Way Down | PS4 Review
Way Down, developed by FAS3 Estudios and Mediaset Games, and published by Gammera Nest, is an action adventure game based around and ties in very closely to the 2021 movie The Vault. It is currently only available on PlayStation 4.
A small group of thieves have set out to steal some of Francis Drake's treasure which is locked up under close surveillance in a Spanish Bank. Luckily for these daring thieves, much of the country's attention is on the World Cup that's happening at the same time meaning that they have a small window of opportunity during the World Cup final to get the job done.
The initial opening scenes filled me with hope that this would be a well written narrative adventure as we execute the heist before us, but, unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. Beyond the initial introduction there really isn’t much story or character development which was really sad. We were introduced to the various characters, but beyond getting to know their name and role in the group they are essentially lifeless placeholders where real characters would go. Rather than perhaps building up to the heist and doing some missions to prepare for it, you're simply thrown into the thick of it on heist day which caused a massive disconnect for me in the sense that I didn’t really feel any connection to the heist. I would much rather have played a build up, gathering intel, equipment etc., and then perhaps the final few missions are the heist itself. Instead, I felt like I had started a game in its final chapters and simply played through the final mission. This just added to that feeling of disconnect that I felt from the story, game and characters.
The gameplay provided is a mixture of exploring various points of interest; there is a lot of walking around and a variety of mini games that will allow you to hack into things, take photographs and evade alarm systems. Throughout the game you’ll switch to various characters to carry out different tasks. However, as previously mentioned, because so little background is given, it all feels really discombobulated and uninspiring. All of these things contributed to Way Down really feeling incredibly monotonous rather than a fast paced, high risk heist.
Above and beyond all of the aforementioned, the biggest let down were the visuals. I felt like I had just travelled back in time to the XBox 360 days when I loaded into Way Down. The character models were borderline painful to look at with people having arms that were a different colour to their faces. The textures were horrid to look at and the shadows were blocky and in some areas sections of some rooms simply vanished before my eyes. All in all, Way Down just felt incredibly cheap and tacky with little thought given and little finesse provided by the developers.
I feel like Way Down is another failed game adaptation of a movie. Historically speaking, games based on movie plots are incredibly weak as it is, because I feel like it rests too heavily on the gimmick that it's based off a movie, so fans will love it no matter what simply because it’s based in the same world. However, fans of The Vault looking for more time in that world conveyed in game form should really just avoid Way Down. The concept was certainly there and had potential, but the execution and production was incredibly poor.
Lj’s Rating: 1 out of 5.
For more information on Way Down please use the following links...
FAS3 Estudios - Developer | Instagram | Twitter | Website
Mediaset Games - Developer | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Gammera Nest - Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Jaleo PR for the Review Key.
Way Down | PlayStation
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