Wells Review

Wells Review Screenshot 1

Normally I would start my review with some statement that I build upon with points I have about the game. I use this method to keep my thoughts in line and make my review flow a little nicer than my notes ever could. Oddly enough, I feel like Wells deserves a scattered review with trains of thought simply derailing halfway through. I have a few reasons for saying this, but the most prominent one has to be that I simply can’t figure out who this game was made for.

Playing the game is simple enough, aim the gun, shoot the bad guys. The problem is when any kind of action is required (e.g. pulling a lever), the player is required to use a melee attack that can only be activated when in just the right spot and when not shooting. Due to this, the actual gameplay comes off as awkward and somewhat uninspired. I tried and tried to figure out why on earth some actions were so strange and never was able to come up with a real reason. None of this was helped by me trying to melee enemies after learning I even had such an attack. I was quickly pushed back and riddled with bullets, making shooting the enemy seem like the only real option.

Wells Review Screenshot 2

On top of the odd ways to interact with the levels, the game’s enemies feel generic and forgettable. This isn’t helped by virtue of how many of them will be gunned down, just by the end of the first level. I originally thought this wouldn’t be the case since the game tells you how many bullets you have at the bottom. Turns out this number basically doesn’t matter since it only takes a few seconds of not shooting to regain all the shot bullets. Once again, there are some seriously bizarre things in this game.

One of the strangest choices (in my opinion) has to be how the game handles it’s art and color. The game’s world itself doesn’t look all that bad and I’d gladly play another game in a similar looking world. The problem shows up when looking at the game’s characters and the colors of the backdrops. I understand that it would look far worse if our character was wearing some obnoxiously bright article of clothing or had some silly light emanating from his head, but it’s also a problem when I find myself losing my character as soon as I stop looking at him. This only happened a few times, but I do believe the character could stand out a little more, when all the colors in most levels are very similar and even feel like they blend when not directly looked at.

Wells Review Screenshot 3

This could all be saved if the game had an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, I found that Wells simply didn’t care about its own story, since it only told it in short little panels with some writing over them. Hell, while writing this I couldn’t tell you exactly why our character is seeking justice. It is simply that forgettable. I promise I looked for something good to say about this game. I nearly had something with the game’s bosses, but then I remembered how the first boss was done and I simply couldn’t forgive how poorly designed that section was.

Knowing there are some players out there that only care about shooting lots and lots of bad guys, I can say that some of those gamers may find something here for them. For anyone looking for anything deeper than that, I would suggest passing this one up as it doesn’t get much deeper than its description in the store. Personally, I need just a little bit more from my mindless shooters, when I have so many other games I could be playing.

Rating 5

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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