Being a child of the 80s and arcades, I’ll always have a soft spot for a well-implemented beat-em-up. Throwing some combos to knock out some enemies will always offer up some fun. What is usually a novelty in the genre is seeing one that bucks the normal trend of 2D side-scrolling and tackles it in 3D. Since I have yet to see anyone pull this off at the same high level as their flattened brethren, I’m always excited to see developers going for it, but I have no doubts that it’s a tall order. Then there’s a game like Hot Blood, which doesn’t just miss the mark for showing how the genre should be done properly in 3D, it really doesn’t look like it’s even trying that hard in the first place.

Honestly, I knew I was in trouble before I even began playing, when the pretty poorly drawn still animations of your character being caught trying on a bra in a dressing room by a zombie popped up. Unfortunately, in some regards, the overall experience could have likely been more entertaining if it had stuck to that mode of entertainment. Instead, you’ll be treated to what looks like a game made for systems more than a generation ago, and yet somehow performing terribly while seemingly doing nothing at all to push the hardware to its limits.

Your job is simply to move around the mall, shop to shop, punching and pummeling any zombies that get in your way. You have very few moves to speak of, those you have would best be described as drunkenly clumsy, and most of the time you’ll learn how best to dash into your opponents, and then simply wildly flail your way to success. While I am happy to say you’re able to pick up weapons and things to help you out, the animations for using some of them, mixed together with the game’s problems with clipping and other issues, more often tends to be terrible than not. 

Aside from looking for the next skimpy or oddball outfit to tart up the game’s hero up in, there's also very little in the way of ongoing motivation to keep gritting your teeth and moving on. It feels like the game’s best moments are typically unintentionally funny or absurd ones, and I do understand that for some people that’s a good time. If that happens to be your mentality, this may be a wonderful match. If you happen to put some value in your time and money though, this is an excellent candidate to throw on the skip pile.