Review: Chucky – Slash & Dash / Publisher: Slimstown Studios / Platform: iOS / Release Date: Out Now
The horror world’s most diminutive star makes his videogame debut in Chucky: Slash & Dash, a version of Temple Run with knives and glitches. These days, the Temple Run template is a common design for many a movie tie-in – everyone from Oz the Great and Powerful (which actually lends itself really well to the format) through to the Minions of Despicable Me and Iron Man himself have had a go. Now it’s Chucky’s turn.
69p doesn’t seem like too much to pay for a game which purports to be an official Child’s Play tie-in. For that price, how bad could it be? The answer, unfortunately, is ‘I want my damn 69p back.’ Not only is Slash & Dash ugly, unimaginative and derivative of better games, but it’s glitchy and impossibly difficult too. Gameplay is identical to other Temple Run games, except in this case, it doesn’t work. It’s unresponsive, annoying and a mess. Set in what looks like an industrial warehouse, we see Charles Lee Ray jogging his way from kill to kill, jumping over barrels and ducking under low-hanging pipes as he goes. Innocent security guards and construction workers are the prey of the day, although all it takes is a limp kick to the head to put Chucky out of commission.
At times, it feels like it’s at complete random whether Chucky decides to respond to your touch, often choosing simply to run into a wall or right into that security guard you were trying to cut up. Choice quotes have been snipped from Bride of Chucky, but they get old fast. If I hear Chuck say the words “I like killing” one more time, I may break out into a not-so-minor killing spree myself. Never before have I found myself wishing that Brad Dourif would just shut the hell up, but that’s the case here. Alternatively, you can play as Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany, but she’s just as bad.
It’s a shame, since there’s real room for a good game based on our horror icons. This just isn’t it. It’s cheap, ugly and, well, broken. It’s playable for the first fifteen minutes, but after that, it quickly becomes a chore.
At least this is one game where you won’t be scammed into buying extra credit for unlockables and special features. They are available, for a cost, but there’s no chance of anyone ever wanting more of this mess enough to pay for it. ‘Hi, I’m Chucky,’ goes the famous psychopath’s catchphrase, ‘Wanna play?’ Actually, no.
