Being a gamer means witnessing the birth and the inevitable demise of franchises and characters at the hands of publishers eager to churn out titles for profit. Whether it’s the countless spin-offs endured by Mario and pals or the horrid offshoots suffered unto Sonic, the list is long and tiresome of those characters that have been milked dry. Now more than ever, those mascots are getting a second chance to prove their stuff. For Matt Hazard, he just wants that first chance. Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard takes a daring chance on a satirical new character. Just like any joke though, it may either bust you up laughing or fall flat—we hope with a little more polish, we get the former.

When game publisher Marathon whores out action star Matt Hazard in a string of poorly conceived off-shoot titles, his image is spent. From lackluster kart racers to pathetic arcade sports cash-ins, the Matt Hazard brand gets drug through the mud. Not all is lost, though, as the aging action buff is given one last chance for video game redemption in a brand new game. Touted as the hero's next-generation, high-definition comeback, Matt Hazard is slated to reprise his role in a stunning new action game. Too bad Marathon plans on it being “game over” for Hazard rather than a fresh start. Booting up as Matt, it's your job to survive this dangerous new trap of a game to bring light to Marathon's devious scheme.

Eat Lead is, at its most basic, a game within a game. Through the course of the adventure, Matt ventures from one crazy set piece to another as programmers hack into the game and place deadly obstacles in his way. Fortunately, he's trained up for the role and has a number of moves at his disposal for dispatching any foes that cross his path. The controls allow you to move Matt with the left thumbstick and adjust the camera from the third-person using the right thumbstick. Hitting the Y button on the Xbox 360 instructs Matt to take the nearest cover and you can even designate a specific point to hide behind by directing the cursor to the desired object and then hitting Y. Cover isn't indestructible, however, so you need eliminate enemies if you plan on surviving. That's fairly simple thanks to the right trigger that lets you fire off whatever gun you currently have equipped. When in close range, you're able to execute nasty melee moves too.

Combat proves harrowing due to the aggressive nature of enemies and their sheer numbers. In the level we demoed, Matt searched a meat market for an underground night club. You can tell you're in the right location when a bunch of goons file in from the back and start shooting up a storm. Dealing with them is easy enough, as long as cover is used. Once they're gone, however, an unknown hacker summons zombies into the game to attack Matt. This starts a trend of bringing back foes from Matt's previous games into this current one, which makes for great variety in the action and plenty of opportunity for jokes. Throughout the game, Matt and company seize chances left and right to poke fun of gaming. Will Arnette and Neil Patrick Harris have been tapped for their comedic talents, which are proving to be a real asset.

The humor comes into focus upon leaving the butcher shop. As soon as Matt steps out the back door, the entire game switches to a Wild West motif. Gunslinging villain Jebidiah from Matt's western title "Fist Full of Hazard" moseys forward for a quick duel. Beat him between wisecracks and Matt learns how to dual-wield guns. Enemies don't die in Eat Lead, but rather de-rez and reward you with upgrade points to be spent on new abilities and attribute enhancements. There's no blood; instead, you witness pretty digital particle effects as the enemies turn into vaporware.