I was predisposed to like this game because I really enjoy Taskmaster, the British comedy game show created by Alex Horne, so I was excited when I found out he was part of the team developing Earth Must Die.
That being said, Earth Must Die is supposed to be an old-school point-and-click adventure spruced up with celebrity voice actors and really good cartoon graphics. And in terms of storyline, voice acting and graphics, it’s completely top notch.
You play as VValak Lizardtongue, the lesser third son of his father, the previous Grand Shepherd of the Tyrythian Empire. VValak tricks his brave but easily manipulated older twin brothers into killing each other and thus inherits the throne himself (quite to the disappointment of his dying father).
In case the opening doesn’t make it clear, this is not a game for children. There is a significant amount of cartoon gore right from the beginning, and there’s plenty of adult content and language as the story continues.
Earth Must Die is not officially rated by the ESRB, but if it were, I am confident it would get an M for Mature label.
But I’m an adult, and I don’t have to worry about that. The story is undeniably funny. The controls, however, are clunky. Point-and-click games have been around long enough that clunky controls are unnecessary, but these controls are clunky. Like a lot of point-and-click adventures, the sequence of play is very specific. So, if you don’t click through the story in exactly the right order, then you have to go back and play the sequence again. Depending on your tolerance for listening to the same dialogue over and over while you’re trying to figure out the exact order the developer wants you to click, you will find this title some degree of annoying.
While the whole thing can be played in under 10 hours, I found myself getting annoyed and stopping somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour, then going back to it later. My frustration mostly stemmed from being able to see where the plot was going and not being able to go directly there, rather than having to go through the entire, admittedly funny, dialogue tree. Which brings me to my other issue with Earth Must Die.
That funny dialogue? There’s a ton of it. So much so that I felt like this was more of a visual novel than a point-and-click game. There is so much dialogue that minutes pass before you actually need to click something, which again tips this more toward visual novel than game. Mileage may vary on that feeling. I am notoriously impatient with games (probably because I’ve played so many of them due to this job), but I like comedy, so after putting it down, I would inevitably pick it back up.
Is Earth Must Die for you? I don’t know. It’s slick with celebrity voice acting and great graphics, but it’s also a bit clunky and very dialogue heavy. If you’re in the right mood for it, it’s a fun time. Unless you love a dialogue-heavy point-and-click adventure, maybe wait for a sale.
