Emoji Battlefield: Summer Vacation Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & Switch)

Emoji Battlefield wants to be a laugh-out-loud ode to internet culture, but ultimately falls into the shallow waters of “meh” territory, with perhaps a slight ripple of OMG — but not in a good way. See, behind its best intentions of delivering a chaotic rogue-like shooter with an emoji twist, Summer Vacation ultimately fails to find the perfect balance between being a good FPS game with airtight gameplay mechanics, and a worthy tongue-in-cheek love letter to high-octane theatrics. It’s the little things that dampen the mood—the snail-like interactions, or the simple fact that everything is delayed by incompetent controls, for example—that make an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable bullet romper a bit of a headache.

While the concept is workable—an idea that roughly translates to a simple, albeit digestible rogue-like FPS adventure that primarily involves slaughtering emojis in a fit of rage—the execution, however, isn’t quite as clean. Don’t get me wrong, I love pinging bullets at beady-eyed blobs as much as the next person, but I just can’t get over the fact that Summer Vacation, as well as the Emoji Battlefield series in general, isn’t quite fit for the frontline. I want to love it, yet there’s something preventing me from falling head over heels for its imperfections, of which there are one too many to counterbalance its greatest strengths.

Let it be said that, if you was to tear away the half-baked turds and the countless meh faces, then you would find a pleasant surprise here. Conceptually, Emoji Battlefield leans into all of the right areas, with entertaining gunplay, eccentric enemies, and a simple rogue-like progression hook that allows you to earn and experiment with various modifiers and battle synergies. It also comes clean with some great arenas, too, some of which knuckle in on laughable waters, some of which unlock your inner gunslinger in a fast-paced, action-packed battlefield. But, again, once you traipse said waters, the ripples soon begin to spread and invoke a powerful magnetic force that attracts a plethora of bad side effects. Collecting ammunition requires you to manually hold a button for far too long; colors begin to merge into a blinding white; and little technical issues eventually begin to grate on your fingertips.

There isn’t really a story for you to unpack from your suitcase here. In short, it follows a vacationer who, in a desperate attempt to escape from the hustle and bustle of big city living, washes ashore the sun-soaked beaches of a tropical paradise. Shortly after arriving at the seaside haven, however, the protagonist discovers that the residents—emojis, naturally—have adopted a violent attitude towards said fledgling vacationers. A belt of ammunition and a couple of Modifiers later, and the gunslinging hero decides to take matters into their own hands and eliminate the threat. Thus, we have our “plot”—a narrative that, frankly, you don’t need to think about for any longer than five seconds before bolting into the fray.

Modifiers, being the primary selling point behind the experience, play a huge part in your journey here. For example, when you launch a session, you can tailor the match to suit your personal tastes, whether it’s by ramping up the difficulty, adding a lick of eccentricity to the characters’ personalities, or making it so that everything bounces and ricochets around the arena. It’s a simple gimmick that doesn’t add a lot to the overall gameplay experience, but it does, however, give you a little more to fool around with between drawn-out sessions.

As far as gameplay goes, what you see here is what you get: a familiar bullet-romping rogue-like shoot ‘em up with a tropical twist. You eliminate enemies, collect orbs, and fashion your weapons and skills as the battle unfolds. For example, you can improve your reload speed—an act that, annoyingly, takes a lot longer than your average FPS title—as well as boost your damage output and, more importantly, unlock better weapons that allow you to deal heftier blows. You get the idea, though. It’s textbook rogue-like action with the same generic collect-and-tailor setup as most, if not all games of its kind.

To give credit where it’s due, there are some pleasant arenas to jump into here, most of which provide a fitting diorama to match the tropical theme. There are inflatable-loaded pools, picturesque beaches, arcade-like buildings, and jam-packed piers with all sorts of traversable objects. Granted, none of these arenas are classically gold-plated photographic vistas, though they do capture the essence of a traditional vacation, and I think that’s what matters most here. The emojis, of course, tend to add a slither of humor to the canvas. It’s good for a quick chuckle, I guess, but that’s as far as I’m willing to take it.

With comedy at its core, Emoji Battlefield doesn’t aim to take itself too seriously. It’s chaotic, messy, and yet, above all, good for a quick dip in the pool. Again, it isn’t great, and it certainly lacks the buttery quality that you often go looking for in an action-oriented world. However, if you can stomach the bugs and gloss over its imperfections, then you might just find yourself capable of sticking around long enough to get a tan. Just eh, don’t expect a five-star treatment.

All in all, I’d say Emoji Battlefield has the potential to be a great budget rogue-like game. But again, it’s the technical issues and the general sluggishness that dampens the overall gameplay experience. In time, perhaps it could be a brilliant entry-level shooter. At the time of writing, though, I’d say that you could get your money’s worth on an alternate shoreline, but not so much on the emoji-splattered island of Summer Vacation.

Verdict

Emoji Battlefield: Summer Vacation has the potential to be a great rogue-like shooter, but sadly, it just lacks the depth and the wow factor to transform a generic experience with a meh mentality into a starry-eyed nugget of action-oriented gold. For the price, it could easily provide you with an hour of entertainment. That being said, if you’re looking for a lofty shoot ‘em up with evergreen qualities and a lot of content to carve through, then you might want to pack your bags and take your well-earned vacation elsewhere.