I am so happy High Voltage changed The Grinder into an arcade style action shooter as it has a very Gauntlet and Smash TV vibe going for it now. You and up to seven others will work together blasting through waves of enemies like werewolves, witches, vampires and more as you’re clearing a town infested with monsters.
The Grinder is packed with a ton of over-the-top weapons to help you deal with the infestion and a number of the guns are specialized at killing specific types of monsters. For example, the stake gun kills vampires faster than any of the other weapons. Also, there is a chainsaw sword. CHAINSAW SWORD! There are a number of environmental hazards you can take advantage of too, such as giant grinders that enemies can be thrown into.
Another good thing High Voltage has done with Grinder is the overall presentation with its pulpy take. The game isn’t taking itself seriously and what I was able to hear of the dialogue during my play time was pretty funny.
One thing I wasn’t too fond of was with the team based quick time events. The example we were shown saw a character being choked out by a giant monster so the three other players needed to mash on specific buttons to save their partner. It’s an interesting idea, but QTEs don’t have a place in fast paced co-op games such as this as it just slows things down.
Aside from that aspect, I had a lot of fun going through the various areas blasting the f*ck out of every monster that we would come across. I also dig how there’s a level of deepness with the combat with how certain weapons work better against specific creatures.
The Grinder will be out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii Halloween 2011.
