It’s not uncommon for a franchisee to create movies from popular video games and vice versa. Some of those games might not retell the story of the movie but still carry the same feeling of the franchise while doing its own thing. Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch, is a 2d side scrolling beat ’em up, where you play as Jay and Silent Bob investigating the appearance of a strange mall and why the townspeople are acting weird (well weirder than usual in that universe).
The gameplay works just like any classic arcade beat ’em up. You have light and heavy attacks, combos, screen nukes, and ultimate attacks. At the start of the level if you are playing by yourself, you can choose to play as either Jay or Silent Bob, they don’t play any differently from each other but they have different animations so just pick your preference. During their combos, you will see many references to other fighting games, the most obvious being Street Fighter. You also choose your summon to assign to each character. At first you only get one but you can unlock more as you play through each level, each with different effects to help you out.
During gameplay, you can switch between the two characters at any time, if your current character is about to run out of health. You will have to keep a look out for any dumpsters or garbage cans during the level, because if you destroy them you will find different types of food to recover your health. The bigger the food you find, the more health you recover, just make sure you pick it up with the character who needs the most health because the health regen doesn’t affect both characters. If one of the characters runs out of health you are automatically swapped to the other character and will have to revive them.
The combat works well if a bit sluggish when it comes to running, but could use some more balance when it comes to playing by yourself. I feel like there are too many enemies coming at you when you’re by yourself. Many times I end up getting surrounded and gangs up on making me lose too much health for me to recover before the next fight. I’ve been stunned locked on multiple occasions because of enemies and field interactions. Not to mention that the other character you can play as is just walking around and not doing anything. This could be easily fixed by either limiting the amount of enemies that appear during combat when playing single player like in games like Castle Crashers, which scales the amount of enemies depending on the amount of players, or to have a computer player control the character currently being played.
The game’s animations are fluid but the humor is a required taste. You got your basic exaggerated death sequences, when an enemy falls in the air and lands on the back like a cartoon, but there is some crude humor that most people will only roll their eyes at. The revive animations are a good example, on is smoking a bong and blowing the smoke on the knocked out player, which is fine and fits the character, and the other is farting on the player, and while if still fits the character i personally don’t find it funny and I’m in the camp that fart jokes are overused but to each their own.
When playing with a friend, the experience is completely different and adds to the fun. You won’t have to worry about getting outnumbered, having to keep track of your health as often, and even coordinate with your friend when to use your special attacks. Not to mention the fun arguments you will get when you accidentally (or purposely) eat a health pick up. Plus at the end of the level you are scored by how many enemies you killed, damage taken and other stats so it also adds a competitive aspect to the game.
In conclusion, Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch is a fun experience if you have a friend to play with. If you’re playing by yourself you might have less fun but can still have a fun experience. With hordes of enemies, fun references, questionable humor, and classic arcade feel you will have a fun time. I do recommend bringing a friend along so the two of you can be your own Jay and Silent Bob.
Score: 7 out of 10
Reviewed on PlayStation 5