High on Life 2 review: "I smiled, I laughed, I sorely wished the combat was a lot better"

High on Life 2 is many things. It's funny (sometimes), unpredictable, flawed, creative, oddly welcoming, far better than the original, yet also slightly disappointing. One thing it never, ever threatens to be – for the right person – is boring. This is a game aiming for a very specific audience, and while that runs the risk of turning some people off very quickly, it also means that once you're in – you're in until the end.

Are you part of this very specific audience? That depends on how you feel about first-person shooters with platform elements, plenty of NSFW dialogue, your first two targets being a billionaire and a politician, and discovering that the newsreader you regularly see on your TV is named Jason Testicles. Sound good? OK, let's go.

If you got any kind of pleasure from the first High on Life, this is very much for you, as it's the same kind of weird, humor-drenched atmosphere but with much tighter pacing. If you skipped or dropped out of the first entry, you get the opportunity to catch up on the world and the story so far via a pretty wild intro and a museum full of speaking exhibits. You'll get the most out of the story with an understanding of where it picks up, but it's far from essential. All you really need to know is that lots of very chatty aliens want to kill you, and you defend yourself with a slowly-growing arsenal of talking guns.

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Everybody's talking at me

A major addition to this game featuring a wide array of alien species is… a skateboard. Acquired very early on, it gives you a way of moving faster (which helps keep the pace rolling along), but also allows you to jump great distances, ride along walls, and generally get places you otherwise wouldn't be able to get to. It works great in the open hub areas, where you can build up a good speed and go from grind to wallrun to jump fairly easily. In story missions, though, it's somewhat less successful.

One thing you'll learn quickly (or otherwise die a lot) is that you need to keep moving during combat, which gives things an unexpected sprinkle of Doom flavoring. High on Life 2 never gets anywhere near the adrenaline-pumping rhythm of rip and tear, but it does prevent you from staying in one place and lazily waving the reticule around. The skateboard rarely plays well with combat though, as the environments tend to be small and/or filled with obstacles that regularly bring you to an ungraceful halt. In our original High on Life review, we said that combat "would benefit from further refinement", and while improved here it's still far from tight enough.

The main appeal of High on Life 2 lies in the world, and the script that powers it. Humor is subjective, and not all of the jokes landed for me. Many did however, and it was very unusual for a play session to not have me laugh out loud at least once or twice. It's all wrapped up with strong art design that provides a vibrant, complete-feeling world. The icing on the cake is a great cast that brings everything to life.

Returning actors such as J.B. Smoove and Betsy Sodaro totally nail it yet again, and this time, a few Hollywood heavy hitters are along for the ride. Richard Kind understands the assignment precisely (as he always does), giving a perfect and sadly short-lived performance as the corrupt alien senator Muppy Doo. I also want to make it clear as hell that I love Ralph Ineson. I love his performances, and I love his rich, deep voice that sounds like mountains moving through time. Using (an alien version of) him to shoot my enemies is great; but while his deadpan delivery sometimes ensures that comic lines hit the bullseye, other times, he sounds like he regrets taking the job and the director was too intimidated to ask for a second take.

Wet shoot

Still, each gun is well written (now there's something I'll probably never write again), and the performances are varied and sharp enough to ensure you'll be happy to use any of them. A shame, then, that almost all have at least one annoying flaw in terms of fire rate, magazine size, or base damage (upgrades soften, but never quite eradicate, these issues). The one exception is the bow you'll eventually get hold of, named Bowie (a name I'd say would be better suited to a new knife, but what do I know?). The slightly limp gunplay contributes to the disappointment of combat, but wisely generous checkpoints ensure this never crosses the line into frustration.

To return to the humor – which I really must, as High on Life 2 truly lives or dies on it – it jumps from silly to cynical to satirical to surprising, but always orbits 'crude'. That's fine, and it's an attitude that lends strength to some of the best jokes. It tends to fall down hardest with sexual humor, which feels out of place for two reasons. Firstly, it tends to come out of nowhere, and isn't used nearly so often as you might expect, almost as if Squanch Games feel like it's something that's expected of them rather than something they feel strongly about. Secondly, the script is, despite crass sexual humor, oddly coy about sex.

The optional speed dating activity is a great example of this. It ends with a "copulation chamber" where you and your match/es do the deed. Nothing is seen, however; the screen fades to black. On another, unrelated occasion where there is potential non-sexual nudity, this is pixelated. High on Life 2 has a stereotypically teenage attitude to sex. It's happy to talk about it confidently and crudely, without having any reference points to understand what it is they're talking about. It's hollow and ineffective shock humor.

Nonetheless, High on Life 2 really is funny on a regular basis, and it isn't afraid to do a bit of fourth-wall breaking and playing with the nature of the medium in a similar manner to the Naked Gun movies. It's very easy for such self-aware humor to fall flat, which makes it all the more impressive that it works so well when used here. I'm reluctant to give examples, and in fact I'm sticking to embargo guidelines even though the game's been out for a few days, because there are secrets that deserve to be kept.

All Highs on me

The story therefore is a good time, with combat that's not too bad but usually outstays its welcome. I saved most of my exploration of the open hub areas for after the story, and I'm glad that I did, because this strangles the pace of the game until it lies limply on the floor. There are some cool things to find, but these areas aren't as densely packed with such things as they need to be, and the in-game map isn't terribly helpful. As a result, it feels a bit like wandering around inside a 3D hidden object game, and it's a gamble as to whether what you find is a hidden area with a neat hook, or just a skateboard race or a collectible.

If you want a complete change of pace there are, as in the first game, some deliciously awful B-movies to watch in their entirety via the in-game cinema. New York Ninja and Spookies are among the offerings here, but there's also another reason to explore those open areas: playable retro games. Your base has an arcade, with machines that allow you to play named games if you get hold of the relevant circuit board. Fancy playing a 16-bit version of the notorious Bible Adventures or Super 3D Noah's Ark, or perhaps spending some time playing B.O.B. or Radical Rex? Best get searching.

Squanch Games have always been at their best when enjoying full control over the player experience. Their best title is arguably Accounting+ (co-developed with Crows Crows Crows), which is little more than a tightly controlled series of comedy skits in VR. High on Life 2 demonstrates that they've learned from mistakes made in previous attempts at more traditional games (including the first High on Life), however.

The story is constantly pushing you forward rather than demanding you retread old ground, poking around open spaces is almost exclusively saved for side content, and combat – while still not great – is the best they've offered yet. Besides, how many other games allow you to dual-wield a husband and wife to defend yourself against alien bounty hunters who want to literally smoke you?

Board towards our best FPS games ranking if you're looking for a blast!