Final Exam Review
Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Final Exam. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience.
 

Reviewed on: PC
Developer: Mighty Rocket Studio
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Rated: "T" for Teen

 
CHEATfactor Game Review
by Joe Sinicki
Presentation 6/10 
You'll brawl through the same looking hallway more times than you'll be comfortable with but at least some of the animations look pretty cool. The voiceovers can be incredibly dry and painful.
Gameplay 6/10 
Though fans of classic beat-em-ups like Double Dragon and Final Fight will find a lot to love about Final Exam, there's no denying that the game is built on an almost archaic formula.
Lasting Appeal 5/10 
Final Exam's four hour campaign can be played with each of the four characters and at different difficulty settings but once I finished it, I was hard pressed to go back in.
Overall 6/10 
When Final Exam just lets go and allows itself to have fun with its cool and challenging gameplay, there's a good amount of fun to be had here, but it's too concerned with rehashing what came before.
CHEATfactor 7/10 
 

It's almost fitting that Mighty Rocket Studio's Final Exam is set during the events of a ten-year high school reunion. Like a reunion, the beat-em-up is filled with old ideas and though they're fun to revisit - it's more clear than ever why you've moved on. Much like your friends from high school, Final Exam shows glimpses of brilliance but it's probably best that to forget about this one and move on.

 
   

If you've played any of the classic old-school like Final Fight or Double Dragon, you'll feel right at home with Final Exam; the game finds you fighting from one end of corridors to the other and inflicting damage on any monster you can find. You'll take control of one of four characters that are no less than horror movie archetypes - you've got the dumb jock, the nerd, the popular girl and the oddly skilled at fighting loner kid. Though each character is listed as having their own skills and characteristics, they're more or less interchangeable and have similar abilities and move sets.

As you play through you'll upgrade your character's abilities and attacks and there's some fun in trying them out against the hordes of the undead and monsters that are coming to rip you apart but Final Exam is no a game that believes in using things sparingly as you'll be using anything you unlock over and over to the point where it becomes one of the game's most annoying features. Key here is that you can often make choices as to what you upgrade and when, but more often than not it just depends on what choices you've made in the game and what you've upgraded so far.

 
   

At its core, Final Exam is not a bad brawler, it's just an uninspired one. I get it, it's a tribute to games and horror movies past, but the fact that Final Exam tries to do almost nothing new and doesn't really do anything better than the games it chooses to emulate. Final Exam never really creates or gains any momentum, beginning with a cold tutorial opening and rarely challenging the player. Final Exam's campaign lasts only about four hours before it asks you to go back through with another character and there's almost no reason to go back through the monotony all over again.

When Final Exam just lets go and allows itself to have fun with its cool and challenging gameplay, there's a good amount of fun to be had here, but it's too concerned with rehashing what came before. Fans of the genre will feel right at home, but there's simply not enough here to recommend a full price purchase Final Exam is worth a look but fails to receive even a passing grade.

 
 
CHEATfactor
 
CHEATS USED: Unlimited Ammo, One Hit Kills, Infinite Health, more
 
When you unlock all of the special abilities for your character, there are some pretty cool abilities to be found, but why wait? Why not unlock them right away using the trainer from Cheat Happens. Playing with all of the special abilities right away makes the game a bit more fun, especially when you're combining it with the other cheats in the trainer like one hit kills and unlimited ammo.
 
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