Ever tried the funny cute big-headed doll first-person gunfight game? "WASTED" is such a unique and funny FPS work, this independently made game has a very distinctive feature, in addition to all the characters are two-headed big-headed dolls, but also full of homages to "Fallout", the same wasteland after the nuclear war, "WASTED" is presented in a funny and funny way, supplemented by celluloid cartoon style, the superficial style is very much like the magical combination of "Fallout" and "Borderlands", However, in the bones, it is a game that is very different from the two classics.
The theme of the end of the wasteland is not a new thing, but compared to the general serious wasteland story, this work tries to present in a witty and funny way, coupled with the vivid shape of the big head doll, creating a very unique feature, although it is the level of the sketch game, but it has unexpected playability, this unique style of work, although not very famous, is a very successful work, widely affirmed by players.
Unfortunately, in WASTED, the main place of exploration is not on the surface, but in the underground shelter called "Cooler", which is an underground facility to escape the nuclear explosion disaster. That's right, Cooler is a tribute to vault, the refuge in The Rest of The Strange Life. Like most of Fallout's Vaults, the Cooler project has largely failed miserably, with most of the seekers turned into abominable radiation zombies.
As the base of the revival of civilization, Cooler has many resources and technologies, among which the special radiation beer preserved can make the human body mutate, strengthen the body function, and to some extent is an "evolution", so that all the wasteland residents flock to it, so Cooler is full of bandits, radiation creatures, gang members, and all kinds of idiots.
Randomly generated, permanently dead
WASTED is a rather typical Roguelike shooter, the player's exploration of the place Cooler, is actually a randomly generated maze, each time you enter is a completely different environment configuration, in the 11-story Cooler gradually explore deeper, the deeper you will encounter more powerful enemies, but also hide more valuable props and more advanced equipment. However, the one-life system of permanent death makes the player hesitate when deciding whether to continue to go deeper, and once the death is completely lost. Accept it when you see it or risk it?
The game has a more interesting design: the player can't leave Cooler as he pleases, nor can he go back to the previous layer, and the only way to leave is to drink a special radiation beer or reach the last layer. Most of these special beers will only appear at the end of the 3rd, 6th, and 10th floors, and the player will decide to drink the beer or continue to go deeper in these layers, and after drinking the beer, they will get permanent additional effects and automatically return home, the deeper the beer, the better, and by constantly drinking these strange wines that emit green light, the character performance will gradually grow. It's almost impossible to conquer deep dungeons early in the game, so cultivating your character first will be the primary goal, and when the player has enough confidence, you can go to the deep challenge, and even challenge the boss at the bottom.
However, the death of the character does not necessarily mean that it is all over again, the player will have a "home" of his own, and the things stored in the home will be kept forever. Once the character dies, another Wasteland resident will come to occupy the home, and the player will turn to the new character, and the equipment items stored in the previous character's home will be inherited. Lost equipment items on the Dead character can also be redeemed from the Lost and Found Center, but the beer bonus effect is gone.
Stealth or frontal war
Another feature of WASTED is the fast-paced design of the race against time. There is an organization called the Syndicate of Buzzkills, or SOB for short, who vows to kill all "mutations" from the wasteland, and they are radical in their attempt to kill anyone who seeks mutation beer in Cooler.
Therefore, when the player explores each layer of Cooler, after a certain period of time, soOB will send the strongest purifier in the organization to hunt the player from the starting point of the layer, and kill all the creatures in the layer at the same time, and the near-invincible purifier will have no chance of winning against it in the ordinary way, so the player must grasp the time when exploring. At the beginning of the exploration, the purifier begins to feel nervous when the warning appears, until the background music changes greatly when the purifier is nearby, and begins to kill a bloody path. The presence of the Purifier combined with the design of permanent death does bring a profound change to the gaming experience.
In terms of dealing with the enemy, you can choose to sneak from behind, or fight directly from the front, and you can match the appropriate equipment and corresponding character training according to your playing habits. Because they are all indoor places, the gun battle experience is mostly a short-range direct confrontation, the gun battle is not much varied, but the design of the big head doll makes the headshot much simpler, most of the enemies will have obvious reactions when they are shot, especially when the head will bounce up, and the shooting feel is quite fresh and interesting.
The damage of stealth backsliding is very considerable, you can easily put down most of the miscellaneous fish, however, stealth also means spending longer with the enemy, the longer it is dragged, the easier it is to be caught by the purifier, controlling the ratio of stealth action to frontal combat to adjust the exploration time, is a major topic of play, this aspect of the design is really quite ingenious. However, the acceptance of this duck-catching game varies from person to person.
Ointment
As an indie sketch, WASTED is indeed refreshing, but there are some minor shortcomings that are difficult to ignore, first of all, adventure activities are carried out in Cooler, and players who want to experience various apocalyptic landscapes can be disappointed. The scenery in Cooler is really the same, nothing more than the corridors, offices, toilets, living rooms, etc., the scene materials of the five Coolers are actually exactly the same, but they are different in tone and embellishment, fortunately, the variability of the enemy and the randomly generated pattern configuration can make up for this shortcoming to some extent.
The next is that the play threshold at the beginning of the game is a bit high, and when you don't get the point, you often die inexplicably. Finally, the hard straight effect of the player's injury is too long, and the enemy holding the automatic weapon often hits the player without the ability to counterattack when he applies continuous shots to the player, and there is a feeling of being treated as a whole.
summary
This "WASTED" is a very successful skit game, with a special big-headed doll shape and playful doomsday style, which has a special feature. With the typical Roguelike design as the core, the randomly generated Cooler dungeon and the changeable enemies can maintain a varied combat experience despite the monotonous scenery, and the character cultivation under the one-life system allows players to take care of the character more carefully, and the sense of effectiveness of starting to be independent is quite satisfying.
The design of the race against time creates a unique exploration experience, carefully grasping the time control of stealth and head-to-head confrontation, creating a tight pace of play. However, for players who like to "take it slowly", this may not be so pleasing. All in all, WASTED is a very successful title and is recommended for players who love urgency, fast pace, and roguelike.