Joe's Wrath is a humorous shoot-em-up game about a mistakenly kidnapped man who just wants to watch The Price is Right.
TL;DR at bottom
Gameplay:
Joe's Wrath is a typical pixel-style platformer game with a violent side. You start the game by getting kidnapped by some thugs calling you Iosef, and you wake up in a basement, with a vengeance. You fight your way out of the basement using your pistol (with unlimited ammo, conveniently) and other weapons you may find along the way. You get weapons and regain health from pickups in designated areas in the level. There are four guns: the rifle, the shotgun, the grenade launcher, and the super pistol (I don't know what kind of firearm it is, but it is very powerful). Each one has limited ammo, but they all serve their purpose for mowing down the enemies. You can also find health pickups throughout the levels to replenish your health and keep fighting, harder than ever.
There are a total of 15 levels, each level being a floor of the building that you rampage through. The levels are varied and have different backgrounds depending on what part of the building you are in. Each level has different obstacles to climb on, as well as plenty of thugs to shoot up, with five different variations: the grunt (rifle), the brute (machine gun), the shotgunner, the stabber-guy, and the annoying grenade launcher dude (I made all of these up btw). Each one must be approached slightly differently so you don't die when facing them.
On a few of the levels, I found that it was seemingly impossible to progress without cheesing the game a little bit. If you were behind an obstacle with enemies on the other side, they couldn't hit you but you could jump and shoot them once or twice with your pistol, then get back into cover. Repeat a few times and everyone is bullet riddled and you don't have a single scratch. However, some of the levels provide alternative methods to progressing through them like different paths, or simply running for your life and hoping for the best. Each level presented a different challenge and they got more difficult as you climbed stories, as you would expect. The controls are not hard to get a hang of and it is pretty fun to run and shoot 20 bullets a second out of your pistol when you spam the shoot button. The platforming is a bit finicky sometimes, where you don't get enough height to get over a chair, or you clip into the corner of something and get stuck. It didn't cause many issues, but it was certainly something I noticed.
7.5/10
Graphics:
The graphics in Joe's Wrath aren't something to marvel at, but I appreciate the details that were put into it. The differently designed rooms convey a different feeling, while still not distracting from the bloody rampage you are running, which is beautifully accentuated with the bloody mess of your enemies as you defeat them. The enemies are distinctly identifiable, and Joe has many different textures that adapt to how much health he as lost as he gets shot. The obstacles are varied enough so that you don't feel as though you are playing the same level over and over. The environments look great, as well as the cutscenes. The biggest complaint that I have is more with the camera, because when you turn around to go a different direction, it shifts the focus to the other side of the screen. While this makes sense, it is very disorienting, especially when you do it several times. Other than that, Joe's Wrath is a good example of a game that does the pixel art graphical style right.
8/10
Music/Audio:
Joe's Wrath features a high octane soundtrack that keeps you energized to fuel your rampage. The music choices are pretty good, and I enjoyed listening to them as I played. As for the sound effects, they got somewhat repetitive. While guns do sound similar every time they fire, the bullet sounds got somewhat annoying to hear as I spammed my pistol or as I was bombarded by a firing squad of numerous enemies. Its annoyance heightened when I had to do a level several times because I kept failing. It really isn't too awful to experience, but it was something I noticed as I fired relentlessly.
6/10
Conclusion:
Joe's Wrath is a fun little game that can easily keep you occupied and entertained for at least an hour. There is a surprisingly decent amount of content in variety in the game, and the story is enjoyable to follow. The graphics look great, aside from the disorientation from the shifting camera as you play. Music is hectic and fun, and the satisfaction is high as you plow through the enemies and obliterate their faces. This is a great game to sit down with for a while, and maybe even revisit.
Overall: 7.5/10 - Recommended
TL;DR
Pros:
+Great graphics/animations
+Satisfying gameplay
+Funny story
Cons:
-Disorienting camera
-Repetitive audio
Check out my gameplay of Joe's Wrath below to get a better idea of the game.
Game has been provided by the developer, review has been written without bias.