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- This game combines hand-drawn objects in a cartoon shading world, making it stand out.
- It is a true immersive simulator, allowing you to move anywhere and engage in any combat you desire.
- The comic sequences, with a serious story and hilarious banter, make it a unique offering of 2024.
Fallen Aces is a treat for indie game lovers and people who prefer an art style over modern repetitive graphics. Its serious story with hilarious bits makes it an outstanding game of 2024.
Comic Cutscenes
Right off the bat, Fallen Aces gives us comic-like sequences with an incredible voice-over narrating the dialogues instead of rendered cutscenes. This is reminiscent of reading comics or watching cartoons that showcase themes in classic noir and pulp fiction comics.
Not only that, the colors are somewhat stained, and the image is slightly faded, which replicates the effect of those old comic books. These scenes are also presented individually instead of all coming together, which sets a nice pace.
These comics have subtle animations, which make them feel more dynamic. For instance, raindrops fall on the car in one sequence, and in another scene, the light of our character’s lighter subtly illuminates.
Artstyle
This game’s art style consists of 2D sprites and fully 3D cel-shaded environments. Let me explain this to the non-technical fellows: The game’s textures are hand-drawn and rendered to look like cartoons.
This means that the walls, floor, and locations are all rendered with a cartoon-type effect, whereas the vehicles, weapons, and objects in the game are hand-drawn as they have a sketch vibe to them similar to that of Borderlands.
Additionally, the characters in this game are also cartoon rendered (toon shading), which is similar to the art style used in Ultimate Spider-Man. When you get close to the enemies, they appear to be like 2D stickers.
With this 2D and 3D combination, the visuals turn out to be stunning and very distinctive compared to other games. Since realistic graphics lead to long developments, Fallen Aces wasn’t a victim and had a shorter development time.
Mechanics & Physics
The mechanics and art style of Fallen Aces go very well. Your character responds to each input very quickly without any delay, and your movements are fluid. You can also slide back and forth, and it’s so quick that it feels like fast-forward at some point.
As for the combat and physics, the game makes you feel like you’re the badass action hero of the 1950s. You’re free to go about it any way you desire in this game, which means you can sneakily subdue your enemy, cause complete chaos, or not engage with them at all.
There are guns present, but this 4.5-hour-long game forces you to go for the melee route, using the pipes, hammers, an axe, and a razor blade to kill your enemies. Using all of the weapons, along with your good old fists and kicks, results in a very enjoyable combat.
Not only that, you can also kick your enemies off the roof and let gravity handle the rest. There’s also a location where you can kick your enemies towards the train tracks, and the train runs them over.
You can make use of the environment and feel like James Bond by pushing your enemies towards an electrical panel to electrocute them. Similarly, you can throw banana peels in the enemy’s track, and they’ll fall over it.
Moreover, you can use the barrels, bottles, and other objects placed at several locations and throw them to make your enemies fall. Throwing the propane tank or a Molotov can cause a pool of fire around the enemies.
You can even break the gumball machine inside the shops; enemies will fall after they topple over the numerous fallen gumballs. With so many options and approaches, don’t forget to quicksave.
As for the sneaking approach, you can perform stealth subdues on your enemies and use darkness to your advantage. You can also hide their bodies in the dark spots, making for a great stealth gameplay.
Hilarious
The game is hilarious as if the developers are trolling the whole time. When you’re swimming with the sharks, you get the music of Jaws playing. When your hands are full, the game plays music similar to John Carpenter’s The Thing movie.
A few puzzles are also taken from the Prey, where you must throw objects from a distance to activate them. The enemies also offer hilarious banter when they’re getting beaten up or when you inflict damage on their buddies.
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Moiz Banoori, with a decade of experience in gaming and tech journalism and a degree in journalism, is a notable figure in the industry. He has contributed to various esteemed platforms, showcasing his expertise in both reporting and opinion writing.
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