Corporate Lifestyle Simulator (PC) Review

By Athanasios 24.06.2020

Review for Corporate Lifestyle Simulator on PC

So... Corporate Lifestyle Simulator. Must be a Sim City-like, resource management game, right? Well, maybe this should have kept its original, dull name: Zombies, as the purpose here is to go through 20-something levels of pixel-y destruction, killing your previous co-workers, who have now become the undead. DolphinBarn's creation doesn't take itself very seriously, and its main purpose is to let people blow some steam off by hacking and slashing hundreds of enemies, while destroying typical office objects, and listening to catchy, chiptune-esque tunes. Does it succeed being the entertaining, mindless mayhem it is supposed to be? Here's a look at it.

The nameless 'dude' has arrived at the office, and has realized that every single room of the building is filled with flesh-eating zombies. The task, as expected, is to kill everyone on sight. Must be casual Friday. Don't like violence? Well, don't worry. Apart from the whole killing thing being Atari 2600-level pixel-y and simplistic, this doesn't take itself too seriously, and is focused more in putting a smile on your face than making you wince. That said, the humor here is… well, not exactly lowbrow, more like low effort.

The zombies spew out typical "office" phrases like "pro-ject ma-na-gerrr" and "re-search and developmeeent," and the humans you save have chuckle-worthy titles like 'Telecommunications Fabricator' or 'Keyboard Stapler,' but… meh. Extra meh as these repeat over and over, and become tiring after a very short while. The "cut-scenes" between levels are pretty much the same kind of deal. Not cringy or anything, but not exactly comedy gold either. Again, worth a chuckle or two, although the amateurish, quality, and delivery-wise, voice acting leaves much to be desired.

Screenshot for Corporate Lifestyle Simulator on PC

The gameplay portion of Corporate Lifestyle Simulator has the main character running around isometric room after isometric room, killing zombies and destroying everything else on his path. It's all too simplistic, but at the same time strangely exhilarating. There's something quite enjoyable in turning off your brain and causing mayhem… and then it's not. Sadly, the lack of any depth means that after a level or two you've basically seen everything that can be seen here. Sure, going deeper into the adventure adds new mechanics, like rooms that go dark, items that can be exploded, and more enemies (essentially stronger versions of the basic zombie), but it's all too repetitive.

It doesn't help that the actual act of playing this is not exactly that fun, with a lack of refinement everywhere you look. The reach of the Dude is especially annoying, as you need to be really, really close to enemies to hit them, and the controls feel like something from an Alpha version of Diablo. Moreover, the balance is all over the place, especially when it comes to the many weapons on offer, which by the way, involve staplers, pencils, and other thing you would expect to find in an office setting. In the end, though, well-crafted or not, the game's main problem remains its extreme simplicity and repetitiveness. At least the OST by Bignic is quite catchy. Be sure to check this guy's work out.

Screenshot for Corporate Lifestyle Simulator on PC

Cubed3 Rating

4/10
Rated 4 out of 10

Subpar

Chaotic hack-and-slasher, Corporate Lifestyle Simulator, runs out of steam incredibly soon. There's just not enough here to justify a purchase, and, in all honesty, the game was never that fun to begin with. Repetitive, lacking finesse and depth, and not really as enjoyably silly as it thinks it is, this will give you about an hour of purposely mind-numbing fun, before it makes you fall asleep from boredom.

Developer

DolphinBarn

Publisher

DolphinBarn

Genre

Action

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  4/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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