Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Encyclopedia
is an action game
for Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
. The game was developed by Vicious Cycle Software
and published by D3 Publisher
.
Matt Hazard pits players in the role of the title character, a "legendary" gaming hero who is "returning to glory" in a new video game, some 25 years after his debut game and 6 years after his last game. In reality, the Matt Hazard character is in his first video game, with a history made up by D3 Publisher to chronicle the character's rise and fall in popularity. The Return of Matt Hazard marks Hazard's fictitious "comeback" to the gaming scene. Hazard is voiced by Will Arnett
, while Neil Patrick Harris
voices his nemesis Wallace "Wally" Wellesley.
The game itself is a parody
of action-gaming cliché
s. The October 2008 debut trailer was done as a Behind the Music
spoof called Inside the Game complete with Jim Forbes narration. It chronicles Matt Hazard's successes and hardships, and mirrors the progression of the Duke Nukem
series of games, from early 8-bit
to modern consoles.
The cast of Eat Lead received a nomination in the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, under the category for "Best Cast".
. Much of the scenery provides only temporary cover as after a certain amount of damage, it will glitch and be "edited out" of the game, leaving a tear in the level. While in cover, Matt can target and automatically run towards another piece of cover instead of moving manually.
Matt can only carry two weapons at once from a continually changing selection, due to the repeated manipulation of the game's environment and level switching. As the game progresses, weapon upgrades are made available that can be applied for temporary effects such as bullets that can freeze enemies. These upgrades can be used again after a meter is filled by defeating a number of enemies. If close enough to an enemy, a string of close combat strikes can be performed.
Some boss encounters will switch gameplay to an interactive cinematic where Matt must dodge and counter boss attacks through a quick time event
system requiring certain buttons to be pressed or tapped when promoted on screen.
consoles. In the introduction, Matt explains the history of his games, revealing that he accidentally caused his own downfall by taking his name into other genres, resulting in him ruining his reputation by putting himself in kid-friendly games. The game that he is currently starring in has him as a private detective seeking to return money stolen by a mob boss.
The first level starts at a Japanese steakhouse where halfway through the level, he encounters Sonny Tang, who is promptly defeated. At one point of the level, the game is altered introducing Matt to Sting Sniperscope (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
), who attempts to kill a weaponless Matt. In mid shot the game literally pauses and a voice known as QA informs him that she hacked the code to pause the game due to Matt's saves being removed, Sniperscope intending to replace Matt in a Metal Gear Solid 2
style twist. She tells Matt to finish off Sniperscope and upon exiting the level and moving to a part of the server, QA restores Matt's saves and trademark clothing. QA informs Matt that he was originally supposed to die but with Sniperscope gone, Matt has to continue the game in his place.
The second level occurs in a dance club where characters from Matt's western game, A Fistfull of Hazard, and Russian terrorists from You'll Only Die Once are hacked into the game. Revealing one of Matt's friends as the owner who escapes from the level. The level turns into a Soviet Missile base where he defeats his Russian nemesis. In reality, the "comeback" game is being staged by Wallace Wellesley, the CEO of the game company, Marathon Megasoft, who grew to hate Matt Hazard through the difficulty of his games, who has complete control over the game world and manipulates the game world seemingly at will, similar to the classic Warner Bros.
animated cartoon
Duck Amuck
. Also within the reason Wellesley reveals that his father is the owner of a game store franchise, a parody of EB Games. The reason the game was made was due to Matt's contract with the game company where he cannot quit or be fired unless killed in a game.
The third level takes place in a warehouse where Matt has to rescue one of his friends, a level 75 RPG character named Bill the Wizard, via mounted sniper rifle. Enemies from one of his gaming flops called Soak'Em are hacked into the game equipped with waterguns now capable of damaging Matt. Upon rescuing Bill and defeating version 2 of Sniperscope, Wellesley is advised by his assistant to put Matt's friends into the game as bait to lure him. QA takes Matt to his game partner Dexter's (a little parody of Daxter
from Jak and Daxter
series) mansion where zombies are introduced. Matt reaches Dexter to warn him about Wellesley's plot only for Dexter to betray him, revealing to Matt that he is working for Wallace, who promised him his own starring role in a game. He sends a group of female androids to kill Hazard. Despite this, Matt saves Dexter from death when one of his androids turn on him. Matt proceeds to the beginning of the level, but QA is unable to create a level exit due to interference while dozens of zombies close into Matt's position. Suddenly QA saves Matt but acts differently that she normally does and takes Matt to the next level.
