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It isn’t often that a game makes it under the hype radar in the way Dead Head Fred has. Perhaps it’s evidence that there are too many established series and licensed games, or maybe it points to the dominance of the major publishers, but whatever the reason, Vicious Cycle’s excellent looking action-platform adventure has slipped quietly through the storm of announcements and speculation that is the traditional build up to each year’s E3.
Sitting down with some fresh IP is a rare treat, made all the more pleasurable by the fact that Dead Head Fred seems to be lively and inventive, and while nowhere near revolutionary, this tongue-in-cheek release certainly has a style and feel all of its own.
It was only last month that The Darkness combined the ruthless cool of the mafia with the chilling concept of the undead, which are the very same two worlds Dead Head Fred brings together. While the gory next-gen adventure took a rather serious approach, this PSP exclusive sneaks around the back of the two stalwarts of cinema, taking them by surprise and making them look rather daft in the process.
Cast as Fred, a classic, sharp, 1940’s private eye, you set out investigating the underhand dealings of a violent band of Mafioso developing both a naïve nuclear power station and a taste for unnaturally gruesome sciences. The only problem is that you’ve been killed, and duly resurrected by a renegade scientist tired by his Don’s demands. One additional issue of concern is that the aforementioned Godfather has a habit of collecting human heads, meaning you have nothing but a glass jar of ooze and a floating brain above your neckline.
Setting out to put an end to the Dr Frankenstein of mob hits and rescue your recently kidnapped saviour, you are instantly thrown into a hugely endearing game world, that somehow seamlessly blends film noir with the spookiness of the Adam’s Family and vein-headed excess of Mars Attacks.
If you’re looking for comparisons with other games, part of the look and feel of Drop Dead Fred is undeniably similar to the world the Medievil games conjured up. The wit and pace of some of the dialogue also touches on that of Monkey Island, though at this stage it would be a little overly keen to draw too substantial a comparison with such a giant of game scripting.
Drop Dead Fred is as much about personality and character as about action, yet still feels very cool. More so in fact than The Darkness, a game that would be easy to believe was unbeatable in the cool stakes; especially by a cartoon-like PSP release.
Moving on to the gameplay itself, it is fair to say that the balance in Drop Dead Fred between combat, exploration, platform leaping and puzzle solving seems fairly equal. The fighting itself is melee based, and aside from the odd poison dart there are few attacks that don’t involve flying fists or thrusting heads.
Which brings us nicely to the game’s main mechanic; head swapping. As you dispose of each new breed of enemy, you can add their cranium to a collection stored on your HUD. At any moment you can swap heads, changing your range of abilities and attacks. From heads that can swallow and spray out flammable liquid to those that boost strength whilst diminishing agility, each comes with a fairly wide range of changes to your character.
The only problem is that vast changes bring with them fluctuations in control set-up, making picking up the basics a fairly time consuming process. With new basic punch and kick combos, charged attacks and special abilities to learn for each head, the process can be a little frustrating and bewildering for a good chunk of the game.
On the subject of current weaknesses, at this stage the game’s graphics, while artistically strong, are rather technically feeble by current PSP standards. The camera too, whilst surprisingly functional when out of your control, requires you to stand stationary to pan around manually, giving the game a decidedly dated feel. Still, a little work on both control and appearance could work wonders.
Regardless, Dead Head Fred is already shaping up to be a very appealing PSP action game, and while it may struggle to attract the attention of its more established contemporaries, it is already looking like potential sleeper hit material. A little love could go a long way to securing this newcomer substantial popularity, which can only be a good thing at a time when the video game industry is growing obese with rehashed products and sequels.
