As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of platforming experience under my belt, I must say that Gori: Cuddly Carnage has managed to tickle my gaming senses in ways that few games have done before! This game is a wild ride that takes no prisoners, and it’s as if the developers had read my mind when creating this chaotic, cat-filled world.
Initially, I wasn’t expecting the brutal chaos that Gori: Cuddly Carnage presented when I dived into reviewing it. The game seemed to be a vibrant, sparkling tale about a charming cat cruising on a trendy hoverboard through an impressive metropolis. However, what it delivers is a gory, profanity-laden whirlpool of extreme jumps, colorful rail-grinding, and gruesome unicorn-slaughtering hack-and-slash combat. Despite its occasional attempts to be overly edgy, this action hack-and-slash adventure offers an enjoyable experience with well-executed gameplay elements.
The toys have taken over
Gori: Cuddly Carnage takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where all the humans on Earth have either been killed off or escaped the planet. The culprit is a toy company called Cool Toyz™ that made some unicorn “synthetic pets” and other AI-infused toys that were so smart they started an uprising and violently overthrew human civilization. A few remnants of the catastrophe are a prototype cat companion known as Gori, a swear-heavy, sentient bladed hoverboard known as F.R.A.N.K., and an AI companion with real feelings (mostly depressed) known as CH1-P. The trio were rejected projects that their creator didn’t want to destroy, but they’re also the only Cool Toyz™ that didn’t turn against humanity when the caca hit the fan. They’d like to reunite safely with their creator, but that means killing off the Adorable Army of toys infesting Earth.
Gori: Cuddly Carnage exudes a gritty, raw atmosphere reminiscent of the rebellious and rough-edged grindhouse era seen in games like Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes, dating back to the 1990s and 2000s. The Adorable Army of sentient Cool Toyz™ is a disturbing amalgamation of innocent child’s toys and gruesome mutations, developed by the army as reinforcements since they seized control over Earth, prioritizing militarized slaughter. Watching an unsettling Kewpie-style unicorn doll stretch its jaws and sprout wings in the game’s introduction made me think, “This is going to give me some nightmares.” However, dismantling these toys for fun and destruction, particularly the boss toys, becomes incredibly gratifying.
In essence, you control the charming Gori on F.R.A.N.K., navigating through the game, filled with excitement and destruction. F.R.A.N.K. offers some impressive jumps, double jumps, grinding along billboards and rainbow rails, and a boost to propel Gori forward swiftly. The majority of this action is platforming, but F.R.A.N.K. comes equipped with blades and a wrecking ball for Gori to use against the Adorable Army. I must emphasize that the term ‘maul’ accurately describes the encounters, resulting in colorful geysers of what appears to be unicorn liquid (they are toys, after all) and debris scattering everywhere.
Gori is incredibly cute and only communicates through meows. He even has a special meow button that was quite useful during dialogue sequences. Usually, it’s F.R.A.N.K., who can understand Gori and speak, doing most of the talking for them. It’s worth mentioning that F.R.A.N.K. is quite lively, much like some talkative enemies in the game. In a way, F.R.A.N.K. resembles Claptrap from Borderlands or Orko from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, characters that might not be everyone’s favorite for extended periods. However, if you don’t mind these types of characters, you should find F.R.A.N.K. quite enjoyable.
The musical accompaniment in Gori: Cuddly Carnage significantly enhances the overall appeal. It’s a guitar-driven soundtrack with a crunchy texture that effectively amplifies the gameplay action, even injecting humor into the mix. A hearty chuckle escaped me when I discovered lyrics hidden within one of the songs, particularly when the music swells and the chorus exclaims “SLIME.” The song’s attachment to the gameplay is quite unexpected, but it’s this type of absurdity that harmoniously contrasts with Gori’s roughness, resulting in a tangibly pulpy mix of music, graphics, and storytelling.
Adult supervision suggested
Essentially, this game combines elements of fast-paced hoverboard riding, intense hack-and-slash action, and challenging platform play. To break it down fundamentally, imagine Crash Bandicoot’s level design but with Jet Set Radio’s movement mechanics, coupled with Devil May Cry-style enemy arenas and combat sequences during the platforming segments. Remarkably, the game manages to seamlessly blend all these aspects, experiencing only a few minor hiccups along the way.
In Gori: Cuddly Carnage, the game is divided into primary stages and extra challenge stages, each with unique themes. The objective is to halt the Adorable Army, requiring us to construct a weapon from items guarded by Toy Generals, which necessitates moving through areas like a neon-lit dystopian ghetto, a metropolis transformed into an enormous arcade, and a factory filled with toxic sludge called Cool Toyz™. Gori navigates these locations aboard F.R.A.N.K., traversing sprawling mazes of urban decay and garish cuteness using the hoverboard’s features to slide along colorful rails, wall-ride billboards, and bounce on various environmental elements. At the conclusion of each stage, a boss fight ensues that combines several combat and platforming aspects, making it enjoyable to engage in.
I found Gori’s platforming experience quite pleasing overall. It’s speedy and occasionally has a twitchy feel, but it never veered into feeling unmanageable. The level design provides a decent test of platforming abilities, particularly for those aiming to complete levels within time limits to earn extra rewards. F.R.A.N.K.’s skills, which consume fuel, are best utilized stylishly, and grinding on rails is an effective way to replenish fuel. Consequently, being graceful when possible yields benefits. However, I noticed some minor glitches when attempting to grind in reverse on billboards, as the physics felt too forgiving in those instances. The game also seemed to struggle slightly with homing attacks against airborne enemies during combat, but it still excels in this area.
In the game, Gori frequently encounters hordes of mutants from the Adorable Army, requiring him to eliminate them. This is when he employs F.R.A.N.K., a versatile tool for combat. In combat, F.R.A.N.K. can spin with blades on either side, smash enemies and break shields with a club, or function as a bazooka to hit distant targets or strategic points. These three primary attacks can be augmented by charging F.R.A.N.K.’s fuel for massive damage, each having a crucial role in the game’s battle system. Additionally, Gori has an executing finisher that restores his health and fuel, as well as a shield to deflect enemy projectiles back at them. This collection of features makes for a robust set of weapons, and mastering their use is essential for achieving large combos in the game’s fights, which reward resources to improve all of Gori and F.R.A.N.K.’s capabilities.
Overall, with minimal exceptions, Gori offers an enjoyable gaming experience. On standard mode, I can recall just one instance where my death was unintentional. It never felt overly simple or unjust. For players seeking additional challenges, there are two modes above normal difficulty, one of which becomes accessible only upon completing the game on its hardest setting. To top it off, a ranking system for levels encourages high performance and hidden collectibles can unlock distinctive aspects of the game, providing incentives to replay stages whenever desired.
Things are going to get Gori
Initially, I wasn’t sure if I would like Gori: Cuddly Carnage, but I found myself enjoying it more than expected. The game’s crude humor might not be for everyone, but it suits the absurdity of a world overrun by psychotic toys that require a sentient cat companion and his hoverboard with a blade, to bring them to justice. In essence, Gori seems to attempt various gameplay elements and manages to execute them well, resulting in a graphically violent world and storyline that is quite entertaining. Please be aware of young audiences while playing this game.
The following review is based on a digital version of the game that was given to me by the publisher. The game titled “Gori: Cuddly Carnage” will be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on August 29, 2024.
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2024-08-27 16:28