The game’s first-person-shooter sequences aren’t just dull and familiar, but also clunky, given the touchy VR controls.
It experiments with all the weakest parts of the series and ties them together with a new, tedious progression system.
Did you get chocolate in my peanut butter, or did you get peanut butter in my chocolate?
At least one aspect of the gameplay inadvertently confirms the feeling that Blazkowicz is just a shell of a person.
Where it sets itself apart from actual ‘90s-era shooters is with its light sprinkling of procedurally generated elements.
Although Rise & Shine may sometimes look like a more cartoonish version of Contra, it doesn’t play like one.
Even the zombie material, which is still painfully boring and overdone conceptually, manages a few surprises.
All the requisite violence of the genre is there, but there’s a well-considered style and grace that elevates it beyond its mindless, dime-a-dozen brethren.