Overall – 50%
50%
Official Score
While BEHEMOTH sets out to hit those oh-so-important dopamine receptors, the end result is far more frustrating than fun. Randomness has its place, but not at the expense of the overall gameplay experience.
Taking a break from crashing castles, The Behemoth studio lives up to its name with its new title BEHEMOTH.
Should players get to flapping in this “dodge n’ flap” arcade extravaganza, or is this bird cooked?
BEHEMOTH Review
Taking to the skies, the chicken mascot of The Behemoth studio sets out to collect their flock in what amounts to a more a casual adventure. The ultimate goal? Get these little chickadees to each of the floating nests in the sky, collect a mountain of oversized candy corn that can then be exchanged for cosmetics, and shoot for the high score for the leaderboards.
However, there are countless dangers awaiting this blue and white chicken in BEHEMOTH. From flying kitchen hatchets to cracked egg shells, running into any one of these threats causes one’s amassed birds to scatter like dust in the wind. Screw up enough times, and one’s goose (er, chicken) is cooked.
BEHEMOTH is simple by design, featuring a flap button and directional movement. For those that have played titles like the infamous Flappy Bird on mobile devices, BEHEMOTH uses a system not unlike the one found in that title.
However, when put into practice, BEHEMOTH proves to be far more frustrating than fun for all but the most hardened player. While the mechanics are fairly easy to understand, putting any semblance of strategy into its gameplay quickly goes foul.
The titular chicken in BEHEMOTH is a ragdoll, bouncing around without a care in the world. There were times where we were jettisoned from a coffee cup to a celery stick to a spiky object without any reasonable time to possibly react. While BEHEMOTH does let you know where the nearest nest is, and there are fairly low checkpoint requirements when players first start out each run, it just isn’t enough.
As a result, gameplay in BEHEMOTH feels more like an object of happenstance than a game of skill. While there are power-ups like sunflower seed shields and laser beams that can shoot through the mess, we often felt like things were out of our control.
We get it – BEHEMOTH is not a pro-level eSport by any stretch of the imagination and we need to “git gud.” However, it got to the point where it felt like swimming upstream. Put simply, this is an unfair title – not something one wants to hear when there are daily leaderboard on the line.
Unfortunately the presentation found in BEHEMOTH most certainly does not help its case. The bright colors and colorful vibes are meant to hit those dopamine receptors, but in practice the end result felt grating. There’s also the looping music that feels drawn out; more tracks would have gone a long way.
It should be worth noting that BEHEMOTH is poorly optimized as well. During our brief runs, our fans kicked into overdrive and our computer actually turned off due to the sheer stress. This is far from a gameplay showcase, and hopefully future patches alleviate this problem.
While BEHEMOTH sets out to hit those oh-so-important dopamine receptors, the end result is far more frustrating than fun. Randomness has its place, but not at the expense of the overall gameplay experience.
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