While on a cruise liner which serves as the current level, Matt is attacked by space marines while saving Master Chef. At the end of the level, there is an Evil Twin scene with two QAs. Matt is not fooled or confused when each claims the other is the impostor, knowing the red is the fake as she has provided no help, directed him into constant ambushes, and because she flirted with him. Matt then defeats the next boss, a giant tentacle beast.
Matt proceeds to the next level, a warehouse for items used in all videogames where he finds Altos Tratus, another game character. The boss is a parody of Japanese RPG protagonists (specifically Cloud Strife
) who speaks entirely through textboxes that require Matt to press a button to continue. The enemies used by Wellesley stole most of the items in the warehouse that are used in the "final" level of the SniperScope Game which takes place on the docks where Matt and QA are confident that beating the level will end the game, which QA adds if Wellesley will let Matt get out of the game.
After making it through the docks and defeating (finishing) Sting Sniperscope for a third time the game employs a false ending
, after which Matt suddenly gets transported to a virtual Marathon Megasoft company headquarters. After fighting his way through to the top floor, Matt encounters Wally and he kills QA. Despite this, Matt still defeats Wally (With the help of a remorseful Dexter) and the company is now run by Quentin A. Myers, the lead programmer for some of Matt's early games and the person who controlled QA, stating that he ensured that he would claim ownership after Wellesley was arrested. He continues by saying that because he is now head of Marathon Megasoft, he now has control over what games the company releases, and decides he will bring back the classics and the game ends with Matt's famous catchphrase.
The post credit scene shows Wellesley now reduced to a videogame shopkeeper of his father's company Zapp's Games still harboring a grudge against Matt Hazard, angered upon seeing the newest game release, which is the game that the player went through.
campaign to promote the game. Each would serve to establish Matt Hazard and his fictional video games as major influences that have shaped video gaming into what we see today. For example, a blog post identifies Matt's first arcade game
, 1983's The Adventures of Matt in Hazard Land, as "the original 8-bit
side-scroller", while other Hazard games are responsible for such gaming events and annoyances as "the Steamy Coffee Controversy", the ability to jump in a game, and longer development cycles. They also established the series' fictional developer, Marathon Software. Matt Hazard was "resurrected" by D3 Publisher when they announced the newest game in the Matt Hazard series, Eat Lead.
On October 3, 2008, Eat Lead was officially announced, alongside a third Matt Hazard website, "Matt Hazard :: The unofficially OFFICIAL guide to the world's greatest game hero ever created!!!". The site details the history of ten of Hazard's games, which all focus on a different gaming stereotype or parody other similar games of the era:
A trailer was released for Eat Lead alongside the announcement. In the trailer, a modern Hazard sits down for a Behind the Music
-style interview (complete with voiceover from Music's Jim Forbes) in which Hazard and other characters (themselves clichés of the "old-school bad guy" and the "mandatory hot chick") reminisce about Hazard's rise in popularity as his polygon and pixel count grew, up until his fall when he was put into "kiddy games". The trailer concludes with Matt stating that he doesn't give up that easily and that he's making a comeback.
Game Informer notes that Will Arnett
voices Matt Hazard, while Neil Patrick Harris
portrays Marathon executive Wallace "Wally" Wellesley. The magazine adds further that "characters like Captain Carpenter
and Master Chef are more overt references to specific franchises."
, Dungeons & Dragons
, Bugs Bunny
, evil twins, Halo
's Master Chief
, Wolfenstein 3D
, Red Steel
, Mortal Kombat, Arnold Schwarzenegger
, "Resident Evil", and more.
