ANNIE:Last Hope

 PC
Metascore
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Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
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  1. GameMAG
    Sep 14, 2020
    80
    ANNIE: Last Hope is a very unexpected and stylish game based on rare voxel technology, which offers a good story, rich gameplay and interesting bosses in a six-hour story about struggle and survival. Be sure to try it in quarantine.

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  1. Mezu5
    Dec 10, 2022
    6
    ANNIE is a bizarre game.
    To enjoy the game you need to be invested in both the gameplay and the story. You spend most of your time in combat    ANNIE is a bizarre game.
    To enjoy the game you need to be invested in both the gameplay and the story. You spend most of your time in combat broken up by exploratory interludes, but the game's systems and enemy designs don't evolve throughout its run time, which puts responsibility on the story to sustain your attention.
    I'd normally start by discussing the gameplay, but the entire point of this review is to highlight how weird the game's tone is, so let's describe the story quickly:

    Imagine a storyline about a zombie outbreak, written completely seriously, exploring themes of adapting to a broken world, and the ruthlessness of a post-apocalyptic society. You'll meet unempathetic leaders, you'll see those who aren't willing to give up on their values suffer a sad fate. That's what this title's story is like... partially.
    Now imagine a storyline like Resident Evil 6's - villains are ripped out of a comic book, with no clear motivations or sufficient exploration of their character. Events are confusing to follow and nothing has enough proper setup to feel engaging to witness. That's also what ANNIE's story is like.
    To finish it all off, that confusing tonal mix is delivered through writing that falls somewhere between "work of a 15 year old" and "translated by a person with limited grasp on the english language".

    This bewildering tonal conflict bleeds into the gameplay as well. At the very start, the game seems like a more action focused take on the classic Resident Evil's formula for combat - you use twin stick controls, have much more mobility and are less starved for resources, but the zombies still move fairly slowly and deal lots of damage in return. The game also uses its preset camera angles for tricks reminiscent of what static camera angles allowed survival horror developers to do in the past.
    However, the same game frequently adds enemies to the field by dropping them down from the sky, has you fight zombies while dodging cars speeding down a road, dodging bullet hell patterns of nondescript projectiles, or killing crates of crab sticks.

    Crab sticks? Yes. ANNIE's zombie apocalypse was started by the distribution of crab sticks that were purposely mutated by a mysterious organisation to take over the world.

    I hope all this illustrates how confounding this game is to experience.

    As for whether any of it is good: it's fine. The gameplay's biggest issue is that both controls methods available - controller and keyboard & mouse - have pretty big drawbacks.
    The game simply isn't much fun with a controller, because the aim snapping is so heavy that you practically cannot choose which target to aim at. I've had situations where the character would point 90 degrees away from where I directed my right stick. You can't lead your shots when trying to hit moving targets because of this either.
    With a keyboard and mouse aiming works completely fine, but the 8 directional movement is pretty awkward. There's no movement acceleration to help you move at weird angles by tapping wasd keys and the game's long dodge roll can't be controlled after the animation starts, which means you'll just have to put up with not being able to dodge in more than 8 directions, even when you need to.

    Enemy designs are fairly solid however. The majority are standard zombie archetypes for the most part, but done well enough to make fighting them enjoyable, and there are some curveballs the game will throw at you as well.
    To kill said zombies, you'll get weapons fitting into 4 slots. Pretty much all new weapon unlocks are clear linear upgrades, but different tools work for different situations and enemies, and firing at the infected has enough impact to be satisfying, as long as you're not using the admittedly useless shotguns.

    ANNIE is not a great time, or a bad time. If you approach this game with very tempered expectations, you can easily have fun witnessing the game shift between atmospheric exploration, comical setpieces, unsuccessful attempts at building a solid storyline, and brief appearances of great ideas - all that while engaging in combat that stays fun enough for the whole duration of the campaign.
    However, if you're looking for something with truly gripping gameplay or a well realised story, you might end up disappointed by the amount of emphasis put on the game's writing and its wildly inconsistent quality and tone.    … Full Review »
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