Blue Estate Reviews
Blue Estate's biggest crime is in its failure to bring anything new to a genre that's barely been attempted for a decade. Many of its mechanics feel dated in comparison to 1998's The House of the Dead 2, which at least offer branching story paths and varied enemies to mix it up a little. If you go in expecting a rail-shooter and nothing more then it's not necessarily bad, but the impotent humour and monotonous conveyor belt of enemies grows old throughout its 3-4 hour length.
The game has boss fights in an attempt to mix it up, it looks decent but nothing really befitting the new generation of consoles and it sounds fine too. The production values are there, then, but everything about it screams failure. For a game based on a comic book it's suspiciously tedious and wide of the mark in terms of its humour - although we recognise that is subjective so you might take more from it than we did - but really the choices behind the control scheme mean that it fails in terms of what we're here to assess; the game. From the moment you switch it on you're wondering why you downloaded it, and the developers have no excuses. Either their decision to go only for gyroscopic controls via the DualShock 4 was wrong, or: their inability to code and rein in the motion controls to do what they needed to do has left them dressing up their failure as a purposeful choice.
Crude, sexist, and borderline racist, Blue Estate aims low in search of laughs – and still misses the target by a mile. Even fans of the source material will be disappointed as it fails to capture the spirit of the comic, instead squandering its roster of interesting characters in the worst possible way. Should you manage to cut through its juvenile veneer, you'll actually find a competent rail shooter – the problem is that the complete lack of originality will ensure that your interest will derail well short of its destination.
Blue Estate is a by-the-numbers rail shooter with gameplay that's just as outdated as its social politics.
Utilizing the DualShock 4's gyroscope and light sensor is a great gimmick, and it's a concept I hope other rail shooters implement. Beyond that, though, Blue Estate is a boring shell full of cheap, unfunny stereotypes that isn't worth a single playthrough.
I give Blue Estate a little credit and weigh it more on the side of challenging instead of on the side of failure, just because there were some fun parts and some people might love the long levels, testy controls, and the crazy story. Personally, I was just tired of fighting with my crosshair through 20-30 minute long levels by the end. So if it's ever on a great sale and you really love rail shooters, you likely won't be disappointed, but no alternate methods of control and overly long levels killed my experience like a flood of gangsters getting in the way of Tony Luciano.
For those of you who don't have a motion option on PC, Blue Estate is one shooter you can absolutely pass on. One day it may catch your eye on a dirt cheap Steam sale, and a light gun may come across your desk -- at that point, you may as well give it a shot.
It's a shame that there isn't more variety in the actual gameplay to really push repeated playthroughs
Blue Estate is surprising in both good and bad ways. On the one hand, it delivers some good action with a surprising amount of cinematic flair. It also shows that the lack of an actual light gun can work quite well. On the other hand, the rather short game can feel too long, and the humor fails at being funny. If you can live with those shortcomings, the game is worth checking out for light gun fans who are jonesing for a new experience.
Overall, Blue Estate is a fun little shooter that has a sense of humour, but ends too soon. I did enjoy the game but also did feel that it got a little too repetitive. If you're a fan of on rail shooters this is sure to please. If not, it still might be worth a whirl, since it is priced appropriately for what it offers.
If you have a high tolerance of extremely inappropriate dialogue, racist comments, and other demeaning lines, then maybe you might have a slightly better time appreciating the sorry excuse for a narrative. For the rest, even though Blue Estate does deliver some satisfying rail-shooter lightgun combat, sans the lightgun, it's bogged down by stupid swipe controls that completely break up the action.
As the first rail shooting on the PlayStation 4, Blue Estateworks best when played with a friend, strictly for the cooperative experience. Playing through the game alone, the levels feel padded, with too many waves of the same enemies.
Blue Estate is a welcome throwback to the glory days of the light-gun genre, provided you can get past its offensive and obnoxious sense of humor.
If you are a teenager who likes sexist and racists jokes, enjoys not moving much and shooting people in the face, and who doesn't care about good writing, emotional investment or self-aware douchebag narrators, then you will probably absolutely love Blue Estate. Otherwise, it's not highly recommended – especially considering the high price tag. You were warned, young man (or woman – I'm just trying to make a point).
Blue Estate shows that an on-rails shooter can work efficiently on PlayStation 4. The comical violence and responsive gameplay are more than enough to give this a look, though it's probably a good idea to download the demo first and see just how much of its raunchy content you can take.
With that said, Blue Estate's asking price is a little steep for a game that barely stretches past the four-hour mark. Sure, there are collectibles to find and high scores to beat, though this won't be enough to coax some into replaying the game.
Unless you're a fan of the Blue Estate comic and want to see some new, original stories, it's hard to recommend this on-rails shooter for its full price.
Blue Estate is not a bad game, and some of the things it does using the DualShock 4 are interesting, but for all intents and purposes it's a light gun game that will last players a short time, and it's a rather expensive one at that. I would recommend it, but at a nice sales price.
Blue Estate is a light gun game that doesn't use a light gun. Grab your DualShock 4, because this on-rails shooter uses gyroscope technology to take players through eight exciting stages. Too bad the jokes are awful and the gameplay isn't as accurate as needed, because Blue Estate does a great job of staging action.
Blue Estate is a game that is hard not to like as you play it but the experience ends all too briefly which is a real shame. As a technical showcase of the DS4 it is impressive and is probably the first in a long line of rail shooters we will see on the PS4. However as fun and as entertaining as the game is the lack of content it provides can not be ignored, but despite that the game is still charismatic enough to recommend to anyone looking for a fun little time killer. A solid 7.5 that could have easily been higher if there was more bang for your buck on offer (as it where).