Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch review

If you’re a fan of Jay and Silent Bob and you’re a gamer, there’s a good chance you’ve played Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl. Now the duo are back in another side-scrolling beat ’em up, though this time one which looks and plays much more modern. In fact, the visuals of Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch might just be the best thing about it, because unfortunately the gameplay is a bit of a let-down.

Jump into Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch and you’ll find there’s not much in the way of a cohesive story, but with it being what it is, it doesn’t really matter: gameplay is king here. It’s just shame that after just one stage or so you’ll probably come to the same realisation as me, which is that it’s just not as much fun to play as it should be.

Moving from left to right, as ever, you’ll be presented with a wide range of enemies to beat down. Playing in local co-op, you’ll each take control of either Jay or Silent Bob. Playing alone, you can switch between them with the press of a button. No matter who you’re in control of, you have access to both standard and heavy attacks, and can mix the two to create a variety of combos that are key to causing massive damage.

To liven things up a little, each character also has access to a charged heavy attack, a launcher, a jumping attack, and a running attack, with more to unlock as well as other upgrades such as increased health by levelling up. Throw in a wide range of assist attacks, and special attacks unique to each character, both powered by gauges that charge as you play, and on paper you have the making of a solid side-scrolling beat ’em up experience.

So, where do things go wrong? Well, there are a myriad of issues here. Damage values seems to be all over the place, for example, with some of your enemies’ cheapest attacks being the most damaging. It’s easy to become stun-locked, too, leaving you frustratingly frozen in place while being hammered by one enemy after another. And then there’s the fact that Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch just feels rough mechanically. Throw in iffy hit detection and you have a game in which there are only small pockets of fun.

Jay and Silent Bob fans with plenty of patience and perseverance might get some enjoyment out of Chronic Blunt Punch then, but for lovers of side-scrolling beat ’em ups in general, there are much better titles out there more worthy of attention. It looks great and has some amusing moments that fans of the comedic duo in particular will appreciate, but when it comes to what’s really important – the gameplay – it somewhat misses the mark.