High on Life Reviews
An unsatisfying shooter brought even lower by an exhausting and all-encompassing script, High on Life can't commit to its satire or ideas long enough to do anything of value.
Anyone who isn’t thrilled at the idea of having Roiland constantly chattering in their ear for a dozen hours straight will likely find the game’s incessant need to force itself on the player annoying. With the addition of uncompelling combat, frustrating exploration, and a lack of anything else to offer players, High on Life is one of the most annoying, derivative, and slogging experiences in years.
High on Life just isn’t very good, and there’s not much more to say. I think a lot of people are taking the route of ‘well, if you love this humour you might enjoy it’, but I already do love this humour and I did not enjoy it. It’s the ghost of video games past, with boring shooting and a bafflingly slim progression loop propped up by bad jokes that feel like some bros on a podcast writing their own Interdimensional Cable skits. It’s free on Game Pass, but your time on this planet is precious. Give this one a miss.
This first-person shooter from Rick and Morty's co-creator pairs a barrage of nihilistic jokes with flimsy gameplay
Lacking the sharpness needed by both shooters and comedy, High on Life is a low point in the gaming calendar.
If you're booting up "High on Life" this weekend, you probably know exactly what you're getting into.
The most fun I had with High on Life was watching the entirety of Tammy and the T-Rex on an in-game television, and that’s not a compliment. It’s indicative of a game that doesn’t know how to exploit the interactivity of videogames and settles instead on yelling ideas as unsubtly as possible. With its relentless avalanche of jokes and screeches, it’ll talk your ears off but has exactly zero bite to go with its cacophonous barking. Its best ideas are borrowed from elsewhere. Its worst ideas are borrowed from elsewhere. The aggressively layered comedy is a smokescreen for the fact it's got nothing else going for it. It’s a clamorous joke delivery vehicle in which your role as a player is to passively observe and occasionally shoot stuff. You might as well sit down and watch TV.
A colourful, silly and deliberately over-the-top first person shooter, with severely undercooked gunplay and a sense of humour that will test the patience of even Rick and Morty fans.
As-is, High on Life is great weekend Game Pass pickup, and something to go into with caution if you’re a fan of Roiland’s work.
Despite multiple shortcomings and my general aversion to the game’s writing, High on Life has occasional glimmers of potential. I’d like to see a sequel polish and improve upon this foundation. I’m always itching for more creative takes on shooters, but High on Life is a reminder that “different” doesn’t always mean “good.”
Though it has plenty of great ideas, High on Life is too overbearing and never quite commits to its best moments.
High on Life is a mediocre shooter punctuated by sporadic humor that misses more often than it hits. Its self-mocking video game gags were tackled much more effectively in Trover, and the sheer size of the experience only places its faults into greater relief. There are laughs to be had, secret collectibles to sniff out, and some genuinely hilarious riffs on internet forums, but these are not enough to uplift the basic gameplay. High on Life gets the job done, but not in a remarkable way.
High on Life shows why not all games are supposed to be GOTY material. Sometimes we play game for pure entertainment purposes and nothing more. that being said, it shouldn't be used to excuse game's technical problems or its ample issues. High on Life delivers an entertaining experience, but filled with technical problems and other shortcomings that can't be ignored.
Review in Persian | Read full review
High On Life is easily Squanch Games’ most ambitious project, but aside from the environments and the world-building which match that ambition, the first-person shooter itself is incredibly generic, and not funny enough to make up for it.
High on Life continues Squanch Games' propensity for skewering video game tropes, this time in the form of a first-person shooter. Unfortunately, a lot of the game plays like a first draft, and armor of detached irony doesn't do enough to protect it from its many, many kinks. Roiland's personal brand of gross-out parody and "oh, geez" improvisational humor is already starting to feel routine in video game form, but there are a few standout bits. Thankfully, there's a pretty fun shooter underneath all the alien semen, though stiff animations and some buggy moments can make it look slightly underbaked. If you're a fan of Rick and Morty (or, more appropriately, "Doc and Mharti"), then High on Life might just be the pickup you need-but it never fully develops any of its really good ideas into a satisfying final draft.
High on Life is likely a divisive game. While the gameplay is more than sufficient - if you're happy with an unrefined, almost arcade-style shooter - you then come to the dialogue and "comedy", which, to me, was overdone to the point of annoyance. Funny to begin with but repeated so much that a drinking game would lead to liver failure. Fortunately, being on game pass, you don't have to fork out too much to see if you like it.
Squanch Games is certainly onto something when it comes to the satirical motifs laced with chaotic action, but the formula could use some refining and further fleshing out.
High on Life features unique gameplay and character designs that make this game feel like a psychedelic experience as much as it does a shooter. Along the way, gadgets will enhance not only your capabilities but add to the fun as well. The amusement of experiencing something new and unusual has a certain novelty to it, but High on Life ultimately ends up feeling stale after enough tedious blathering from stock Justin Roiland characters.
High on Life is a decent FPS with great voice acting and an interesting new universe to explore. While I didn’t find any point in the game where I laughed out loud, if you are someone who enjoys the humor of Rick and Morty, then you will likely enjoy this experience as well. Just be aware that at different points the subject matter can be offensive to some, and the swearing is pretty much constant. High on Life may even be too much for some fans of Justin Roiland. While players won’t find anything new for mechanics and world traversal that has not been in other FPS titles, it is a good set of bones for future DLC and/or sequels.
High on Life is a decent enough game that doesn't quite live up to its potential. The combat feels unfocused and lacks depth, while the story and humor only hit their stride in the final moments. Still, it's worth a playthrough if you enjoy the more aggressive side of shooters with some light platforming.