It may have arrived a bit too late for our weekly round-up, but man has Say No! More ($0.99) completely turned my world upside-down for the past couple of days that I’ve been playing it. This is a joint effort between Studio Fizbin and Thunderful Publishing that we’ve posted about previously due to its insanely wacky premise and trailers. To be honest I wasn’t sure what the actual gameplay of Say No! More would be like based on its pre-release trailers, I just knew I dug whatever the heck it was putting down. Now that I’ve actually played the finished product, I can safely say that Say No! More has exceeded my expectations both in terms of silliness and for its surprisingly interesting mechanics.
The first thing to know about Say No! More is that its presentation is through the roof. It’s going for a low-poly PlayStation 1-era visual style, which it nails, but it’s also a really colorful game with a lot of personality. There is extensive voiced dialogue, pretty much the entire game actually, and it is both very good and what I could only describe as purposefully bad. The entire game’s premise is making fun of corporate working culture in a very over-the-top way, and it’s an extremely funny game.
As for the actual “game" part, it’s a bit hard to describe. It’s kind of like an on-rails shooter as you’re guided around the game’s locations, shouting NO! at a variety of pesky coworkers as you make your way to more boss-fight-like battles against, well, your bosses. While this is essentially a one-tap game, there’s much more depth to the battling than I thought there would be, as you will slowly unlock new abilities and attack types that mix things up in really neat ways.
I’d probably recommend Say No! More to those who want to enjoy the humorous story and characters, the silliness and complete absurdity on display, rather than solely on its gameplay mechanics. It’s definitely deeper and more interesting than I thought, but it’s still a rather simplistic game on the whole. But darn it, it’s funny as all heck, and something decidedly different from anything else out there, which I really appreciate. It’s the kind of game where you slowly discover new little details, and those little details make you love it even more. It won’t be for everyone, but for the ones who click with what Say No! More is selling it will be an extremely memorable experience.
