High on Life 2

High on Life 2 was provided by Squanch Games for review. Thank you!

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about High on Life 2. The first game was marketed as a wacky first-person shooter from the mind behind Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland. With Justin Roiland's departure from the spotlight and most projects he was previously attached to, I was worried about it missing that signature style Roiland always brought with him. However, it turns out all of those worries were for naught, as High on Life 2 is a fantastic sequel that is worth the time spent running around its crazy world.

One of the big things I loved about the first game was how wonderfully weird, hilarious, and vibrant it was. There weren’t many games with settings that ever ever felt so crafted from creativity. High on Life 2 continues this trend, both through its visuals and gameplay, ultimately creating a wonderfully unique first-person shooter that stands out among the other shooters we can find today. Even the story takes a different turn from the prequel, and I love it.

The opening sequence is possibly one of the best I have seen in recent years. We play as the same bounty hunter from the first game, who has risen to fame after taking down the G3 Cartel. We go through an interactive slideshow showcasing what we have been up to since then, which includes taking down huge monsters, going on talk shows, and acting in advertisements, the usual stuff celebrities do. It's a constant barrage of parody after parody, and it's just perfectly hilarious.

However, the game really starts after that. Our sister, Lizzie, has joined a resistance group meant to help humans and has ended up way over her head, becoming a wanted criminal with a bounty on her head. We rush to the scene to save her, only to end up breaking the bounty hunter code and becoming a fugitive as well. Now, we join Lizzie's mission to take down Rhea Pharmaceuticals, a company trying to turn humans into medicine, and save the human race.

The story itself is quite entertaining, following our journey, taking down target after target to get to the CEO and destroy this entire operation. And while filled to the brim with action, it has a ton of variety to it. From the beginning mission where we discover the human zoo, to the murder mystery on a cruise ship we have to solve, and there's so much more later on in the game that feels extremely unique, it's like one thing after another, and it never stops being entertaining.

However, I would say High on Life 2's humor is more of an acquired taste. If you enjoyed the humor in the prequel and wanted more of the same, crass discussions and one-liners, along with exaggerated tropes in both the video game and TV/movie space, you will love this. I will say there were fewer jokes that landed for me than in the first game, but that could be due to my aging. There were still plenty of hilarious moments, and I loved the references I found throughout.

That variety in the story translates across visuals and gameplay as well. There are so many different places to check out that feel so distinct from each other. The human zoo is where we start before heading to the beach and cruise ship, which then takes us to a floating carport where we have to kill enemies to open up a spot to park. To keep from spoilers, I won't go into more detail, but know that it gets crazy in ways you wouldn't expect.

The bulk of gameplay will be going around and shooting aliens, though this does change a little as we continue playing and encounter new elements like the murder mystery. But the bulk of the game will be running and gunning, which feels pretty good most of the time. The talking guns all feel very different from each other, mimicking the usual weapons we would find in practical first-person shooters, like shotguns (Gus), burst rifles (Sheath), and submachine guns (Sweezy), but all with special abilities that can be used not only to kill enemies, but navigate the world in different ways (and unlock new pathways later on). Some can be zoomed in, while others have secondary modes like Sweezy changing into a single-shot, high-damage dealer.

I actually had a poor first impression of the gunplay. We start off with only Sweezy and Gus, and Knifey, of course. However, I dislike using Sweezy too much, since she doesn't do a lot of damage and makes enemies feel like bullet sponges. I started off thinking that enemies would take a while to kill, but with almost every other gun, that feeling dissipated. The enemies can still take a good chunk of bullets, but it doesn't feel spongy.

To make gunplay feel even more energetic, we have my favorite mechanic in the game: Skateboarding. This replaces sprinting and just complements combat perfectly. With most games that include skateboarding, I usually expect more realistic mechanics or awkward camera angles as they balance actually skateboarding in first-person and what you can do. For High on Life 2, most realism is gone. There's no camera bobbing, you press A to jump or get out of a half pipe, and all it takes to grind is jumping onto a rail. With how easy it is to control the camera and no bobbing at all, shooting while skating is easy and so much fun. We can even knock aliens down with our skateboards by ramming them.

While running around and killing aliens is good and fun, High on Life 2 has a good amount of side content and collectibles to find across the world. And we can't forget the money we can find and earn to buy upgrades for our suit, guns, and new abilities. These will be quite helpful in the long run and are a great way to increase the longevity of the game past the main storyline.

High on Life 2 - Steam Deck Performance

Despite my earlier thoughts, High on Life 2 is actually quite playable on the Steam Deck, but it doesn’t come without major compromise. And while it’s still possible to play this way, the sacrifices needed could ruin the experience if you want to get as much out of the game as you possibly can.

The game defaults to the near-lowest settings, with only Global Illumination set to High, and FSR 3 upscaling on Ultra Performance, and it just barely sticks to 30 FPS during combat. The game looks okay, though the upscaling does make it look more pixelated than I would have liked. This can drop a lot further when skating around Circuit Arcadia or other open areas, staying consistently below 30 FPS.

To try to optimize it further, we can reduce the Global Illumination to Low, which does bring up the framerate to stick above 30 FPS, sometimes hitting 40. It isn't consistent, and some open areas, like the beach in Pinkline Harbor, will still drop below 30 FPS. Setting to Low does change the visual quality as well, and in most cases, it loses a lot of detail, but it does keep the framerate more consistently above 30.

It still isn't perfect, but it's better than nothing. I would still consider it technically playable, but it still isn't the greatest way to experience the game.

アクセシビリティ

The game does have an accessibility tab, which includes speaking indicators, subtitle and UI size bars, changing camera motion, toggling HUD Drift, modifying aim assist, and supporting color blindness options for Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia.

The game does support 16:10 resolutions, though you have to manually change the resolution to 1280x800, and it does have cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR settings.

結論

Despite my worries, High on Life 2 exceeded my expectations for the sequel to one of the weirdest, most enjoyable first-person shooters I have played. With an entertaining story, engaging fast-paced combat, and a gorgeous world, this becomes a uniquely creative experience worth playing through. There are a few little issues here and there with the flow of combat at the beginning of the game, and the humor is an acquired taste, but the pros heavily outweigh the cons, making this a more than deserving addition to your library.

Surprisingly, the game is quite playable on the Steam Deck, although it does require a lot of compromise on visuals just to hit 30 FPS. Even still, it's definitely playable, and there's something to be said about that.

このレビューはPC版に基づいています。

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