Have you ever played a game developed in the Azores? Let alone a Police action RPG? Well, I hadn’t either until now. Cereal Games decided to use their experience making games for other companies for their own game called Pecaminosa.
A city filled with Booze, Beggers, and Burglars
Pecaminosa is a crime-infested place between the U.S.A. and Mexico. You play as John Souza, a former detective turned alcoholic. John Souza might’ve steered away from the right side of the track, he still cares for some people. One of those people is his former partner who’s gone missing. When a fallen mob boss named Charlie “Two Angels” appears in front of him in an attempt to redeem himself for an entry into heaven, John sees a way to help his former partner. Charlie “Two Angels” asks him to capture his former associates in exchange for the whereabouts of his former partner.
Instead of wasting your life away with booze, you decide to act and do the right thing. With a whisky bottle packed you set out into the city to retrieve your old gun. A favor for a favor seems to be the way to get around Pecaminosa. Every task you need to fulfill involves some kind of shady deal leading you to all sorts of shady places. Mostly you’ll be handling dirty business where you either need to talk your way out or go for a more direct approach involving fists or guns. The background representing the 40s and the bitter-sounding conversations help further establish the film noir theme.
L.I.F.E.
There are multiple ways to get through Pecaminosa. The potential paths are only open if you have developed John’s L.I.F.E. in a certain way. L.I.F.E. is an acronym for Luck, Intelligence, Force, and Endurance. While going around and completing tasks and defeating enemies, experience is earned. Once you level up you can spend points in the L.I.F.E. meter. All these develop your character in a certain way and open up certain conversation paths. Spending enough points in one of the 4 categories even unlocks certain perks. Besides L.I.F.E. you can collect outfits granting you stat boosts when you have a full set of the same suit.
Twin Shooter
Pecaminosa tells a tale through extensive dialogue (and monologue). Despite being heavy on text, the game also tries to be action-packed. The game is presented from a top-down view. Battling enemies is done by using one joystick to move around and the other to point your fists/guns and a button to shoot. The twin shooter principle used in this game felt a bit awkward to be fair. The early battles were pretty easy but when enemies start to gang up on you the dodge move is your friend. The problem I had with using this mechanic was the slow rate and the repetitiveness. It took way too long to get through what looks like just a normal tug. Your movement is slower (even with extra points added to endurance) than most of your enemies making it frustrating to get through them.
Cool bosses
The battles became cumbersome way too fast to be enjoyable. The boss battles were a joy to play because they played out so differently. Every boss has his own mechanic and all take some time to figure out. They felt like bullet sponges but with some persistence, I could take them on. Some were sheer luck, to be honest though. The cool bosses have a redeeming factor for the normally tedious normal battles. Sadly these moments were a bit too scarce. For the most part, I dreaded the action part of the game.
Conclusion
The game uses humor, over-the-top characters, and excellent pixel art to tell a classic film noir story. The RPG elements added more possibilities to the game to make it interesting. Sadly the battle system dragged the experience down for me. The repetitiveness was a major downside to the experience.
