LocoCycle Review
Never has a game been harder to describe with human words, but let me give it a shot. LocoCycle is a getaway driving melee combat shooter, starring a self aware robot motorcycle and an unfortunate Latin-American victim/weapon, that deeply explores FMV and unprecedented absurdity.
How’s that? If you didn’t get anything from that description, then let me break it down a bit further. I.R.I.S a sentient motorcycle was been struck by lightning, and has gone rogue. She decides to drive cross country to visit a biker freedom rally because you know…motorcycles. In the process of I.R.I.S. leaving, Pablo, her friendly Spanish speaking repair man gets his foot caught on her chassi causing him to be dragged behind I.R.I.S. during her journey to the rally.
This is where the game gets increasingly weird. Not only does Pablo get dragged behind I.R.I.S. for the duration of the game, he does so without a single scratch. Its a long 7 hour joke that pays off multiple times throughout the campaign. Pablo eventually becomes a melee weapon for I.R.I.S. to use, but lets’ not get ahead of ourselves here. Pablo speaks Spanish, so his cries for help are not understood by the quite dim-witted motorcycle and all of the humans encountered on their journey either don’t understand Pablo either or they don’t seem to care that he is being dragged along. Hell, the enemies seem to think Pablo is the one in charge.
I.R.I.S’s makers, the Big Arms Corporation, sends their goons to stop I.R.I.S. and get her back in custody. I.R.I.S. being a combat cycle is fitted with guns and has the ability to jump in the air at anytime an start a melee combo sequence. Big Arms agents are the main antagonist, and they have numerous different attack methods. However, the ENTIRE game takes place with I.R.I.S. travelling down highways and interstates at full speed. I guess that makes Lococycle an endless runner with a combo system, projectiles and FMV.
Oh the FMV, did I forget to mention that all the cutscenes are done in Full Motion Video. Real actors, and real motorcycle mock ups are used to tell the entire story. The game starts with a cut scene that’s like 10 minutes long and even has a cameo by Lisa Foiles.
Developer Twisted Pixel (‘Splosion Man, and The Gunstringer) is no stranger to FMV, but its still weird seeing B-movie quality cut-scenes in a proper next-gen video game. Strangely enough, since at no point does the game take itself seriously, the FMV works and the worse the cut-scene is the more it does to enhance the absurdity of the whole experience.
Speaking of absurdity, it is really taken to a new level with LocoCycle. Most of it plays well and not too silly and the rival Motorcycle S.P.I.K.E. could be the funniest thing in the game, but if you don’t have a sense of humor that tolerates ludicrous and often cheap laughs, LocoCycle may fall flat.
As for the game itself, underneath the ridiculous premise is a decent and surprisingly varied game experience. The combo and unlock system is not deep at all and if played right I.R.I.S. and Pablo become too powerful too quick. Luckily the combat doesn’t overstay its welcome and despite the controls being a bit funky, the non-stop/can’t crash gameplay is fast paced enough to remain exciting.
Probably the best part of LocoCycle is the price tag. Sure it doesn’t look like a next gen game (I played it on PC, but I’m assuming it doesn’t look too great on Xbox One) and inexpiable framerate issues (during the FMV of all places) usually can’t be tolerated, but carrying a $10 price tag kinda negates any complaint that can be levied against it. Even with its flaws, LocoCycle is fun, exciting, bizarre, unique and long. If this was a $60 dollar game I’d be trashing it right now, but at $10 you simply can’t go wrong.
LocoCycle was an Xbox One Launch Game and is now available for PC/Steam and Xbox 360.
Verdict: LocoCycle makes ‘Splosion Man seem tame and subtle.
