Bedlam: The Game by Christopher Brookmyre
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Critic Reviews for Bedlam: The Game by Christopher Brookmyre
An ambitious and fascinating wander through gaming's history, but one that can't replicate the addictive gameplay of the forefathers it documents.
Bedlam's concept is absolutely brilliant, and it's voiced very well too. Unfortunately, its stiff, unforgiving gameplay just isn't much fun, and what you're left with is a great idea whose potential just hasn't been fully realized.
I genuinely did have some great laughs, and there are worse ways to kill an afternoon, but ironically Bedlam falls prey to many of the same issues of the games it apes.
In the end Bedlam has an interesting premise at its core and dialogue that will amuse for a while, but it gets same-y very quickly in each environment. Perhaps if the game started more quickly and had you hopping genres a little earlier in the game, it wouldn't outstay its welcome quite so quickly. As it is, it can only really be recommended if the genre-hopping idea has you weak at the knees.
A faux-retro shooter with an irreverent sense of humour, Bedlam is hard to recommend as anything other than a curio, despite its popular source material.
Bedlam: The Game isn't particularly well made, nor much fun to play, but it is interesting. I've played far better games that I'll remember less.
Bedlam tells a really interesting and genuinely funny tale. So it's a shame then that few will stick round to hear all of it because the game itself is so lacking in joy.
Bedlam serves as an homage to the first-person shooter genre. It's not quite as polished as the games it emulates, and its nature as an imperfect replica should be quite apparent to any FPS veteran. In spite of its shortcomings, Bedlam is highly entertaining and well worth your time.
