When it comes to video games, it can sometimes be surprising how far some attitude and a distinctive look can get you. In the old days that could simply be a matter of putting eye-popping art on the game box, but over time we’ve gotten to the point where having a great trailer or sizzle reel that amps up the excitement is what it takes to grab some attention. In that area I’d say ChainStaff has an edge, as its soundtrack knows how to get into the groove periodically, and it often visually looks like it was inspired by old Yes albums.

It doesn’t hurt that in many ways your hero, who oddly enough may effectively be an animated corpse being controlled by an insectoid alien grafted onto his upper body, has some unique tools at his disposal. Aside from your base gun that you’ll have the opportunity to power up with some varied secondary weapons, your ChainStaff is a bit of a Swiss Army Knife in terms of its usefulness in the field. Capable of working as a grappling hook, a spear, a shield, a brace, or even as a platform to get you to higher places, there’s a reason the game is named after it. After a pretty thorough tutorial that makes an earnest effort to get you up to speed on everything you’re able to do, you’ll be off to hit your missions.

The problem is, in general the further you get I’d say the more the game's challenges and shortcomings become apparent. One major issue is that while this may look like a run and gun shooter, it doesn’t entirely feel like one, even when it should. In general, there’s just a stiffness to the controls that doesn’t feel quite right, and when you’ve got a variety of enemies that will require that you keep shifting between weapons and evading their attacks, you really begin to feel those issues. You can overcome those sticky situations, but as you clumsily try to grapple and use all of those cool capabilities your ChainStaff has, it feels like it works better in concept than in practice. For anyone interested in a shooter that simply does things its own way, this would probably be a decent choice. But when you’ve got the likes of Valfaris and Slain: Back From Hell out there, that aren’t identical but similarly go their own route and play a little more smoothly, this is a tougher sell.