The initial gut feelings Atlus’ new team-based shooter, “RIPD” gives are good ones. Solid visuals and enough references to the movie and comic book series the game is based are on things that provide the game with endearing qualities which many source-based titles lack.
But that’s where the fun ends. After 15 minutes of gameplay, you’ve roughly seen everything the game has to offer. While there are a bevy of weapons to choose from, the spotty camera, lackluster controls and thin story drive this promising shooter straight to hell.
The lack of a single-player campaign make sure the game stays there as well.
It’s sad too, considering the game’s cool look and how quickly the intro catches your attention. You can tell that RIPD’s developer, Old School games, had the right idea, but it wasn’t executed to completion. Regardless, the game does have some strong points. Feeling a ton like a great PS2 team-based shooter in “Star Wars: Battlefront,” running around levels and killing everything has its moments. The amount of weapons in “RIPD” is like a cherry on top of the frenetic gameplay as well.
But unlike “Battlefront,” “RIPD” forgets to add the story to compliment the gameplay, ultimately leaving you with a shallow shooter that you can’t enjoy by yourself.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
The initial gut feelings Atlus’ new team-based shooter, “RIPD” gives are good ones. Solid visuals and enough references to the movie and comic book series the game is based are on things that provide the game with endearing qualities which many source-based titles lack.
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