Terror of Hemasaurus (PC) Review

There are two modes available here, but you are strongly advised to start with the Story Mode instead of the Endless Mode. First this acts as a tutorial of sorts, while the latter just throws you into the action with no explanation whatsoever. Another reason is that the Story Mode is more enjoyable, initially because it offers a more diverse set of scenarios, but mostly because of the comedic writing on offer. Terror of Hemasaurus is basically a socio-political satire of humanity’s relationship with the environment (among other things), with the titular beast being awakened from a melting iceberg, the result of the rapidly progressing issue of climate change due to rampant capitalism.

Now, it’s important to note that the comedy on offer is way too heavy-handed, basically hitting you in the head with a banner that says “Fossil Fuels: BAD!” using an equally not subtle portrayal of a religious cult whose members basically point Hemasaurus the way to destruction. You know what, though? There’s bad heavy-handed satire, and good heavy-handed satire, and this leans on the ‘good’ side of the scale. It’s all offered in a too obvious, in-your-face, “my opinion is the correct one” kind of way… but it actually manages to be fun for the few hours it will all last. Unfortunately, there’s no voluptuous Dr. Elizabeth Veronica here, but you can’t have everything.

In the end all this talk about story or whatever doesn’t matter much in a city-destroying game. So, what is there to say about the city-destroying thing? Well, for starters, like Rampage before it, it has a very strong pick-up-and-play quality, with the monster having a simple punch, kick and ‘eat’ move, alongside a devastating super ability that recharges by creating death and destruction. Apart from their super, the four available beasts are identical in their abilities, and as such they can all climb buildings like King Kong, punch them to create damage, and munch hoomans whenever health starts to get low.

What makes this actually surpass its inspiration is the fact that building demolition is now physics-based. This means that one can damage a structure in such a way that when it finally starts plummeting down, it will fall on the building besides it, and create even more destruction! Additionally, the monsters can kick incoming vehicles towards buildings, and even grab and throw pedestrians in helicopter blades in order to damage those pesky mosquitos. This makes the gameplay much more dynamic than what Rampage had to offer. Sadly, it takes the ball… and does nothing with it. Terror of Hemasaurus never really manages to be a bit more creative with the mechanics it has introduced, and as such, starts to get stale really fast.

So, you’ve domino-demolished buildings, kicked police cars towards helicopters, and so on and forth. Does anything change in level 10, 15, or 20? Not really. This never really evolves beyond the introduction of each separate ability, and as such, it feels the same from beginning to end, even though the difficulty rises with each completed stage. The Endless Mode gets boring even sooner, as there’s nothing but mindless destruction to keep you interested, and as such it all gets repetitive.

There’s also general lack of polish here and there, with some moves, like the Butt Slam (which can be done by jumping of a building) being so powerful that essentially forces you to use it again and again, putting the rest of the abilities aside. Another example is a level where Hemasaurus needs to quickly rescue a bunch of dogs and kittens (don’t ask) falling of a burning hospital, but it’s almost beyond the player’s ability to not destroy the hospital itself, which leads into a series of restarts that feel unfair. Sure, the whole thing is entertaining, as a game involving city-destroying monsters ought to be, but it’s mostly because the campaign is relatively short, and mindless destruction is always fun. Fun for more than two hours? Nope.