Yorbie – Episode One: Payback’s a Bolt Review

With the recent success of episodic games such as the The Walking Dead series, the future of gaming may edge towards a more episode structure, you may find yourself finishing part one of a game and having to wait a week before the second part is released. Whether this is a good or bad thing, the one skill required for such games to be successful is that the first game has to keep your interest right until the end, this will at least make you want to play the next instalment. Yorbie – Episode One is one such game in regards to being episodic, the following few paragraphs will explain whether this first episode will motivate you to play the second episode.

Yorbie – Episode One concerns itself with the dark times of the Yorbie Collective. The evil Dr. Zox has invaded Yorbia Prime, banishing the Guardians and then taken over the remaining inhabitants. The future now lies with Yorbie who hasn’t got a great deal going for him but at least he’s giving it a go. You play as Yorbie as you battle your way through a series of less than interesting levels until you reach the end of Episode One.

Yorbie – Episode One is played out on a 3D platformer landscape, the camera for the most part is raised slightly above Yorbie trying to give you a heads up over what is happening ahead of you, the feel of Yorbie reminds me of the Die Hard game that was on PS1, that game is much more fun to play than Yorbie – Episode One. In summary you have to shoot a lot of robots as you make your way through to the end of each linear level, at the end of each level is an end of level Boss. Yorbie – Episode One throws in some jumping to break up the shooting but that is essentially all you do besides the odd unlocking of a door/area which is a simple case of pressing a button.

In Yorbie – Episode One you can not die, if you fall off a platform you reappear not far off where you fell, if you get shot to pieces you will again reappear a few moments later. There are a lot of enemies to get through but their not hard to beat especially when you can’t die. The end of level Bosses are harder but again you can’t die so it’s just a matter of shooting, dying, shooting, dying, shooting and then the Boss dies. The weapons on offer are limited but they include Pipe Bombs, EMP Blaster and a shotgun, these can be upgraded by using coins found on in boxes or left behind by destroyed foes. Personal favourite is the EMP blaster, simply because the rest were not as much fun.

Graphically Yorbie – Episode One is bright and colourful but you won’t find much you haven’t seen before. The weapons and enemies are of a basic design whilst the levels are very samey and lack imagination. There are lots of explosions that suit the sound effects, Yorbie’s remarks are repetitive and feel more akin to an 80’s action movie. There were a few points where you’ll find yourself stuck behind a pipe or hitting an imaginary wall never to be able to get away from it. For a game which takes hours to complete and has an open world this could be forgiven but for this to happen within the simplistic level design of Yorbie – Episode One is unforgivable.

There is a co-op mode which makes Yorbie – Episode One more fun with friends as you try to get the most kills etc. There’s also an insane mode which is a supped up version of the normal game, it’s not much different. There’s not enough modes on offer in Yorbie – Episode One. Sure we understand that it’s an episodic game but Yorbie – Episode One can be completed in a matter of a couple of hours and there’s no reason to go back to it. Yorbie – Episode One is not a good game so it’s a struggle to see how many people will want to see how the story will continue in the next episode because after you’ve played this episode you’ll not care what happens to Yorbie, you may even find yourself rooting for Dr. Zox in the end.

Yorbie – Episode One is a poor but brightly coloured shooter. There are better platformer games out there, there are better shooters out there, there’s probably an even better Yorbie out there. Unfortunately it won’t be too surprising if episode two gets cancelled before it gets a chance to be aired. Yorbie – Episode One seems to malfunction at early stage and just isn’t that enjoyable. Do Yorbie’s dream of electric sheep? There won’t be many people waiting for an answer to that question.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.