High on Life is one of those games that I heard nothing about until a few days before its release, I was delighted that it came to Gamepass because essentially I was able to play it for free. 

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![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmQ5yq4EExvX5HwELDfB4p6L6EV8rqcz4Qft9Y29Aam4Mg/header.jpg)
[Source](https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1583230/)

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Loading up the game and running through the opening cut scene was really funny, as you can imagine from anything produced by Justin Roiland, it's funny and filled with witty dialog and a kind of off-the-cuff feeling in the way characters speak, very similar to Rick and Morty. I liked the way the opening level of the game is a cheap Doom clone, a kind of first-person shooter with old-school graphics. You are thrown into this game while you are told the controls and how to navigate the scene. One stand-out moment of the style of humor in this game is. 

There's one part where you're told to double jump over a ledge, which you can't do. Then as you fall into the pit, the narrator apologizes to you saying something like. "Oh, sorry about that, I thought there was a double jump but there is no double jump in this game." I couldn't help but chuckle as I had to find an alternative route out of the pit and on with the level.

So, for any fans of that show out there, you'll like it and will be laughing as you play through each of the missions. However, if you're not a fan of that show, or find that style of humor annoying, then this one should definitely be given a miss. 

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**Story**
The premise is good - The earth is invaded by aliens who are capturing and smoking humans, as the aliens seem to get high... on life... 

It's an interesting idea for a science fiction game, luckily you pick up a gun that spits in your face and can then communicate with you. The gun tells you to kill all the baddies and fills you in on what's going on while you shoot your way out of there.

You steal a space rock... teleporter thing, hook it up in your house and the whole house is teleported to some space station kind of thing. While here, the gun helps you find a bounty hunter, who sorts you out with a suit of armor in exchange for letting him crash on your couch, then he sets up this machine where you can accept bounties of the aliens from the start of the game as it turns out they are some kind of space cartel who have prices on their heads. Since the bounty hunter you meet isn't able to do it, it's all up to you to save the day. 

It's a good setup and gets you into the action quickly, after killing each bounty you receive a new talking weapon and each one makes traversing each level in search of collectibles easier, as each one has a special ability. As you complete each bounty you receive new upgrades to the suit and you feel yourself becoming more powerful as time goes on.

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**Gameplay**
The story is pretty repetitive to a certain extent - Go through the teleporter, kill a bounty, go back home, pick the next target, go through the teleporter, kill a bounty, and go back home. 

There are 8 bounties in total, each one takes about 1 or 2 hours, depending on how much exploring you want to do and how many collectibles you want to get. Each level does feel a bit different, but, because the gameplay is so repetitive it feels too samey and is too rinse and repeat to stay fun. 

The witty banter and funny dialogue moments just aren't enough to keep your attention, I think this game is really geared toward two types of people, stoners and people who don't play many games. 

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**Repetition is Fine, Sometimes**
There's a game franchise that I've loved ever since I was 12, Dynasty Warriors. The gameplay is repetitive as hell, but I have always loved it, I've played almost every game in the series and loved every one of them. To me, Dynasty Warriors is repetition done right. 

You pick a hero, and battle against what feels like thousands of enemies... even though they are mostly copied and pasted, with the occasional boss thrown in and some of the battles can be so challenging, but, they all end the same way, you win and move onto the next battle. The story is what keeps you entertained and invested in the well-done cut scenes, and the extremely ham, dubbed dialogue, which holds so much charm. 

This game though, reminds me of Dynasty Warriors,  in the sense that you fight constant waves of copy-and-pasted enemies with the occasional boss, but, you don't have the well-produced cut scenes and the story doesn't really hold up.

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**It Has Its Moments**
When I was first playing the game, I enjoyed it and thought it was great, but that was before the repetition sank in. 

I started seeing reviews coming out and saw people complaining about it online and I defended the game along with a few friends who were playing it too. We just thought, "Ahh no one is ever happy nowadays, everyone just wants to complain." 

But, then it sank in that the game kind of felt like it was going nowhere, it really seems like the studio said. "Well, we have Justin Roiland. People like him so let's just write some dialogue, record it, and put it over some generic gameplay and we'll be on to a winner."... Good plan, but there's no winner winner, chicken dinner here I'm afraid.

It's funny, it has some moments of laugh-out-loud comedy, especially at the start of the game, but after about 4 or 6, the comedy seems to slow down and get a bit stale. I'll be honest, I got halfway through the 5th bounty and I haven't been back to finish it off. I do want to go back just to complete it, but, haven't been able to bring myself to do it. 

In all honesty, the game feels like a missed opportunity. 

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**Collectables**
There are hundreds of chests to collect throughout the game, which really seems like they're only there to add time to the game and maybe give a reason to revisit levels. Which, I wouldn't be bothered doing. 

I notice a lot of games doing this, they add in hundreds of stupid collectibles as a way to give people something to do. If I loved the game I probably would find them all, especially if they had a reason to be found, but, in this game, they don't seem to have any reason other than achievement at the end. 

I liked collecting the feathers in Assassin's Creed 2, for example, because there was a story element to it and it felt like there was a reason to do it other than for the sake of killing time.

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**Verdict**
For me, it's a hit for the first half of the game, then it gets a bit stale and noticeably repetitive by the mid-way mark, I think if anyone is interested in playing it, they should get Gamepass and play it for free rather than going out to buy it. 

There are funny moments on the TV for example, but, by the mid-way point of the game, you'll notice that the same things start to repeat, so obviously, they didn't record enough of the random adverts and tv show snippets. They reminded me of my two favorite and most quoted Rick and Morty episodes, the interdimensional cable episodes. In this game though, there just isn't enough of it. 

If you rushed through the game and forget the collectibles, you could probably complete it in about 10 or 12 hours, but, to me, it became a bit of a chore.

Even the design of some of the aliens feels boring, the bosses are interesting, but the generic baddies are just a bit boring looking and also there isn't enough distinction between enemies. Even the aliens in the Homebase hub seem too generic too. I think the developers should have put a bit more work into the design of elements in the game, and also they should have made the gameplay a little bit more challenging to keep people focused. 

There's a fine line that developers have to keep in mind when it comes to game design. It has to be challenging enough to make you pay attention and easy enough that you feel like you're still able to have fun.