. Most Reviewers praised the game's humor, but panned its gameplay. IGN
gave the game a 5.2/10, and said "you march into a room, take cover, shoot everything, a door opens, and you move to the next room to perform everything all over again." GameSpot
gave the game a 6/10 praising the "clever video game parody" and "awesome music", but criticized the "derivative level design" and "cheap enemy placement".
, was released for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade
.
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
for Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. The game was developed by Vicious Cycle Software
Vicious Cycle Software
Vicious Cycle Software is a video game development company based in Morrisville, North Carolina, United States.-History:Vicious Cycle was founded in 2000 by Eric Peterson, Dave Ellis, Marc Racine and Wayne Harvey after layoffs at the local MicroProse development studio forced several game...
and published by D3 Publisher
D3 Publisher
D3Publisher is a Japanese video game publisher founded on February 5, 1992. Current CEO and president is Yuji Ito, and It is known for its Simple series of low-priced console games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2,...
.
Matt Hazard pits players in the role of the title character, a "legendary" gaming hero who is "returning to glory" in a new video game, some 25 years after his debut game and 6 years after his last game. In reality, the Matt Hazard character is in his first video game, with a history made up by D3 Publisher to chronicle the character's rise and fall in popularity. The Return of Matt Hazard marks Hazard's fictitious "comeback" to the gaming scene. Hazard is voiced by Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
, while Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
voices his nemesis Wallace "Wally" Wellesley.
The game itself is a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of action-gaming cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s. The October 2008 debut trailer was done as a Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
spoof called Inside the Game complete with Jim Forbes narration. It chronicles Matt Hazard's successes and hardships, and mirrors the progression of the Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem is a video game series focusing on its protagonist, Duke Nukem. Originally created by Apogee Software Ltd./3D Realms as a series of video games for the PC, the franchise expanded to games released for various consoles by third party developers...
series of games, from early 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
to modern consoles.
The cast of Eat Lead received a nomination in the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, under the category for "Best Cast".
Gameplay
Eat Lead is a third-person shooter where the player takes the role of satirical video game character Matt Hazard, implementing an over-the-shoulder camera perspective with combat emphasizing a duck-and-cover system using walls and other objects in the game’s environment, in a similar fashion to Gears of WarGears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
. Much of the scenery provides only temporary cover as after a certain amount of damage, it will glitch and be "edited out" of the game, leaving a tear in the level. While in cover, Matt can target and automatically run towards another piece of cover instead of moving manually.
Matt can only carry two weapons at once from a continually changing selection, due to the repeated manipulation of the game's environment and level switching. As the game progresses, weapon upgrades are made available that can be applied for temporary effects such as bullets that can freeze enemies. These upgrades can be used again after a meter is filled by defeating a number of enemies. If close enough to an enemy, a string of close combat strikes can be performed.
Some boss encounters will switch gameplay to an interactive cinematic where Matt must dodge and counter boss attacks through a quick time event
Quick Time Event
In video games, a Quick Time Event is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen prompt. It allows for limited control of the game character during cut scenes or cinematic sequences in the game...
system requiring certain buttons to be pressed or tapped when promoted on screen.
Plot
Matt Hazard, a legendary video game character with over 25 years of video games to his credit, is attempting a "comeback" of sorts in a new game on next-generationHistory of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
consoles. In the introduction, Matt explains the history of his games, revealing that he accidentally caused his own downfall by taking his name into other genres, resulting in him ruining his reputation by putting himself in kid-friendly games. The game that he is currently starring in has him as a private detective seeking to return money stolen by a mob boss.
The first level starts at a Japanese steakhouse where halfway through the level, he encounters Sonny Tang, who is promptly defeated. At one point of the level, the game is altered introducing Matt to Sting Sniperscope (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
), who attempts to kill a weaponless Matt. In mid shot the game literally pauses and a voice known as QA informs him that she hacked the code to pause the game due to Matt's saves being removed, Sniperscope intending to replace Matt in a Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001....
style twist. She tells Matt to finish off Sniperscope and upon exiting the level and moving to a part of the server, QA restores Matt's saves and trademark clothing. QA informs Matt that he was originally supposed to die but with Sniperscope gone, Matt has to continue the game in his place.
