Slaycation Paradise | PS4 Review

Slaycation Paradise is the answer to a specific scientific question. That question being, "What if humans gained interdimensional travel capabilities, and were able to travel to alternate worlds?". The answer to said question is not all that surprising. Humanity has a bad habit of destroying their own planet. Of stripping it bare of all resources, and taking more than their fair share from nature. As it turns out the travelers of the future have taken that inherent human greed, and envy to the next level. Looting, and plundering the metaverse, and it's endless array of alternate Earths for fortune and power. 

The only thing that stopped them in this pursuit was a ban of moral measures enacted, because of the ramifications of such travel. Through a loophole though humans, as they so often do, exploited the system and turned the advanced technology into a lucrative business endeavor, regardless. Creating Slaycations, or rather violence ridden vacations, for people willing to pay to visit post-apocalyptic worlds in order to kill, steal, and destroy to their hearts' content. All you need is the cash, a boarding pass, some weapons, and the right connections to get you where you want to go. It's a modern family affair where wanton destruction is the reason for that round trip.

Thanks to advancements in medicine, and the ability to revive the recently deceased over and over again Slaycations are able to persist in an unending fashion for paid customers in this sci-fi future. You simply use the MetaGate terminal, the portal access there, a Stash N Dash weapons vendor, and the Benefits Bulletin to properly plan your next outing. Outings in the MetaVerse sense are objectively driven excursions with time limits, and threat level assessment in mind. No matter the location you travel to you will encounter hordes of creatures out for blood. Be it the Mexican mutoids, living sex dolls from New Amsterdam, or gun wielding zombie soldiers there's a world of hurt waiting for those who get too reckless. 

To deal with the threat you are allowed to carry on your trip a primary, special, and melee weapon. Weapons that come in different rarities with the ability to attach modules that add different types of damage and effects to the already deadly arsenal. Through the Stash N Dash vendor you can scrap collected weapons, use earned credits to craft collected blueprints, attach modules from scrapped weapons, and upgrade weapon damage as well as rarity. You can even upgrade modules with duplicates that you collect making them more powerful when attached. Outside of base weaponry, and their bonuses lie new tower defensive mechanisms for aiding in your looting and shooting. Everything from barriers to turrets.

While good offense is crucial to survival on these outings the defensive side of your Slayaction is, equally, if not more so. Playing out like a tacked on mini-tower defense option you can quickly build everything from weaponized gadgets to barriers using scrap you've looted from highlighted environmental set pieces. All through a simple quick access menu that is brought up by pressing DOWN on the DPad. You can also repair damaged structures that you've crafted and placed in real time as you contribute to the ongoing fire fight. With both weapons in hand, and crafted defensive support you can better withstand the timed and wave based ordeal. 

When it comes to the Slaycations themselves location, objectives, threat level, and number of hordes plays into the challenge of it all. You will be facing off against hordes of smaller, and lesser enemies as you go about looting the environment for crafting resources in preparation for the final phase which sees you extracting via an exit portal that counts down after you've cleared all that's required of you. You can also fast track the extraction, but can only truly reap all the rewards if you meet the objectives, and survive with your life intact. That said, dying will still carry over some currency, and found loot that you have earned/collected. Including blueprints and modules. In the way of objectives you'll find survival missions, escort missions, target missions, scavenger missions, nest clearing missions, and a lot more. The locations in which these occur are all post-apocalyptic in nature making for a hazard filled traversal situation. Luckily you also have an evasive maneuver with which you can dodge the pursuit of enemies, and their projectiles as well as explosives.

As you continue this routine of shooting and looting, your inevitable death and rebirth will occur often. Opening up more MetaGate hub options, more blueprints, and more NPC quest givers that will broaden the campaign. The campaign, is of course, the main mode of play in Slaycation, and there is a limit to what you can experience in it. There are a set number of locales, mission objectives, sightseeing stamp searches for bonus rewards, and skill tree unlocks. Speaking of the skill tree, you will find that Slaycation's four tier boarding pass in the Benefits Bulletin listing that has gated access per each progressively prestige pass is that skill tree. That gated access which comes at a cost of rewarded currency harbors character, weapon, and crafting perks that will boost defense options, weapon capabilities, and crafting prowess. It is here you can also gain access to companions, or Allies that can join you on your Slaycation. The Allies each attack or defend in their own unique way. Offering up unique support alternatives. They become available when you've secured them in one of your objective based outings. Some are even hidden in more secretive areas.

Gameplay ...

The gameplay loop of the given campaign is more or less a back, and forth situation in which you will go on Slaycations to loot, and build up your arsenal so that you can take on harder locales. Unlocking the skills and passes in the Benefit's Bulletin which in turn open up new areas for looting. Also while at the MetaGate hub you'll be minding your weaponry at the Stash N Dash vendor. Breaking down unwanted weapons for parts in crafting, upgrading the levels through the crafting system, upgrading the rarity through that same system, and dealing with the modules that you'll attach to each weapons' slots before heading out again. Including upgrading the modules themselves. On the side each area or locale you encounter including the MetaGate has hidden things to inspect that will grant you Sightseeing Stamps. Which will in turn gift you everything from currencies to rarer weapons, modules, and blueprints. These are limited as the campaign itself is limited.

Visually, Slaycation can be made to be maxed out with visual fidelity in mind. Increasing the resolution to a beautiful 4K compatible picture quality that does not hinder gameplay too much. Should you have an older console you can tweak the visual slider to a more balanced setting where it's half between picture and performance. You can even prioritize performance over picture quality if you so wish. I had no real issues playing it at the maxed picture setting. It should be noted though, as other reviewers have stated, that it is sometimes difficult to figure out where you are being shot from, and what is hurting you due to color choices for projectiles, and AOE effects. This is problematic to an extent, but not game breaking. It doesn't completely ruin the experience once you understand which enemies do what. 

On the soundtrack side of things the varied tracks range from elevator style music to a more heavy metal sound. It varies according to the location, and fits each location perfectly, and thematically. You can toggle the sound to be lower or higher through the sound sliders in the main options menu. You can change that to your liking along with the sound effects, and textual language. Other visual toggles like UI adjustments, and damage numbers can also be changed to your liking. 

The Verdict ...

I'm glad I pushed to review this game. The developer was very hesitant at giving review access to anyone, and I honestly do not know why? The game isn't bad. Sure it has some mature content like the sex dolls, and the neon signs in New Amsterdam, but nothing any mature gamer would fuss about. There's a level of Duke Nukem & Serious Sam style of humor about it, and it doesn't take anything too seriously. Even with the blood effects I still think it's tame compared to some mature rated games. Mind you it's not for kids, but gamers who can play M rated releases shouldn't be bothered with any of it.

As far as the gameplay goes it's fun. It's quite addictive, to be honest. At the same time though I found the fact that it was a campaign focused game instead of a proper roguelike to be a little off putting. I feel the replay value could have been so much more had it not adhered to a campaign oriented setup. I will admit the blend of tower defense, and twin stick shooting was surprisingly well integrated though. It blended well and felt complimentary, but not wholly necessary. And despite the complaints of visibility issues it holds up well enough. Everything weighed I think "Slaycation Paradise" earned it's price tag. Twenty dollars isn't bad for what you get. I still wish it had been a roguelike. Such a missed opportunity.