Shaun Munro reviews Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game…
The trend of asymmetrical multiplayer games based on hit horror movies began of course with Friday the 13th, before more recently moving onto Evil Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And while you might’ve expected the likes of Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or even Hellraiser to be the next marquee IP to get the same treatment, who could’ve anticipated it’d instead be Killer Klowns from Outer Space – the 1988 cult classic sci-fi horror-comedy that never even spawned a single sequel?
While the creaks are certainly starting to show in the genre’s formula at this point, this latest offering has just enough freshness and reverence for the source material to provide moderate entertainment – at least for a little while.
Gameplay-wise, you know the score; a group of hapless survivors try to fight back and escape a large map while being chased down by a group of mascot murderers, who in this case happen to be killer extraterrestrial carnies, because why the hell not? One immediately enticing hook compared to other similar titles is the heightened player count; here 10 players can play together, three being randomly allocated the role of Klown and the rest playing survivors.
Playing as a Klown is where the game best leans into the unabashed goofiness of the movie, and better yet, it works perfectly well even for those who’ve never seen the film (but you totally should watch it). From the Klowns’ shoes making a hilarious squeak every time they move, to their ability to encase humans inside cotton candy cocoons, there’s never any indication the game takes itself even remotely seriously, making it perfectly ripe for a night of dumb fun with a group of friends.
While KIowns will need to get busy harvesting humans in order to trigger a round-ending “Klownpocalypse,” the survivors are unsurprisingly less of a blast to play as. Humans are generally required to perform more mundane tasks like tear away cotton candy from blocked exits, find generic trinkets to activate escape routes, and so on, as proves to be comparatively quite dull.
The surprisingly robust balancing does make playing as a human a little more engaging than expected, though, as you’re far from doomed the moment a Klown shows up, especially if you’ve got a teammate or two ready to help nearby. With a sharp weapon to hand, you’re well within your capabilities to put a Klown down – even if only temporarily.
One especially clever design choice here is that the various escape routes – a speedboat, a bunker, a bridge, for example – all have capacity limits, ensuring that only a few of the survivors can use any single one. This can make things hilariously awkward if numerous players end up bottlenecking an exit in a frantic attempt to flee.
And another inspired mechanic allows humans who either escape or die early on to participate in a series of retro mini-games, such as a Simon-style memory game, in order to unlock weapons, health boosts, and even items needed to escape. It’s then up to you to decide whether you gift these unlockables to your teammates still playing, or save them for your own use later on.
It’s a novel twist clearly intended to incentivise players to stick around even once they’re out of the main engagement, though the limited number and basic nature of the mini-games does mean they can’t stave off tedium for too long.
This is further compounded by the fact that the game will wipe your earned XP if you leave before the end of a round, forcing you to stay put and either play some mini-games or, just as likely, scroll on your phone. Given that you can easily end up waiting over 10 minutes for a round to end, that’s a frustrating amount of downtime, which could have some serious impact on the game’s long-term viability. It’s easy to imagine players quickly growing impatient with having to hang around and soon enough bouncing off.
Furthermore, as has been an issue with almost all of these horror-themed multiplayer games, the novelty factor wears fairly thin after a few hours due to both the limited number of maps and repetitive gameplay mechanics. Combine this with the IP’s already niche fandom, and it’s tough to see the online community – which is sitting at just a few thousand concurrent PC players on launch week – having much longevity at all.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game nails the tone and aesthetic of its inspiration, and delivers period amusement throughout, though also demonstrates the limitations of a gameplay template that’s starting to feel a little stale. Not quite shallow, but certainly not deep, this is fitful fun in short bursts, though again, one can’t picture it having much staying power, especially with a few head-scratching, short-sighted design choices.
Pros:
+ Nails the goofy look and feel of the movie.
+ Gameplay loop is a fun social experience.
+ A few welcome changes to the genre’s formula.
Cons:
– Gameplay quickly becomes repetitive.
– Not much content.
– No XP if you leave a round early.
Rating: 6/10
Reviewed on PC (also available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).
A review code was provided by the publisher.
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more video game rambling, or e-mail me here.
