Headlander (2016)
A 2D side-scrolling game set in a 1970s sci-fi utopia, in which the main character's head flies around independently, taking control of different bodies in the world. It was developed by Double Fine and published by Adult Swim Games.
First released
Jul 26, 2016
Developed by
Double Fine Productions, Inc.
Published by
Adult Swim Games, Limited Run Games
Platforms
Mac, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Genres
Action-Adventure
Themes
Sci-Fi
Rating
PEGI: 12+, ESRB: T
Releases
- PC - Headlander United Kingdom
- PC - Headlander United States
- PS4 - Headlander United States
- XONE - Headlander United Kingdom
- XONE - Headlander United States
Community reviews
Random thoughts
Likes
Cool old sci fi theme that the game sticks to.
Moving around as a head just feels good. Whether it's combat, regular traversal or puzzle solving.
Dislikes
The bodies feel kinda lame.
Combat in bodies feels like it boils down into spam in vague direction of enemy or meticulously line up every shot with the aim tool. Higher tier bodies feed into this where their guns are just more bullets. It especially feels lackluster in contrast to flying/dashing around as a head, reflecting bullets and vacuuming heads.
The cover system also.. just feels like a really stripped down version of say Steamworld Heist's combat. So if you're not hiding behind the sparse cover you're essentially spamming and face tanking all their shots. Which isn't a big deal because replacement bodies are generally readily available except, bodies act like keys for doors. So in more puzzle-like scenarios you're basically doing escort missions except you're escorting these bodes that... require backtracking if they die.
Also.. .elevators. They're slow and you spend way wayyyy too much time waiting for them. A few hours into the game there's essentially the elevator puzzle which asks you to backtrack and run between 3 big ol elevators... that have enemies along each one requiring you to stop the elevators and clear them out on a regular basis. The automatic elevators? Guess I'll just wait for it to do an entire loop. Manual elevators? Let me meticulously leave bodies on it for a puzzle, then fly around and clear enemies in the shaft before holding down/up and and check my phone for a few minutes. Icing on the cake is that you can FLY but, you gotta use elevators as you escort the lame bodies around.
Summary
Playing as the flying head is fun. It's too bad the body half of the game can't keep up.
Cool old sci fi theme that the game sticks to.
Moving around as a head just feels good. Whether it's combat, regular traversal or puzzle solving.
Dislikes
The bodies feel kinda lame.
Combat in bodies feels like it boils down into spam in vague direction of enemy or meticulously line up every shot with the aim tool. Higher tier bodies feed into this where their guns are just more bullets. It especially feels lackluster in contrast to flying/dashing around as a head, reflecting bullets and vacuuming heads.
The cover system also.. just feels like a really stripped down version of say Steamworld Heist's combat. So if you're not hiding behind the sparse cover you're essentially spamming and face tanking all their shots. Which isn't a big deal because replacement bodies are generally readily available except, bodies act like keys for doors. So in more puzzle-like scenarios you're basically doing escort missions except you're escorting these bodes that... require backtracking if they die.
Also.. .elevators. They're slow and you spend way wayyyy too much time waiting for them. A few hours into the game there's essentially the elevator puzzle which asks you to backtrack and run between 3 big ol elevators... that have enemies along each one requiring you to stop the elevators and clear them out on a regular basis. The automatic elevators? Guess I'll just wait for it to do an entire loop. Manual elevators? Let me meticulously leave bodies on it for a puzzle, then fly around and clear enemies in the shaft before holding down/up and and check my phone for a few minutes. Icing on the cake is that you can FLY but, you gotta use elevators as you escort the lame bodies around.
Summary
Playing as the flying head is fun. It's too bad the body half of the game can't keep up.