A Walk in the Park is 2017's underrated sci-fi action RPG hit The Surge's DLC, adding an entire new amusement park area called CREO World. Unfortunately what is supposed to be a fun-filled amusement park, CREO World has fallen into a bit of disrepair. Not spared from the disaster, rescue teams were sent to recover any who were capable of being saved, but those very rescue teams have fallen to the dark side, have gone insane and now patrol the area looking to batter anything they find into dust. Enter CREO World at your own peril, and though it is juvenile in looks and spirit, it is brutally frustrating at times. At times welcome if immature challenge, at others an exercise in patience.
I cannot help but feel, in some ways, that Deck 13 might not have taken the premise for CREO World right out of my biggest video game regret of 2015; purchasing Fallout 4. Seriously, that game under-delivered for me and left me bitter, given the poor storyline, wax graphics, and annoying gimmicks (base building?) and no matter how hard I try to like it, it plain sucks ass. That said, Fallout 4's Nuka World was wonderfully creepy and I cannot help but feel that Deck 13 felt that the idea of an amusement park / theme park within the stark, beaten world of The Surge would fit. While CREO World aesthetically melds with the core game, if a bit greener at times (I love seeing green foliage that is full of vitality in these post-apocalyptic worlds). I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the level design for A Walk in the Park (and in fact, the whole game).
Perhaps it is all the shrubbery, but I certainly felt that A Walk in the Park was far more ALIVE than the core game. Where in the base game I had the feeling of walking through industrial corridors not all that dissimilar to what Ripley had to crawl through in 1986's "Aliens," which is not a bad thing. Just claustrophobic at times. A common level design element that I found between both the core game and the DLC is that the open areas SEEM open, but they are actually not. A nice skybox or huge room will be absolutely packed with doodads / junk, severely restricting the room to move. This is a problem since nearly every enemy the DLC seems to have an incredibly destructive and extremely fast leaping attack. Fortunately there are enough new implants to help mitigate the massive amounts of damage. My personal favorite that I came across was an implant that healed you if you manage to land 5 consecutive rapid weapon strikes. Excellent for those like me that are used to traditional Agility builds; I love me some bo staff action.
I would like to mention that your most enjoyable experience playing A Walk in the Park would be via a New Game, not a New Game+. I found that with New Game+ the existing gear that you will have will far outshine, out-damage, and out-perform anything you will find in the DLC, and that is an incredible shame given the cool weapons you can find. The armor fares little better, though it is pretty neat looking and, well, if anyone here knows me then that is the best part of any game. I can, and do spend countless hours making my character look just right, only to get a new piece of gear that looks different or I am in a different mood or the wind changes.
The Surge: A Walk in the Park is a great addition to the core game, if strangely paced. Since it came out well after the game was released most people will get to it in New Game+ and the enemies and gear are simply not up to standard with end-game content is a huge detriment. This means that to get the most out of A Walk in the Park is to restart the game, meaning all of that great gear you spent hours getting will be lost. Adding better weapons. armor and stronger opponents then making it comparable to end-game content would give players the most out of the DLC. However, when you do start from scratch, the pacing, level design, and aesthetic are extremely on point and a worthwhile addition to The Surge.
Game Information
Microsoft Xbox One
Developer(s):
Deck 13
Publisher(s):
Focus Home Interactive
Genre(s):
Hack & Slash
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4
PC
Source:
Provided by Publisher
Article by Robert
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