'Evil West' lassos gamers in with wild battles, nonstop action

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Developer Flying Wild Hog wears its influences proudly on its 10-gallon hat in the action extravaganza "Evil West."

Combining the action and traversal of "God of War" with an Old West mentality of "Red Dead Redemption" with some "Resident Evil"-style monstrosities sprinkled in, the game is a mishmash of well-known concepts that emerges into a concoction of its own.

Phil Villarreal: Coming into this game in between "God of War" sessions just felt right. This game has many of the same aims and execution methods, with a lot less complication and almost no coherent story. If you just want to pick up a controller and start mashing buttons to rack up mega-combos and not have to worry about getting lost or stuck on complex puzzles, this is your game.

Granted, Flying Wild Hog doesn't quite match the majestic feel of the games it emulates. This feels like a stripped-down, budget-minded attempt at simulating some of the more invigorating aspects of some of gaming's grandest spectacles. There is some depth here, with upgrades that strengthen your abilities and advanced attacks that allow you to make a show out of dispatching your enemies. The challenges are manageable and satisfying, and the adrenaline rush rarely wore off for me.

What did you think Sean?

Sean Newgent: Who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned steampunk western vampire hunt? Nothing about "Evil West" is new. It's a derivative cornucopia of fun ideas smashed together into a tight, mid-budget adventure that may have reminded me of a lot of other games, like the aforementioned "God of War", but also reminded me of picking up a random PS2 game at the rental store back in the mid-2000's and punching through it in a weekend.

From the start you can tell what kind of game you're getting into. A bridge with a train on it is blown up, and you're traversing the wreckage, entering arenas full of baddies, progressing toward the big end-of-level boss. After each level there's a lull where you can explore and talk to some members of the vampire hunting society, engaging in the machinations of taking down your vampiric foes. It makes for a nice balance in my opinion, especially given how fast-paced and occasionally overlong the action-packed missions can get. Enemy variety isn't quite up to snuff and some enemies feel more like bullet sponges than anything else but progression comes with new weapons and items to help you add some variety to your vampire pulping. I never got tired of shooting the arms off cowboys (sending cartoonish gouts of blood geysering out of them) or the simple catharsis of punching an undead malignant till tenderized enough to rip in half.

While the gameplay loop may be basic, it totally works for some brainless fun. But did anything else about this game stick out to you Phil?

Phil Villarreal: I enjoyed the frenetic battles. Having to manage snipers, aerial attacks and massive threats on the ground at the same time is exhilarating, if often frustrating. Whenever I found myself stuck in a particular zone — even one that seemed to be unfairly stacked with enemies — I retreated, came back with a new strategy and managed an exhilarating victory. That is the sort of loop I rarely tire of.

I agree that a few more enemy types would have spiced things up considerably. The devs put some effort into designing the characters that they have, and then seemingly ran out of creative energy.

I also found the traversal pattern annoying. Because the game strips away the platform challenges, all you need to do is tap a button to vault across a canyon gap or scale a wall. Integrating some "God of War"-style vertical combat in traversal sessions would have made things more interesting.

Overall, I was impressed with "Evil West" and found it a solid respite in between "God of War: Ragnarok" sessions.

Final thoughts, Sean?

Sean Newgent: "Evil West" doesn't reinvent the wheel but it appeals to some of the aesthetics I love. When coming across an upside down pyramid in a cave under a western town where I'd just fanned my six shooter ad infinitum to massacre a gang of outlaws I knew this would be the kind of game I could sink a weekend into. Graphically the game looks fine but had frequent screen tearing and ugly textures. The music and voice acting were pretty bad too — though that has its cheesy appeal, especially in a B-game like this.

If you like the gameplay loop of something like "Serious Sam" and don't mind that traversal, as Phil mentioned, is hamfisted and doesn't translate to more dynamic combat, "Evil West" is an old-school good time. At 8 to 10 hours with little replay value, I don't know if this is a must-have, even at the $50 price tag, but maybe down the line on a sale it'd be well worth a purchase.

Publisher provided review codes. Phil played on Xbox Series X. Sean played on PS5.

Past game reviews by Sean and Phil:
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Diablo II Resurrected
NEO: The World Ends with You
Rainbow Six: Extraction
King of Fighters XV
WWE 2K22
Weird West
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
Capcom Fighting Collection
Capcom Arcade: 2nd Stadium
Stray
Digimon Survive
Cult of the Lamb
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection
NBA 2K23
Lego Bricktales
Gotham Knights
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Star Ocean: The Divine Force
Sonic Frontiers
The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me