Nom Nom Apocalypse by developer and publisher Deadleaf Games—PC (Steam) review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Nom Nom Apocalypse is an intriguing top-down-ish shooter set in an apocalyptic future where mutant food has overrun the world. It is up to you and your saucycompanions to fight back in this delectable title from Deadleaf Games.
The basic premise of Nom Nom Apocalypse is exactly what I just mentioned: there are mutant food monsters everywhere, and you must battle your way through hordes of evil burgers, fight off fries, and crush some cupcakes. You must battle your way through a series of procedurally generated stages, fighting your way up to a food themed boss before you can move on to the next stage. There are a bunch of characters available to choose from, each with their own specific character trait and special ability, and a smorgasbord of different weapons to find, ranging from Sezchuan Slingers to Pepper Shaker cannons.
For the most part the game is fairly standard fair for top-down shooters, although the camera angle in Nom Nom is a little bit too angled to call it truly “top-down”. You run and gun, with an infinite knife you can throw if you run out of ammo, and a sort-of dodge roll that you still take damage during until you buy an upgrade for it. You also have a special move that is usable when you fill a special gauge by defeating enemies. Each special move is specific to character, and each character also has a specific character trait. The special abilities and traits vary pretty widely, as one character may be able to throw three knives at once with a sort of short ranged dash attack as the special, and another could have a barrier that activates under certain conditions and a laser beam as the special skill.
There are also a wide array of weapons, each act in different ways: some fire in bursts, some are single shots, and some are sustained shots. You can “win” weapons off of boss fights, or find them in vending machines spread throughout levels. Speaking of the vending machines, there are a bunch of different types spread throughout the stages, and by exchanging money you find from defeated enemies, you can get health refills, weapons, or ammo. Yup, that’s right, ammo because guns aren’t infinite shots.
While there is a fairly wide variety of weapons, I found a lot of them to be rather lacking in punch, if not figuratively, then literally. More often than not I found the initial weapon to be more than enough to get through most of the stages, or at least I didn’t find many weapons that I really preferred using. The accuracy tends to be rather poor, and when coupled with how the camera is angled, if enemies are “below” you on-screen, they tend to be VERY difficult to hit.
The upgrade perks are pretty interesting, as you need to purchase them with leftover cash, and can equip up to three at a time. These can be anything from more ammo capacity, to faster movement, to leaving a fire trail when you dodge roll. Add to this this decent selection of characters that you can unlock, and there are a lot of interesting character builds that you can try out. One aspect I found really nice was that your thrown knife can pick up item drops for you. I can assure you that nothing is quite as aggravating as having an enemy drop an item over an acid pit and not being able to pick it up, but no longer do you have to worry about that.
Overall, since the stages are procedurally generated there is a lot of replayability, and the different abilities from the different characters are really nice for keeping you coming back for another serving. The graphics are rather reminiscent of overcooked and the soundtrack is pretty decent. With monster filled levels, the meat of Nom Nom Apocalypse is definitely fighting through the hordes of mutant food monsters and throwing yourself out of the frying pan and into the fire. Facing off against the big bosses are fun, and every run feels a little bit different from the last. Nom Nom Apocalypse is a quirky top-down shooter that, while maybe not going too far outside the box in terms of gameplay, certainly has a delicious draw to it.
Score: 7 / 10
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