Pink poison, purple hell

I’m always willing to check out a game. No matter the look, name, or even genre it is. I seem to always start reviews this way, but for this game, I literally had no idea what it even was. In fact, I had never even heard of the title Poison Control. While it didn’t knock my socks off, I still found it strangely enjoyable in some ways.

Players control two different people, technically. The main protagonist wakes up in a hellish place with no real memories to speak of, oh and they have no body other than a skeleton. Right away, they are approached by a young girl named Poinsonette who can possess the player. Together, they must go through a number of rings of hell cleansing the areas of poison that is corrupting the area. These places are representations of people, living or dead, that are going through some sort of trauma or crisis. By doing this, they can earn a chance to get out of hell an on a way to heaven.

Platforms: PS4, Switch
MSRP: $39.99
Price I’d pay: $20

The game itself is a 3rd person shooter where players will be shooting enemies as well as cleansing the ground of corrupting poison. It plays out in two different styles. Players move around while shooting enemies, then they can take control of Poisonette who will leave the player’s body. While moving around as Poisonette, wherever she walks, will clear poison on the ground. This can also be used as an attack if she can circle enemies on the field.

With the exception of the occasional boss fight, that really makes up the game. Along the way, players will learn more of this world as well as meet other people. What stands out at times are the stories of the people who are corrupted. They can be comical or downright serious and disturbing. Like a girl dealing with the death of her dog and for some reason, thinks she can get the dog out of heaven by sending other things to heaven, even going as far as contemplating killing her own mother. Yeah. Heavy stuff.

Now, while never overly clunky, the shooting is hit or miss (pardon the pun.) The aiming feels off at times and the hit detection can be rough, especially when aiming at a close-range enemy. It was rough at times, but never downright bad. The game was never very difficult in the first place so if I missed a shot, it wasn’t a deal breaker. What was a hard pill to swallow was the slowdown. I had a good amount of framerate issues while playing and this was on the PS4. Also, this game looks like a high res PS3 game so, I can’t figure out why the game would be chugging like this.

Players can level up stats via purchasing upgrades, obtaining new weapons and abilities, or by strengthening their bond with Poisonette by talking to her periodically. While the upgrades are most certainly incremental, they are noticeable at higher levels.

The true standout is the presentation and the soundtrack. The overall look feels a lot like Danganronpa. There’s a lot of color in the entire game all the way down to the menus. A lot of pinks and purples, but it all works. It is still a rather cutesy game with anime characters getting into arguments a lot a la Hyperdimension Neptunia. The soundtrack is outstanding. Even the pause menu hits hard. Honestly, if it didn’t have this style, I think I wouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.

In the end, it is a slick looking, great sounding little game that is never overly offensive with its issues, but still has a decent amount of them. The gameplay revolves around a simple mechanic that players will see the majority of before getting halfway through it, but it was never something that I didn’t like playing. It is most certainly unconventional, and I think that’s what gave it enough charm to keep me playing. It’s a strange one to recommend, but I still recommend it if this sounds like something up your alley.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.