Video Game Review - Just Die Already

Rob reviews Just Die Already on Xbox One...

Just Die Already is an open-world sandbox game developed by the team behind the wildly successful Goat Simulator. This time around rather than controlling various bad-tempered Goats, you're in control of one seriously pissed off old codger. As your chosen senior citizen, you're tasked with breaking out of your retirement home prison, to then make everyone's lives a complete misery. Just don't die in the process!

Just Die Already kicks off with you choosing out of Stanislav, Wally, Kamala, and Licky. These are the four codgers whom you'll be attempting to cause a lot of mayhem. The only problem is that right now you're character is still stuck in the retirement home. To escape this "prison" you're tasked with causing enough mayhem to eventually get kicked out onto the streets. Once accomplished your goal is to complete various ' bucket list' challenges as you roam the sandbox city. These challenges ultimately reward you with various weapons and equipment that'll allow you to cause further mayhem. The ultimate goal is to earn enough special tokens to then purchase a retirement plan which acts as the endpoint of the game.

The city of Just Die Already is quite a dangerous place. Almost everyone and everything is out to get you. This includes random street gangs, to sharks that roam the waters. Regardless of how you play, you'll soon fall foul of the city and most certainly will either lose a limb or die. Funny enough death doesn't necessarily mean it's game over. On a few occasions, my chosen codger sustained enough damage that I was rolling about as just a torso. It's stupid, but if you've played Goat Simulator then you'll know what to expect. 

Controls act in a similar way to Goat Simulator with you're chosen character almost controlling themselves. It's a tad annoying as it's incredibly easy to lose a limb or kill yourself. Within the tutorial, it's incredibly easy to force a respawn just by turning on the shower, let alone what awaits you in the fridge. Initially, it's quite amusing, but after a short while, it gets increasingly annoying. The frustration soon kicks in as you're forced to replay challenges that'll see you die, lose a limb, just to die again, before eventually completing them. If anything Just Die Already is extremely tedious. 

However, my 11-year old is a massive fan. As a Goat Simulator afficado, she was extremely adept in handling the controls and all the quirks that the game possess. There was quite a lot of laughter too as she found a few interesting ways to die or to use her characters own limbs or bodily fluids as weapons. Kids 'ey.

The city itself is arguably the games greatest point. There is a tonne of things to see and do, with plenty of different districts to cause mayhem in. The whole world is one big sandbox that'll allow you to play with everything that your "Just Die Already" tokens will unlock. The world is pretty detailed with each street littered with various buildings that all serve a purpose. There's a lot of colours here too with the city is brightly lit - even with its many dangers. 

The whole game can also be played via online Co-op. This allows two players to essentially team up to bring even more mayhem. While it doesn't offer anything different from the single-player experience, it does give you some help for the tougher bucket list challenges.

For the first few hours, Just Die Already is a great sandbox title. There's plenty to see and do, with a lot of weapons or cosmetics to unlock. However, this novelty soon wears off and as such your left with a somewhat flat game, with some very awkward controls.

Rating 6/10 

Just Die Already is available now and can be purchased via the Microsoft Store by clicking here.

A code was kindly provided for this review.

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev