Phenixx Gaming

Hailing from Australia, Blue Manchu’s Wild Bastards is the… Sequel(?), successor, continuation, or whatever you want to call it of the studio’s space-based title, Void Bastards. This time set in the Wild Wild Wild West, it is exactly the same in premise but this time with something a bit more open plains and barns in the middle of nowhere instead of attempts to be Rogue-like/lite System Shock 2. If I’m honest, I didn’t love the execution of Void Bastards because as much as it promoted itself on that System Shock-style, it was leaning too heavily on Rogue to compare it to anything else.

Wild Bastards avoids this, opting to be a space-western version of itself with similar feeling, FPS action, and a passable story. You play as the Wild Bastards themselves, a group of outlaws that don’t conform to whoever runs the current system. You start with Spider Rosa and Doc Casino, characters that very much fit their names because apparently, their parents were fortune tellers. Casino is a gold slot machine and Rosa is a blend of Dia de los Muertos and an arachnid, the two seeking eternal happiness, 72 virgins, or whatever paradise is for space outlaws. I believe a homestead.

While the two run away from those “giving Chaste,” they have to resurrect the Helix (souls) of their dead gang members. Thankfully after being beamed down by Scotty, the two have their ship destroyed by the big-bad boss’ idiot son only to be replaced by a ship that knocks him sideways. The Drifter (as it is called) is a mean-looking ship that a 7-year-old would draw and just so happens to have a bunch of coffins hanging overhead of the main cabin where Casino and Rosa fly this thing. Ingmar Bergman’s Persona this is not.

As a concept, I actually like Wild Bastards. It is quick, snappy, and somewhat fun. That said, the audio mixing is terrible, levels are quite abrupt, and generally speaking I don’t feel like the weapons being used are really that – weapons. Rosa uses a pair of revolvers, Casino uses a shotgun, Smokey (the first resurrection) uses finger guns that shoot fire, and so on until you have 13 total outlaws. Each feels about as effective as spitting in the direction of enemies than firing an actual weapon, partly due to character model reactions being limited and partly because the audio mixing is awful.

With a soundtrack that is from the first page of how to make a song sound like it fell out of a Spaghetti Western, no matter what you do to the audio it will pierce right through almost entirely drowning out everything else. This goes for guns in gameplay, the voiced narration (a good addition), and even the enemy callouts. Sometimes the callouts can be lost in the background of any level you are on. This as a result means weapons don’t feel impactful and finding the last enemy on the admittedly small maps can be a case of running around until they shoot you.

I don’t hate Wild Bastards. If you can somewhat look past the unsatisfying gunplay (yes, it is an FPS) you have a story that functions well enough, similar to RDR2, you have a gang who are disagreeable with each other and have proper relationships that can change depending on your actions. For example, while trying to pick up Hopalong, I took Rosa and Casino with the latter being “scattered.” When beaming down to a planet, one of your selected characters can be lost on the map and you have to go collect them. Simple stuff.

If you B-line for the character before you collect other things on the map, the relationships may be affected positively. I assume the same is the case the other way around. Some characters, such as The Judge and Casino, may already have a dislike towards each other when you resurrect one of them meaning you can’t take those two down to the planets when you go out to collect stuff, kill Chaste’s men, and generally do anything. It means you have a bit of a dynamic system at play when it comes to who you play in the action segments and what you do to affect them as characters.

The gameplay itself is built around a basic strategy model similar to FTL or the likes: You have a big-bad boss chasing you in the story and you jump from system to system, going from planet to planet. You can only move forward, but progressively you build up character attributes and other useful items you’ll collect. The difference is for each system you get some gear to make that set of planets a touch— I don’t want to say easier, but it certainly offers a helping hand in how you progress. The difference is after you’ve left that system that gear disappears.

Some things you’ll find on planets, which also have a chasing-constant movement sort of turn-based, limited movement sort of thing to it. You appear on the planet and you have several lines to go down, though unlike the system map, you can backtrack and go anywhere you wish here. Some sections of the planet maps are blocked off, however, by roadblocks that are trying to slow you down for Chaste’s gang to try and get rid of you alien outlaw freaks. This is where the combat comes in, short bursts of action with a small number of minions that are somewhat easy to take care of once you find them.

However, if you mess about on the planet too long then you’ll have one of Chaste’s kids coming after you. They are a touch harder (have bigger health bars) but similarly just take a few shotgun blasts to the back of the head to have them theoretically singing My, My Miss American Pie. You can sort of die, and in the case of Ironman mode you absolutely can, but for the most part you “knock out” the enemy, laying them up for a couple of planet jumps. To a degree, it keeps you from killing off the threat too early, but at the same time, it lacks a sort of finality to them.

Part of me likes Wild Bastards a lot more as a strategy game than as a shooter, but that’s because when you do get to the planets and get to some rootin’, tootin’, cowboy shootin’, it only lasts for a couple of minutes at most. Not to mention early on you are going to very quickly see all of the maps available for that point within a couple of rounds. There is a slight difference between Void Bastards and Wild Bastards in that there is a day/night cycle, but for all that’s worth, it makes some levels a touch more difficult to see the enemies in the distance.

The truth is, while I enjoy part of Wild Bastards more than I do Void Bastards, the biggest compliment I have for Blue Manchu is that the story and characters, despite being photocopies of clichés, feel slightly refreshing. The gunplay couldn’t be further from Black if it tried, and believe me, Call of Duty has been trying to do that for a long time. The turn-based elements offer something fun, but for a game that is generally supposed to be a blend of FPS and turn-based strategy, it leans a little too heavily on one than the other.

From a technical, more granular level, I like that the narrative is voiced but also the big, important elements of conversations are highlighted in bolder text. Despite being heavily characterized to give you that Southern drawl through the text, it also doesn’t stylize itself so much that it makes it a nightmare to read with dyslexia. This isn’t even an accessibility option, it is just default, but the voiced narrative is an option. There are a few options in that regard, but they are common things: Toggle aim, run, motion smoothing, and so on.

From a performance standpoint, I think there is something to be said about the way Wild Bastards handles itself. Playing on Ultra (there are only presets) and 1080P 60 fps with 120 FOV, I did see a little stuttering at the start of levels. Not really frame drops as far as I could see, mostly just Wild Bastards wiping the sleep from its eyes asking “Are we doing some of that gameplay thing you’re supposed to be doing? Fine, I’ll wake up.” Keep in mind this is all for just a few minutes of action on maps that are quite small.

Ultimately, if you enjoyed Void Bastards you’ll probably enjoy Wild Bastards for what it is, an evolution of the concept into something a bit fuller. However, if you expect to be running across sprawling levels with well-thought-out intricate design, you’ll be at a loss. I certainly can’t say I hate any one thing about Wild Bastards aside from that audio mixing leaving the VO quite low and the weapons even lower. There is plenty to enjoy about Wild Bastards, but very little to say that stands out or is entirely original. It is a fun, fleeting arcade-based FPS.

A PC review copy of Wild Bastards was provided by Maximum Entertainment for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

44

Wild Bastards

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Solid story elements that aren't too tired.
• Decent strategy gameplay.
• A better balance of gameplay modes than its predecessor.

Cons

• I could throw a stuffed doll and make more noise than these guns.