Review by: Jeff McAllister

Matt Hazard is hazardous to your health. His words, not mine and that’s about the extent of wit you can expect from this game. Matt Hazard is the video game star that supposedly was a huge hit back in the day and had a series of titles that were mega blockbusters. As farfetched as that sounds, it’s the premise that this title and the previous full title, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, followed. This time around, Matt needs to go back through his previous games to stop General Neutronov who is trying to stop Matt from existing by destroying his original 8-bit self. Matt jumps on the trail of Neutronov, and quickly finds himself in plenty of levels that do nothing but rip off other games—this is supposed to be parody. Humor like this is an acquired taste but unless you think films like Scary Movie or Date Movie are just hilarious– it just doesn’t work.

The gameplay mechanic is that of the classic side scroller, much like a mix of the summer hit Shadow Complex and the classic NES title Contra where you run side to side and fire at enemies in the background, but that’s where the similarities begin and end. As mentioned, each level is purportedly a level from his previous games that end up being twisted and mixed up with each other. While each chapter ranges from a parody of Bioshock, Gears of War, Portal, Mario Brother’s and more, the gameplay always remains the same. After about the third or so level, the game starts to become insanely difficult which cheap deaths and poorly placed item drops.

To help Matt kick some butt through the fanatical levels, the game tosses multiple types of weapons at you that include a flamethrower, an ice gun, a laser, a shotgun and more grenades than you can shake a stick at. Matt can also enter into “Hazard Mode” when his meter fills which allows him to do more damage and become invincible for a brief amount of time.

Adding a smidge of enjoyment to the game, there is a two player co-op mode included so that a buddy and you can play together as Matt’s sidekick, Dexter Dare, and as they say, misery loves company. While the co-op does make the game a tad more enjoyable, the fact that the co-op is local only and not over Xbox Live is another misstep. The most glaring misstep the game makes however is the price: 1200 MS Points for the game is absurd, especially when games like Shadow Complex and Bionic Commando: Rearmed can be had for the same price or less.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the game pokes fun at its previous release, saying it can be picked at a bargain bin near you and continues the self-deprecating with a quip at the end dealing with the dreadfulness you just played through, one can’t help but agree and have a sort of resentment that the developers knew the game was not up to par with other XBLA - or even Xbox Live Indie games - but still went ahead and released it, which is probably the most humorous thing the game has going for it.