Butcher is a bloody shitfight of a 2D platformer with a super-fast pace that never stops bringing the pain. Butcher is an obvious throwback to how old school games like Doom and Abuse played, with a fluidity that refreshes the genre and makes it a pleasure to take a walk down memory lane.
Butcher is a level based side scrolling platform game with graphics that take the player back to the days of CRT monitors and pixelation. During the game's opening sequence, the over the top pixelation put me off and made me think the game would suffer with the low quality graphics. The text was hard to read due to its blocky appearance; however this couldn't have been lesser the case. No one needs text where we're going.
Butcher opens up to a world that reminds me of the classic side scroller game
BlackThorne, with the speed of
Abuse. While the graphics are pixelated, they have a sense of amazing detail with smooth animations which really bring everything alive. Even though the detail of each enemy is limited, the pure aesthetic of the gameplay is mesmerising.
While Butcher is a fun and addictive game to play, the developers haven't pushed too many boundaries here. Butcher doesn't reimagine the genre and doesn't really spice it up more than any other remake out there. It's a well-known formula of game play and they stick to what works in this one.
Difficulty and repetition is what most people will find an abundance of here. While there is a casual difficulty setting for a short 90 minute breeze through, the real game lies somewhere in the harder to ridiculously troubling settings. Casual gamers will enjoy Butcher on the casual setting where it offers little difficulty and minimal deaths to boot. Hardcore fans of fast paced shooters will froth at the mouth with the movements required to keep you away from death.
There's a healthy supply of different weapons for you to find and use through your play which range from the bread and butter shotgun, along with grenade launchers, rail guns, assault rifles and a bloody chainsaw. Ripping your way through loads of enemies is therapeutic and gives off a euphoric sense of being a badass overpowered boss of a character. Lose concentration though and your enemies are there to ruin your day. As you progress through the game you are introduced to several new enemy types which tick off the box of providing new and more challenging enemies as you progress through the game. These new enemy types through the game will force you to switch through your weapon cache in order to do the most damage on the fly.
Butcher is a brief but fun game to experience and offers a way to attack the content for all types of players. You won't accidently purchase a hardcore psycho maniac game that you will never complete with this one. Replayability is high with challenging new difficulties and extra settings to unlock. Gamers young and old will find a lot to like with this one, providing pixelated gore is on your nice list.
Overall Butcher is a basic but competent nod at a gaming genre of the past which provides a responsive fast action style kill everything game. If you're keen to get your hands bloodied then you'll likely get a kick out of Butcher, you sick bastard!
Lucas Aurelius
Aussie Gamers Express
8th June 2017
