Matt Hazard is one of those countless Duke Nukem clones that’s recently spawned up, but unlike most other, the Matt Hazard games take it lighthearted, and most of all, make fun of the games industry. While the retail version of Matt Hazard, called Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, somewhat disappointed and didn’t live up to the hype, the Xbox Live Arcade version, Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond, is, above all, an excellent homage to the side scrolling shooters of the 80s.

The story of Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond goes as this: Matt Hazard, the video game character, goes back in time and revisits the games he was in earlier, in the 80s, in order to prevent a evil corporation to take over the establishment and delete him as a character. As far as story goes, the game at least has something interesting going for itself, and is certainly not shy of acting self-aware.

The game, as noted before, is a side-scrolling action game where you’ll be going from left to right while mowing down a ton of enemies, just like you imagine gamers did back 20 years ago. While the basics involve simply shooting left and right, you can also shoot in the background behind you, something not seen very often in 2D scrollers. Despite the rather “common” gameplay, which neither stands out, nor is bad in any way, by far the best thing about the game is its humor. You’ll see a ton of videogame related jokes, you’ll see nods and swipes at Portal, Super Mario, Mirrors Edge and many others, and it’s not that often a spoof game is made — unlike movies for instance, which are quite constant. What’s even more hilarious, is the way enemies behave when shot or killed; the rag doll effect is completely unrealistic — on purpose — and it allows for a lot of fun to be had, with limbs flying everywhere.

The game also features a co-op mode, which is quite needed since the campaign is only 3 hours long, and could use the feature. The difficulty levels are well engineered, and the game is neither easy nor impossible to beat. Overall, it’s a great game that you should check out, if only for the humor and the references to other games. However, the short campaign and somewhat steep price — $15, perhaps $5 too much — prevent it from being a must-have XBLA title.

The Good:
Great humor
Good story
Wonderful artwork

The Bad:
Short campaign
A bit too expensive

Overall score: 8/10