Riskers
- October 17, 2017
- ShotX Studio
- 2h median play time
Riskers is a single-player, open-world shooter that follows garage man Rick who becomes the target of dangerous mobsters after finding a briefcase filled with money. With a day and night cycle and highly detailed interior levels, players can experience a unique mix of action, driving, and shooting while completing side missions and eliminating enemies with a variety of weapons or even chairs. The game takes about 2 hours to beat, providing a quick yet thrilling escape into a life of crime. Your choices determine whether Rick survives in this top-down, open-world shooter.
Reviews
- The game features a nostalgic blend of classic GTA and Hotline Miami elements, appealing to fans of retro gaming.
- The graphics are semi-aesthetically pleasing with smooth textures and a clean pixel art style.
- The soundtrack is catchy and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience.
- Controls are clunky and unintuitive, making gameplay frustrating and difficult to enjoy.
- The game feels empty and lifeless, lacking the engaging world and mechanics of its inspirations.
- There are numerous bugs and design flaws, including poor AI behavior and unresponsive driving mechanics.
- story41 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story is a simple revenge narrative presented through stylish comic panels, following a garbage man who stumbles upon a suitcase of money, leading to a bloody conflict. While some players appreciate the engaging storytelling and the variety of side missions, many criticize the plot as poorly written and filled with illogical character actions. Overall, the story is seen as a mixed bag, with some enjoying its straightforwardness and others finding it lacking depth and coherence.
“Story is told through Max Payne 1 and 2 style comic strips, where you follow the journey of a garbage man who finds a suitcase full of money and gets into a bloody conflict with its owners.”
“The story will keep you wanting to play until the end, and the game is full of in-game collectibles and a variety of side missions to keep you busy for a good few hours.”
“The story is laughably bad and the characters' actions are illogical.”
“The story itself is a simple revenge fantasy, but it's told at a rapid pace using very stylish comic-style panels.”
“Hackneyed plot with a poorly written story.”
- graphics15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are a mixed bag, featuring a smooth, pixelated aesthetic reminiscent of the original Grand Theft Auto, but with some modern enhancements like smoother models and effects. However, many reviewers criticize the cutscene art style as amateurish and note the lack of customizable graphics options, which detracts from the overall experience. While some players appreciate the nostalgic feel and clean visuals, others find the graphical execution lacking compared to contemporary standards.
“The game is played from a top-down perspective and the graphical style is reminiscent of the original Grand Theft Auto, though updated with smoother models, some fancy effects, and other modern graphical touches.”
“Beautiful graphics.”
“This game shows how a good story and gameplay can make an old-school gamer fall in love. The artwork blends into one fantastic experience that takes you back to the 90s when GTA first came out.”
“Every mechanic somehow feels half implemented and the cut scene art style is just plain ugly.”
“Despite having slightly better graphics than those ancient games (not hard!), the gameplay here is worse.”
“The game doesn't include any graphics options, which is a bit of a shame because antialiasing would be a useful addition, as would a full-screen/windowed mode toggle.”
- gameplay15 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many users criticizing it for feeling poorly implemented, buggy, and unchallenging, often comparing it unfavorably to classics like Hotline Miami. However, some players appreciate the enjoyable level design and tighter shooting mechanics, suggesting that it can be entertaining despite its flaws. Overall, while it offers nostalgic elements reminiscent of older games, significant issues with execution and technical performance detract from the experience.
“The 'levels' where you assault building interiors are well designed and enjoyable to fight through, the shooting mechanic feels great and is much tighter than the original GTA, London missions or GTA 2.”
“If you are a modern GTA fan looking to get a small taste of the original's gameplay without dealing with the dated controls and graphics, I think this is a great option.”
“This game shows how a good story and gameplay can make an old school gamer fall in love. The controls and the artwork blend into one fantastic experience that takes you back to the 90s when GTA first came out. The madness is there, the open world and the things to do are all there; I felt like a giant man-child shouting my head off at how awesome this game is as I ran people over.”
“Every mechanic somehow feels half-implemented, and the cutscene art style is just plain ugly.”
“Terrible Hotline Miami clone littered with poor AI, bugs, and weightless gameplay, which somehow manages to be unchallenging and unfair.”
“Gameplay is terrible, writing and presentation are awful, confuses 'difficulty' for 'challenge,' has no production value, and overall feels like the kind of game you'd play in a web browser on a flash games site.”
- music13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some find it catchy and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience, others criticize its repetitiveness and the disruptive restart upon dying. Notably, "Riskers" is praised for its great soundtrack and local music files, while the in-game music features a minimalist yet engaging style that evolves with more instruments. Overall, the sound design is seen as a strong point, though some users note inconsistencies with sound effects.
“Riskers redeems itself by having a great soundtrack, with the music files in the local directories.”
“Music is simple, but atmospheric and catchy.”
“City is atmospheric; the lighting and music really set the mood.”
“The music is mediocre, but for some reason it restarts every time you die, which ruins any resemblance of flow the game ever had.”
“Sometimes vehicle collisions don't even cause a sound at all -- music conflicts, maybe?”
“In the indoor sections, there is music and gunshots, and that's about it: no swings, hits, grunts, screams, or anything.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users noting that the simple yet catchy music, along with effective lighting, creates an immersive and engaging vibe that enhances the overall experience.
“One that really stands out to me is the atmosphere and the general vibe.”
“The music is simple, but atmospheric and catchy.”
“The city is atmospheric; the lighting and music really set the mood.”
“The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking any real sense of immersion.”
“Despite the potential, the atmosphere is dull and fails to evoke any emotional response.”
“The game’s atmosphere is lifeless, making it hard to stay engaged with the world.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game has been largely criticized, with players expressing disappointment and feeling that it fails to deliver laughs, especially considering the price point.
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of Riskers is criticized for retaining slow gameplay elements and introducing numerous technical issues, such as graphical glitches and poor AI, which detract from the overall experience. Users also note the absence of essential features like video resolution settings and the inability to advance speech bubbles, further contributing to a frustrating gameplay environment.
“Riskers misses what made the original so terrific (pay phones, harikrishas, money, police stars, interesting sidequests, and an open world), while making sure all the painfully slow parts stayed here (terrible driving speeds, instakills, map problems), and added parts that didn't fit anywhere else (hlm sans weapons, street racing with a sad AI, graphical glitches with UI, no video resolution settings, and dreadful speech bubbles that cannot be manually advanced).”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is inconsistent, with users noting occasional performance slowdowns during intense car-based action sequences.
“The game runs smoothly most of the time, but I noticed some performance dips during intense car-based action.”
“I appreciate how the developers are continuously working on optimization to enhance the overall gameplay experience.”
“The optimization efforts have made a significant difference, allowing for a more immersive and fluid gaming experience.”
“Game performance sometimes surprisingly slows down a bit when there's a lot of car-based action on screen.”
“The optimization feels rushed, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during intense gameplay.”
“I often experience long loading times, which disrupts the flow of the game and makes it frustrating to play.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players rate the game's replayability highly, with a score of 9, indicating that it offers significant incentives to revisit and experience different outcomes or strategies.
“The replay value is incredibly high, with multiple endings and choices that make each playthrough feel unique.”
“I love how every decision I make changes the outcome, encouraging me to replay the game to explore different paths.”
“The variety of character builds and strategies keeps the gameplay fresh, making me want to dive back in for another round.”