Well, you can’t go to Trading Standards and complain about a misleading title – Screaming Head is literally that. If I understand correctly, you (the game, not real life) were an elite soldier with a manufactured, deadly killing machine of a body, but that’s all behind you now as you can soak up life with four wives. That’s right, our hero has four smoking hot babes on his arm -sorry, insensitive: ear lobes.
The trouble is, he’s surrendered his body as he no longer has any use for it, and it’s subsequently gone the way AI will go and thinking for itself. No, not world domination or enslaving you via social media, but taking your wives for themself. That’s not on. You need to get ahead in the game. Heh.
Those who paid attention in school might understand biology, and that being a head without a body might put you at a disadvantage. Especially as Screaming Head is a platform game. Good assumption, dweeb, but your hero can jump and, get this: scream. Yep, the scream is used as a sonic boom to propel enemies back into environmental hazards, rendering them useless.
The first thing you might note about Screaming Head, besides their obvious physical appearance, is the art style. It’s really unique, rough around the edges (in a good way), and entertaining. This isn’t one of those reusable asset thingys that a lot of demanding gamers moan about. I couldn’t care less if the game is good, and this game is good, and unique. It does have its quirks, however.
Understandably, jumping is a little problematic, what with your restricted appendages (you do have feet at the bottom of your noggin, mind). This can sometimes prove frustrating in getting the precision jumping right, or worse, the knockback from enemies. They don’t necessarily cause direct damage, but can send you back towards something spiky, prompting you to pop in an explosion of claret. This too can happen when holding down the scream button for too long, as your eyes will literally pop out and you’ll be transported back to the last checkpoint.
For a game that is primarily a platform game, this is tricky. However, the humour and sheer variety on offer is – here’s that word again: unique. Screaming Head resembles one of those titles back from yesteryear on the Miniclips site or similar. That raw aspect of it is appealing, and, in fear of sounding like a broken record, reminds me of the kind of game I’d choose to play on the Amiga back in the day. The closest thing I can compare it to is Zool meets Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Computer Game. It’s just as silly.
I wasn’t a fan of the cutscenes so much, which was a bit of a surprise, as I really liked the art and animations throughout the game, and interestingly, JZPS Games is behind a title I recently reviewed called Man I Just Wanna Go Home. I loved the art style in that, and tip my hat to the dev for trying something completely different to a hard-boiled visual novel. So, TLDR? Screaming Head is an interesting platformer with some really cool illustrations, absurdity and quite simply, a mad concept. Out today, but a demo is available, so no excuse to try it out at least.