The second level occurs in a dance club where characters from Matt's western game, A Fistfull of Hazard, and Russian terrorists from You'll Only Die Once are hacked into the game. Revealing one of Matt's friends as the owner who escapes from the level. The level turns into a Soviet Missile base where he defeats his Russian nemesis. In reality, the "comeback" game is being staged by Wallace Wellesley, the CEO of the game company, Marathon Megasoft, who grew to hate Matt Hazard through the difficulty of his games, who has complete control over the game world and manipulates the game world seemingly at will, similar to the classic Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
Duck Amuck
Duck Amuck
Duck Amuck is a surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies series...
. Also within the reason Wellesley reveals that his father is the owner of a game store franchise, a parody of EB Games. The reason the game was made was due to Matt's contract with the game company where he cannot quit or be fired unless killed in a game.
The third level takes place in a warehouse where Matt has to rescue one of his friends, a level 75 RPG character named Bill the Wizard, via mounted sniper rifle. Enemies from one of his gaming flops called Soak'Em are hacked into the game equipped with waterguns now capable of damaging Matt. Upon rescuing Bill and defeating version 2 of Sniperscope, Wellesley is advised by his assistant to put Matt's friends into the game as bait to lure him. QA takes Matt to his game partner Dexter's (a little parody of Daxter
Daxter
Daxter is a fictional character and a protagonist of the Jak and Daxter series. First introduced in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Daxter is Jak's best friend, and was accidentally transformed into an ottsel . Daxter is voiced by Max Casella and Richard McGonagle . Daxter stars in his own...
from Jak and Daxter
Jak and Daxter
Jak and Daxter is a critically acclaimed video game franchise created by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 2.The series consists of four main games and two spin-offs,though they are also considered to be part of the main series...
series) mansion where zombies are introduced. Matt reaches Dexter to warn him about Wellesley's plot only for Dexter to betray him, revealing to Matt that he is working for Wallace, who promised him his own starring role in a game. He sends a group of female androids to kill Hazard. Despite this, Matt saves Dexter from death when one of his androids turn on him. Matt proceeds to the beginning of the level, but QA is unable to create a level exit due to interference while dozens of zombies close into Matt's position. Suddenly QA saves Matt but acts differently that she normally does and takes Matt to the next level.
While on a cruise liner which serves as the current level, Matt is attacked by space marines while saving Master Chef. At the end of the level, there is an Evil Twin scene with two QAs. Matt is not fooled or confused when each claims the other is the impostor, knowing the red is the fake as she has provided no help, directed him into constant ambushes, and because she flirted with him. Matt then defeats the next boss, a giant tentacle beast.
Matt proceeds to the next level, a warehouse for items used in all videogames where he finds Altos Tratus, another game character. The boss is a parody of Japanese RPG protagonists (specifically Cloud Strife
Cloud Strife
is a fictional character and the main protagonist in Square's role-playing game Final Fantasy VII and several of its sequels and spin-offs. His original design was created by Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura...
) who speaks entirely through textboxes that require Matt to press a button to continue. The enemies used by Wellesley stole most of the items in the warehouse that are used in the "final" level of the SniperScope Game which takes place on the docks where Matt and QA are confident that beating the level will end the game, which QA adds if Wellesley will let Matt get out of the game.
After making it through the docks and defeating (finishing) Sting Sniperscope for a third time the game employs a false ending
False ending
A false ending has two contexts; in literature it is a narrative device where the plot seems to be heading to its conclusion, but in reality, there's still more to the story. In a musical composition, it is a complete stop of the song for one or more seconds before continuing.The presence of a...
, after which Matt suddenly gets transported to a virtual Marathon Megasoft company headquarters. After fighting his way through to the top floor, Matt encounters Wally and he kills QA. Despite this, Matt still defeats Wally (With the help of a remorseful Dexter) and the company is now run by Quentin A. Myers, the lead programmer for some of Matt's early games and the person who controlled QA, stating that he ensured that he would claim ownership after Wellesley was arrested. He continues by saying that because he is now head of Marathon Megasoft, he now has control over what games the company releases, and decides he will bring back the classics and the game ends with Matt's famous catchphrase.
