"Like a puppet on a string"
I've played a lot of games over the years that have been twists on well established genres and after a while they all boil down to the same thing, familiarity. Manuel Samuel fits into no known genre, at least no established genre I've ever played and the only game I've played with a similar style is Octodad.
The opening sequence portrays you as a snob who has never had to work a day in his life. He's an upper class twit who has treated his girlfriend like dirt for years. When she finally snaps she hits you so hard across the head with a glass bottle that you forget how to walk. After mastering the simple controls, Left Trigger moves your left leg forward and the Right Trigger moves your right leg. Now your can walk again you take off in pursuit of your girlfriend. Unfortunately your run over by a HGV carrying feces, I shit you not. When you wake up you come face to face with Death and the fun really begins.
There is no rest for the dead in the afterlife because each new arrival must take a job. Samuel is disgusted by the thought of working for all eternity and so he makes a deal with Death. Tasked with surviving one day on earth seems like a walk in the park but unfortunately Death has other plans and he strives to make it as hard as possible for you to win back your life on earth.
When you eventually appear back at home you're lying in a heap on the floor and you can't move. This is when things start to take a turn for the worse as you soon realise that none of your normal bodily functions are working. Every movement you use to take for granted has now devolved into a warped marionette set of moves that treats your body as if it was suspended by a puppeteers strings. The simple act of walking is turned into a rhythm based game as you flick between one trigger and the next. Add to this mix your broken neck which has to be kept upright and it soon devolves into farce. Don't forget to breathe either or you'll simply die and that is game over for Samuel.
Every single action you perform has been mapped to the one of the joypads buttons, bumpers, triggers or directional pad and it can be quite a lot of information to remember to begin with. But that's the games charm. Such a simple concept has been turned into a challenging and often hilarious game. There is a co-op mode where you and a partner each control one side of Samuel and from my experience it's bloody hilarious. One player controls one side of his body and chewing, talking, blinking and chewing are also split between both players. I haven't laughed this much while playing a game for a long time.
Manuel Samuel is hard and some sections are a real challenge. Fighting, driving and even just walking in a straight line can prove challenging at time but I never felt the need to quit in anger. There is a good balance between easier sections and much harder sections and the utter mayhem co-op brings to the scene is worth its weight in gold as carnage will surely follow. There is a time attack mode that unlocks each stage as you complete them in the single player or co-op mode. You will be awarded a Bronze, Silver or Gold medal depending on the time it takes you to complete each stage. The time attack mode is annoying as hell but also very addictive with its must have one more in addicting gameplay.
Manuel Samuel should be praised for daring to bring something different to the Xbox One. As short as the campaign is there is enough going on to keep you engaged without gameplay becoming annoying. It's not a game that I can recommend for everyone but for those of you that like to take a chance on something different Manuel Samuel fits the bill like a glove.
Developer: Perfectly Paranormal
Publisher: Curve Digital
Website: Manual Samuel
Twitter: @PerfectlyParano / @CurveDigital
Manual Samuel is available now for £6.39
Review code supplied by PREMIERE