Demons, angels and whiplash are always a welcome combination, the same as Error 404 Game Studios took it as a basis for his own Obey Me: a 3D action where as a girl and her hellhound, players can delight in punching creatures of all kinds.
A legacy that thematically takes its cue from giants like Devil May Cry, Diablo and Darksiders, transforming it, however, into a more urban fantasy close to the current that can be defined as "holypunk". However, approaching these productions is still a risk, especially when your game is based on the gameplay and the frenzy necessary to make the players experience the fantasy of adrenaline power that one would expect in confrontations with the entire bestiary of hell. A difficult task that undertaken by Error 404, which in the end has ups and downs.
The most original point of the game is undoubtedly its protagonist: Vanessa Held, a broad-mouthed soul hunter with a forked tongue. She is certainly not one for dialogue and sermons, in fact she lets her fists do the talking while her hound, Monty, acts as a comic shoulder to her toughness. The duo works just enough to get some laughs out of it between a fist fight and the other, especially thanks to an apt dubbing which at times recalls the comic times of Rick & Morty. The same can be said of some enemies, while others are on a very amateurish level, however understandable given the independent nature of the title.
The story all in all flows as it should in an unexpectedly long longevity, giving significant moments from time to time and that well express the original twist conceived by the development team, well expressed by the comic nature marked from the genesis on volumes that share the same name. The characteristic of Obey Me is in fact that of being an adventure over the top, with the right pinch of personal redemption placed in the contours of the clashes. But it's hard to stay focused on the positive of the plot when the combat, which is supposed to be the gem of the game, is actually barely passable.
Vanessa and Monty are gifted with quite a few moves and a variety of obtainable weapons playing like in the old days of the genre, but none of them will make up for slowness rampant throughout the moveset of both characters. The combat is extremely slow, the actions take a long time to perform and the combo is quite small. But the big problem comes in the design of the enemies, conceived as "sponges" of shots and with a tremendously repetitive design like that of the levels: all under the same urban layout corrupted by the demonic slime. There is little variety in Obey Me, enough to make it damn frustrating when you find yourself for the hundredth time against the same enemies as always, armed with a combat system that is anything but satisfying.
Breaking a lance in favor of the work of Error 404, if played in a local cooperative Obey Me gives a lot of satisfaction in the way the two characters were made to cooperate with each other. While Vanessa punches enemies and their associated spirit bars, Monty can hit them with flames and use some attacks that consume the spirit bar filled by the Slayer and stun anyone who has entered the area of effect.
An alchemy, therefore, that works great and expresses himself at his best during the fights with the Bosses: ruthless beings with an ever-changing setting, requiring the player to have a healthy dose of strategy. In these moments you can really feel the genuineness of the operation behind Obey Me, capable of entertaining enough despite the systemic flaws of its design.
But unfortunately, the choices of Error 404 and the artistic limitations have hit its strengths hard, treading too much into the erroneous equation that sees quantity as the greatest factor to consider. Obey Me is in fact full of levels and enemies, but it is too much, so much so as to make it seem like a long session where you go around the same levels with no other progress indicators except for the story, which at least distracts us from the bored while having fun with his lines and dubbing performances. The icing on the cake is the unstable frame rate on the PlayStation 4 version, falling many times despite the game not having who knows what graphic weight.
