420blaze it 2: game of the year
review
420blaze it 2 has exactly one joke.
and like, yeah, that joke is kind of funny for the first… half hour? during the first two or three stages, you’re in this honeymoon phase with the game’s humor. 2014 humor is extremely easy to make fun of, and there’s enough content frontloaded into the game where you can always find something new to laugh at.
by the fifth or sixth level, this game is a BORE. it’s a fine, rather uninteresting FPS game mechanically, just with a purposely-outdated coat of paint over it. the MLG montage effects that flash after you get a headshot (yes, EVERY TIME you kill with a headshot) get grating quickly, the very small enemy variety limits the game’s level design pretty drastically, and each level is far too long for how little you’re actually doing. there are fun little power-ups and plenty of gun variety, yet only a couple of levels actually use said power-ups to fundamentally change how you attack the enemies. there’s maybe one interesting set piece in the entire game. if you completely ignore all of the visuals, there’s almost nothing meaningfully different here.
the game’s humor is its draw, but even that doesn’t hit as hard as it probably should. a game like 420blaze it should poke fun at itself a little more, but this one treats what you’re doing a little too seriously. I can’t tell whether the developers of this game (led by the same guy that made fucking CROSSY ROAD) genuinely find this style of humor funny, because the joke is played almost fully straight. it doesn’t poke fun at MLG humor, it just… is MLG humor. which, even in the sea of AI slop humor, tung tung tung sahur bullshit, and six seven hand waves, is still notably annoying and unbearable after a certain point.
it feels like a kid that never grew up, someone stuck in an age long past. you don’t want to interact with someone still making attack helicopter jokes in the modern day, because i guarantee that guy is super fucking annoying. 420blaze it 2 is that kid, personified into a game, complete with the substance underneath the surface being rather standard and pretty boring.
and like, yeah, it’s a competent shooter at the end of the day. it’s not horrifyingly bad, and before the charm wears off, the game is kind of fun. your mileage may vary, depending on how nostalgic you are for this era of the internet. eventually, though, you will probably run out of gas.
score
4/10
notes
- developed by Normal Wholesome Games
- published by Normal Wholesome Games
- released in 2024
- played on pc
- crossposted to backloggd and infinite backlog