Reviewing any game from eccentric auteur Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture feels like nailing jelly to a tree.
Except, in this case, the jelly keeps swapping visual styles. The tree has morphed into a 100-foot super-mutant. You must increase your hammering strength by playing Pac-Man.
Romeo Is a Dead Man boils down to this: it is pure Suda51 chaos. Either you are fully on board with the absolute insanity, or you are not.
A Bizarre Sci-Fi Tale
The story initially seems straightforward but quickly derails into beautiful madness. You play as Romeo. He is a small-town cop with a budding relationship with the lovely Juliet. Sadly, Romeo stumbles across a weird monster one night. The creature rips his face completely off.
Fortunately, his time-traveling, super-genius grandfather portals in to save him. Grandpa attaches a weird mask to Romeo’s face. He also gives him a badass robotic arm. However, Grandpa accidentally shatters the space-time continuum.
Consequently, the Space FBI recruits Romeo. He must travel through alternate dimensions on a spaceship. He hunts down evil villains and strange incarnations of Juliet.
Tonal Whiplash and Translation Issues
I struggled the most with the game’s dialogue and tonal consistency. Grasshopper is a Japanese studio. Translation issues clearly plague the English script. Characters frequently say odd things that do not fit the current situation.
Furthermore, you will experience Suda51’s signature tonal whiplash. One second, the narrative tries to deliver a serious, emotionally poignant beat. The next second, you manipulate a bloody corpse’s face to match a photograph.
Despite the mayhem, the story explores interesting, deeper themes. The narrative actually has profound things to say about star-crossed lovers. It explores changing yourself to appeal to another person. However, you might not notice these themes amidst the surrounding chaos.
Stiff Combat and Bizarre Mini-Games
The core gameplay relies on close-up combat. You use four melee weapons and four ranged weapons. You carve a gory path through roving packs of Rotters (zombies) and other weird variants.
Unfortunately, the combat feels incredibly stiff. Too many animation locks leave you completely helpless. You cannot dodge incoming attacks. At its absolute best, Romeo Is a Dead Man ranks as a mediocre action game.
To compensate for the stiff combat, Suda51 packed the game with utterly bizarre upgrade mechanics and mini-games:
- Bastards: You collect zombies in seed form and plant them aboard your spaceship. You deploy them in battle as living turrets or tornadoes.
- Pac-Man Upgrades: You increase Romeo’s base stats by moving a pixelated character around a maze. You must collect Emerald Flowsion.
- Katsu Curry: You collect space debris while flying your ship. You convert it into culinary ingredients and play a mini-game. You cook Katsu Curry for temporary attack boosts.
I swear, I am not making this shit up.
Performance Issues on PS5
The bosses feature incredibly cool visual designs. However, they are mechanically dull and highly annoying to fight. Worse, performance remains a massive problem on the PlayStation 5.
I experienced frequent frame rate drops that crashed the game into a ditch. Grasshopper Manufacture urgently needs to patch the game’s performance stability.
The Verdict
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Romeo Is a Dead Man is a mediocre and highly unpolished action game. However, you should play it purely to experience the incredible Suda51 insanity.
The Grasshopper team continues to make bat-shit crazy games. Duct tape and sheer enthusiasm hold these games together. That represents true art. This game strongly appeals to a niche, die-hard crowd. If this review conveyed the manic weirdness of the game, you already know your answer. You know whether it sounds incredibly annoying or immensely appealing.
Also Read : Simon the Sorcerer: Origins Review – A Little Magic, a Lot of Heart
