Game is funny but controls are horrible.

Fun game with great humour

Hello dear gamers.

I would like to thank the developers of this game for producing something which made me laugh out loud. I don't care if my neighbors think I properly lost it!

I think first and foremost its important to rate this game as what it is - a parody, made to be lighthearted and funny. So all the things I will write about are influenced and based on that fact.

!!!ALSO - may contain CONTENT (not story) spoilers!!!

Firstly: graphics. They are colorful, basic and easy to understand. The environments are drawn in such a way that you would understand where you are at all times - be it a town or a forest. There are some nice small elements like plants in forests and dirt roads inside where carts are there to make them. If there are things to be destroyed, like boxes - there are nice small animations to tell the player what they have just done - be it smash a box for wooden splinters to fly, or some "liquidy" stuff to make a splash, or BLOOOOD if you just gutted someone like a kipper.

Secondly, sound. To my ears - quite a big deal in this game. Naturally there are sounds which tell you that this is the parody - like thrown manure splashing against the face of a soon-to-be angry guardsman. Actions correspond to sounds and, given the circumstances, that is pretty much as much as one can ask from this game. Under the same light - there is even some voice acting. It is very basic, without going into spoilers, some of the most basic voice acting that one can get - however - it fits the parody nature of this game, and adds a little bit more of a character to all the characters that get the "lines". Now - the lute-strumming elephant in the room. The soundtrack. I think this is what really drives home the point of GRAND... THEFT... horse. It is music that is set to sound medieval, because of some of the characteristic instruments used, but with gangsta elements, sometimes making pleasant, nicely-placed references to soundtracks of famous games of the genre, or even famous pieces from real life. I like the innovative way that music is used in this game, especially, how the concept of radio - a live playing or beat-boxing bard - is introduced, so that there wouldn't be random background music, and the player can actually control whats being played.

Finally - gameplay. The game is set in a top down viewing style, mimicking, but in a modernized way, the gameplays of previous, now vintage, games of the Grand Theft Genre. We control Guy, the main character of the game, both on foot and on horse and various carts. There are several modes that you can choose on how specifically you would want to control both the on-foot and the "vehicle" (horse and cart) methods of travel. I really appreciate the choice, it allowed me to choose how it is most convenient for me to play and enjoy. I like how there is the stamina modifier for both on foot and not - hey, horses get tired as well, and it adds a little bit of tactical thinking during times where one has to ride fast to chase or get away from things. Combat is surprisingly fun for such a basic game - there are melee weapons of various damage and stamina usage levels, and there is a surprisingly varied amount of ranged weapons. The enemy AI isn't that sharp at path-finding, but they can actually fight pretty well, all things considered. They know when to block and they know how to exploit the situation, if, for example, the player decided to go for a slow, shield-shattering power strike. As there is also horse combat, the AI knows quite well when to strike and can create quite a threat. But not too much of a threat. That is the beauty - the game does challenge you, but just enough to be fun. However, if that is something you enjoy - a challenge - well, no problem - you can tweak the difficulty settings to make the game more of a challenge, and therefore your victories - more of an achievement. More depth is added to the game because of an existing skill point system. You get skill points and you can spend them on various skills, some of which are progressive - you get better at a particular thing the more you spend skill points on it, and some of which unlock skills/features that weren't available before. This is a great way to add some kind of progression into the game, and let the player enjoy the fruits of their labor. I think more could be done with the financial system in the game - you earn income from missions, and there are possibilities to earn passive income from investments that you make, however, the issue is that there isn't all that much to spend that income on. HOWEVER, that may not be such a bad thing if one takes into consideration the intended time span of the game - short. The game tells a story of an up-and-coming medieval criminal, in a very nice and comedic style. Excessive grinding, which IS NOT present in this game, would actually put a damper on things, because it would quickly get boring, due to how basic the game is. There is a main storyline and there are side missions. Side missions introduce the player to a parody version of the middle ages, with various topics which we all associate the middle ages with - be it religion, knights or peasants, witches and the like. This offers the perfect amount of immersion to gently enter the world of the Rustler, but in a jovial, light-hearted sort of way. The map on which the game takes place is varied - in terms of environments you can get, but not too large. The size is just perfect for one to enjoy riding through it, but not too large. One thing that I never felt playing this game is boredom, as either there was something to do, or the periods of travel/doing nothing were either short or filled with nice music.

There is only one piece of critique, that I think is accurate - the mission architecture. This splits into two points: explanation on HOW the mission should be carried out, and the technical issues of carrying out the mission. So, on the first point, although I am not asking for a step by step tutorial, sometimes it isn't clear on how some missions should be carried out - what are the limitations, what one can and can't do, which leads to failed missions and some slight frustration. This does happen rarely though, as in most case, the game is made in such a way that it is quite easy to understand what and how to do. Now for the technical part - sometimes the act of failing a mission and restarting from a previous checkpoint can be problematic, as you respawn in such a way that can and does potentially make you fail the mission, as you are either too far from the objective, or too little time is given for you to reach the objective. Again - happens rarely, but it does happen. Overall, although there are technical issues that can cause difficulties playing the game, they are very few and not gamebreaking.

In brief summary, I think this game is almost perfect because of its fantastic ambience, as painted by the jovial graphics, fantastic soundtrack, and the overall comedic theme of a gangster in the middle ages. It helped me relax, have a laugh (sometimes out loud), and have a very good time recognizing some of a fun and iconic references that were made. Solid 9/10.