Review: Blue Estate

After being offered a review code for an on-rails, first-person shooter for the PlayStation 4, I jumped at the chance to test it out with my much-maligned Move controller. Finally, a game that makes use of Sony’s oft-forgotten, motion controller. You will have to imagine my horrified expression (as I did not take a selfie at the time) when I realised Blue Estate from HeSaw doesn’t support the peripheral practically made for games like this.

Thankfully, the gyroscopic controls of the DualShock 4 suffice, but like many elements of the game, I will always wonder what could have been with a bit more attention added to the game.

Based on the comic series by Victor Kalvachev, Blue Estate tells the story of Tony Luciano, the inept son of Don Luciano, the local mob boss. When one of his prize strippers is kidnapped, he will stop at nothing to get her back… yes, you read that right. In line with Grand Theft Auto V and South Park: The Stick of Truth in terms of tone, I would advise anyone looking for a deep, emotionally-charged story to avoid this like syphilis.

Blue Estate’s main selling point is the over-the-top, oft-times slapstick, oft-times crude humour. Set in a world of mobsters, strippers and clichéd henchmen, innuendos and profanity are the order of the day here. Most of the jokes end up being riffs from the various genres the game lampoons, like sight-gags involving gangsters and interactions with Tony’s NPC companions. While I did laugh at one or two points, and grinned ryely at others, I must say a lot of the game’s humour was based around crude stereotypes which didn’t totally wash with me.

The humour also crops up in gameplay. For instance, at the most inopportune times, Tony’s floppy fringe falls in front of his face. A quick swipe of the touchpad will brush the hair aside. It was mildly humourous the first time it happened – not so much when the game gets more and more trying.

The rest of the game mechanics are relatively standard as far as on-rails shooters are concerned. While the aforementioned omission of Move support is still utterly perplexing, I have to admit that the implementation of the DS4’s gyroscopic controls is well done. The triggers are used to fire (R2) and reload (L2) your selected weapon. As it uses the motion of the DS4 to control aiming, keeping the device properly calibrated is important – hence it has a dedicated button on the controller (L1). While it is annoying having to recenter the reticle after almost every encounter, the aiming still feels good.

Gameplay follows the normal tropes of previous on-rails shooters like Time Crisis – goons lurk around every corner, waiting for you to pop into place; points and combos are awarded for successful or skillful shots; mini-games pop up in the middle of situations, like a shoot-a-mole sequence or killing enemies in a specific order. As well as moving your hair out of your face, the controller’s touchpad is also used to open doors and pick up health packs. Seeing as you are not using the sticks, you can hold your thumb over the touchpad – making the whole thing quite intuitive.

Even on the game’s lowest difficulty level, Blue Estate is a challenge. When you are about to be shot, a yellow warning circle begins to fill. Unfortunately for you, not only do you not get something to hide behind a lot of the time, the time it takes to fill said circle varies – making it more difficult to plan out engagements. You can also get charged down by goons with melee weapons. Swatting them away with the touchpad can add to the frantic nature of the action as you might be in the middle of lining up a shot. The inclusion of a lives system adds nothing but frustration to the situation too.

I found the art-style quite appealing – the game’s visuals and environments are based on grimy areas, yet the colour scheme is varied. Unfortunately, the rest of the visuals, in particular the character models, are workman-like and merely serviceable. The soundtrack is equally basic on the whole.

Blue Estate is a competent addition to the on-rails shooter genre. The bizarre decision not to support the Move controller is still vexing me (as evidenced by the fact that this is the third time I’ve mentioned it) but the DS4 does an admirable job in its place. Despite the scatter-shot humour, I would recommend the game to any fans of the genre… or those curious with money burning holes in their pockets.

Tags: Blue Estate, Focus Home Interactive, HeSaw, PlayStation 4, Xbox One