The post credit scene shows Wellesley now reduced to a videogame shopkeeper of his father's company Zapp's Games still harboring a grudge against Matt Hazard, angered upon seeing the newest game release, which is the game that the player went through.
Development
In September 2008, a pair of websites appeared. The blog, "The Real Matt Hazard", as well as the website "Weapons of Matt Destruction", served as a viral marketingViral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign to promote the game. Each would serve to establish Matt Hazard and his fictional video games as major influences that have shaped video gaming into what we see today. For example, a blog post identifies Matt's first arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
, 1983's The Adventures of Matt in Hazard Land, as "the original 8-bit
History of video game consoles (third generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of both the Nintendo Family Computer and Sega SG-1000...
side-scroller", while other Hazard games are responsible for such gaming events and annoyances as "the Steamy Coffee Controversy", the ability to jump in a game, and longer development cycles. They also established the series' fictional developer, Marathon Software. Matt Hazard was "resurrected" by D3 Publisher when they announced the newest game in the Matt Hazard series, Eat Lead.
On October 3, 2008, Eat Lead was officially announced, alongside a third Matt Hazard website, "Matt Hazard :: The unofficially OFFICIAL guide to the world's greatest game hero ever created!!!". The site details the history of ten of Hazard's games, which all focus on a different gaming stereotype or parody other similar games of the era:
A trailer was released for Eat Lead alongside the announcement. In the trailer, a modern Hazard sits down for a Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
-style interview (complete with voiceover from Music's Jim Forbes) in which Hazard and other characters (themselves clichés of the "old-school bad guy" and the "mandatory hot chick") reminisce about Hazard's rise in popularity as his polygon and pixel count grew, up until his fall when he was put into "kiddy games". The trailer concludes with Matt stating that he doesn't give up that easily and that he's making a comeback.
Game Informer notes that Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
voices Matt Hazard, while Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
portrays Marathon executive Wallace "Wally" Wellesley. The magazine adds further that "characters like Captain Carpenter
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
and Master Chef are more overt references to specific franchises."
Marketing and promotion
The January 2009 issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine features an "interview" with the titular character.Parodies in Matt Hazard
The game includes many parodies in its dialogue, settings, and characters. This process of parodying action games and other genres is greatly assisted by the fact that Matt Hazard is capable of breaking the fourth wall. The parodies include references to long elevator waits as a mask for game loading, text scrolling RPGs, tutorials, various action games, Mario Bros., Duke NukemDuke Nukem
Duke Nukem is a video game series focusing on its protagonist, Duke Nukem. Originally created by Apogee Software Ltd./3D Realms as a series of video games for the PC, the franchise expanded to games released for various consoles by third party developers...
, Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
, Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, evil twins, Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
's Master Chief
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is a fictional character and protagonist of the Halo fictional universe, created by Bungie. Master Chief is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 and will appear in the...
, Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and...
, Red Steel
Red Steel
Red Steel is a first person shooter video game published by Ubisoft for Nintendo's Wii console. It was developed by the Ubisoft Paris studio and was unveiled in the May 2006 issue of Game Informer. It was released on November 19, 2006 in North America, the date of the first Wii launch...
, Mortal Kombat, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, "Resident Evil", and more.
Reception
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard has received mixed reviews and has an aggregate score of 52 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Most Reviewers praised the game's humor, but panned its gameplay. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game a 5.2/10, and said "you march into a room, take cover, shoot everything, a door opens, and you move to the next room to perform everything all over again." GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave the game a 6/10 praising the "clever video game parody" and "awesome music", but criticized the "derivative level design" and "cheap enemy placement".
Sequel
A sequel, entitled Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and BeyondMatt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond is a downloadable video game for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. It is a sequel to Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.-Plot:...
, was released for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
.
External links
- Official website
- The Real Matt Hazard Blog
- Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...