rails and leap across gaps with speed and style, frequently turning the shooter into a first-person skater. This mobility, combined with your varied arsenal, creates incredibly satisfying and chaotic combat. Zipping around battlefields, dodging attacks, and unleashing a barrage of fire while your guns shout encouragement is an absolute joy, especially in later missions with more tools at your disposal.
Boss fights follow a familiar large-arena format but are elevated by inventive phases. One particular encounter is so wildly inventive it feels genuinely unprecedented. Outside of combat, the humor consistently hits, blending juvenile gags with clever writing. Exploring the hub world’s shopping district or visiting a new chain restaurant (not Space Applebee’s this time) offers plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
Ultimately, the greatest strength of High On Life 2 is its fearless, abundant creativity. It feels like the developers followed every “what if” idea to its absurd conclusion, from a dual-wield weapon featuring a bickering Gatlian couple on the brink of divorce to securing iconic filmmaker John Waters for a voice role. This commitment to surprise ensures you’re constantly delighted by the next unexpected twist.
High On Life 2 succeeds brilliantly in its core missions: to make you laugh and to deliver stylish, fast-paced action. It’s the perfect game to switch on, get lost in, and temporarily forget your troubles, even as it peppers you with pointed satire. In its battle against a cartoonish evil corporation, it delivers exactly the prescription you didn’t know you needed.
(Source: Game Informer)