Journey To Hell
Express elevator going down.
Journey to Hell is an iOS game we mildly enjoy but cannot in good conscious award a high score to. A post apocalyptic third-person shooter featuring two gun-toting demon hunters sounds great on paper, but the developers messed up this title's execution, leaving BulkyPix with an awkward blast-a-thon that fails to justify its $3.99 price tag.
To be fair, there are a few admirable qualities. The visuals, for example, are without question the game's biggest selling point, from an old dusty town to a series of twisted creature designs. From there, we like the selection of weaponry that ranges from pistols and shotguns to automatic rifles and flamethrowers; 30 weapons in total, all of which you can upgrade. Even the action (plagued by lag, no less) is at times entertaining. Sure, the overused formula of killing a set number of enemies to proceed has been done thousands of times before, but considering this is an iPhone and iPad game, it doesn't make us yawn as much as with Xbox 360 and PS3.
Unfortunately, none of these things make Journey to Hell worth the price of admission. Controls are at times jerky, making it difficult to move throughout the world. The designers also made some bizarre choices, like forbidding playable characters from hopping off the sides of buildings (a four-to-five-foot drop at most) in favor of using steps.
Meanwhile, the game's monsters possess unusually large hit boxes that result in the heroes taking damage from what appear to be safe distances. Quickly move past a zombie, and you will most likely get hit a second or two after clearing that particular demon. That's unfair, to put it mildly.
Beyond that, the cheese ball story is too ridiculous, even for us, and there's little reason to empathize with either Gabriel or Rachel, neither of whom possess much personality. One is a man and one is a woman. Choose.
This would be OK had Journey to Hell delivered high quality action, but sloppy execution ultimately derailed what could have been one of the finest shoot-em-ups on the App Store. There's hope for an update, but for now, this game transports users to virtual Hell of a different kind.
Review code provided by BulkyPix.
What's Hot:Thirty upgradeable weapons, detailed post-apocalyptic visuals.
What's Not:Not much to the plot, awkward controls, too much lag and predictable game design.
2.5/5
