Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps And Beans [Game Review]
As children, we all had favorite actors, favorite films that we watched 50 times, simply because we liked them. And even now, having grown older, it is extremely pleasant to find a favorite film and rewatch it, shedding a nostalgic tear. However, sometimes the love of fans turns out to be so strong that they can create something of their own based on their favorite work. Some write stories, some make their own short films, and some make small games. And our guest today is, in fact, one of the last. The development team really loves films with the duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, and decided to share this love with everyone, and let other fans of the duo once again plunge into the adventures of their favorite characters. And now we’ll find out how well they did it. Shout out to Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps And Beans.
This time we won’t talk much about the plot, because.To. the game is quite short, 2-3 hours, and has quite a few funny twists and jokes. But overall one thing can be said: this is a typical Hill and Spencer comedy. If you have seen “My name is Trinity”, “All Trouble”, “I’m for the Hippos” and other films by Enzo Barboni, then you know what to expect and if the films even now make you laugh, you can be sure that you will be rolling on the floor. If you haven’t caught the films, then you will find a rather funny comedy adventure, where two heroes get into trouble of varying degrees of absurdity and beat up the villains, Terence Hill is constantly positive and runs after everyone’s skirt, and Bas Spencer walks around angry, grumbling and demanding his reward. Moreover, all this is in the style of the 70s, with opponents dressed accordingly. It won’t be possible without references to “My Name is Trinity” and spaghetti westerns in general.
The jokes came straight from the movies, and in fact, even after 50 years they look quite funny.
But the gameplay turned out to be without revelations. Before us is the most classic beat’em’up, with moving from left to right and beating everything that moves. However, there is a small nuance here. Game sharpened to be played by two people, so that both characters are constantly present on the screen. Even if you play alone, you will always have a computer partner with you, a partner who, by the way, behaves quite adequately, does not get stuck anywhere, fights quite well and performs cooperative actions without the slightest delay. But playing with a friend is still much more fun.
The battles turned out https://betnerouk.co.uk/ great, generally balanced and not always easy. All the classic punches from the movies are in place, including Bud Spencer’s head kick.
By the way, the heroes also do not fight exactly the same, the mechanics for each are slightly different. Terence Hill is more agile and faster, so he has a quick punch in the form of slaps, with a characteristic sound that knocks out the enemy, dodges and the ability to jump into hard-to-reach places outside of fights. Bud Spencer, being a bigger man, is more aggressive, so in addition to the usual blow, which Terence also has, by the way, he has the famous blow to the crown, which also knocks out opponents, a counterattack instead of dodging and the ability to scatter opponents surrounding him, and outside of fights he can move heavy objects. He can also grab his opponent by the pants and fight with them. By the way, objects in the environment can also be used, so you can hit your enemy in the forehead with a frying pan.
There are several entertainments tied exclusively to certain moments of the game, which is actually not so bad, because.To. moments are not repeated constantly and do not become boring.
In addition, there are so-called “Slaps Burst” moments, where players are locked in some room, about three dozen enemies run in and by hitting two buttons that fill the scale, the opponents begin to fly out of windows, doors, roofs and other openings. Rare but quite funny moments.
But fighting exclusively throughout the entire game would be quite boring, so the developers tried to diversify the gameplay as much as possible. Either they will let you chase a train on horseback, or take part in a rally race, or they will set up a small shooting range. Throughout the entire playthrough, the game is diluted in as many ways as possible, just to prevent the player from getting bored.
Once again, the game will even allow you to compete between players, although, of course, it’s far from any A Way Out.
I would like to praise the game endlessly, but, unfortunately, there are some drawbacks.
Firstly, these are bugs of varying severity. There are no game-breaking bugs, but there are quite a few small ones that spoil the impression: sounds disappear, music, a character gets stuck at some lever and doesn’t move, etc.d. This is all naturally fixable with patches, but at the time of release there is an unpleasant aftertaste.
Secondly – balance. Throughout the game, it is generally observed, but at the end there are so many opponents that sometimes it’s hard to even react or even see yourself. Again, the game doesn’t become wildly hardcore overnight, but the experience also deteriorates a bit.
Finally, the levels, or rather the structure of some. The problem is that in pursuit of variety, the developers screwed up a little, which is why on one of the last levels you can spend almost half an hour, constantly repeating the same moment, simply because everything is not placed very correctly.
At some point the game completely turns into some kind of Bond movie, and, unfortunately, this is the most terrible moment of the entire game.
All of the above are quite minor flaws, but taken together they leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste.
But let’s not talk about the sad anymore and talk about the beautiful.
Externally, the game keeps a pixel art style that looks simply great. The characters are drawn and animated at an excellent level, the environment turned out great and everything is stylistically maintained perfectly. Soundwise, everything is also very good. The sounds of blows, gunshots and other things come straight from the films of the 70s, so it’s a pleasure to give out slaps and hit opponents with a frying pan. Musically everything is also excellent, t.To. Most of the music is from movies. Her only drawback is that she repeats the same compositions quite often, so by the end you start to get a little tired of her.