Spiders are truly wonderful creatures. They’re exceptionally clever and are able to create the most intricate, beautiful webs imaginable. They eat pests, thus preventing the spread of disease, and they happen to be the inspiration for one of the most beloved superheroes in modern culture. Yet for many people, spiders are the most detestable, disgusting beings ever to roam the earth. It’s not difficult to see why; their spindly legs and skittish behaviour are creepy enough as it is, but they somehow always manage to turn up when you least expect it.
Kill It With Fire is a game that grants those prone to arachnophobia a chance to enact revenge on the creepy crawlies that have forever haunted their lives (albeit in an entirely safe, digital manner – don’t kill spiders, folks!). Presented from a first-person point of view, you’re tasked with rummaging through various environments – from a normal, suburban household to a petrol station filled with gasoline barrels – in order to find and kill any spider that happens to be lying in wait.
At the start of the game, all you’re given is a simple clipboard with which to whack your spider foes. It also happens to display any additional objectives available in each level. These could be as simple as smashing up a bunch of picture frames, or arranging a selection of tools in their respective slots on the wall. The objectives are entirely optional for the most part, but completing a certain number of them grants you with either a new weapon or an upgrade. Of course, you can also find new weapons organically by simple searching through the environments themselves.
Killing the spiders can be great fun, but finding them is often a bit of a drag. Almost everything in each level can be interacted with, so you can quite literally open up a cupboard and clear out all of its contents. It’s an admirable, ambitious gameplay mechanic, but one that gets awfully repetitive after a while. Naturally, if you’ve got a phobia of spiders, then this mechanic will often be accompanied by crippling anxiety, as you’re never quite sure where each spider will be hiding. In this sense, the developers have done a fantastic job, but for everyone else, it just feels a bit like busywork.
The spiders themselves are wonderfully depicted, with their stop-and-start movements animated to near perfection. There are a decent number of the buggers hidden in each level, but never enough to feel overwhelming or unrealistic; you can easily imagine walking into your kitchen and finding two or three spiders skirting across the tiled floor. They come in different shapes and sizes, with some spawning smaller spiders upon death, and others exploding with impressive force. Catching them can be a hefty task at times, and you’ll often leave each level in utter disrepair as you desperately burn or destroy any object that might be hiding the eight-legged freaks.
One area in which the game is severely lacking is its options. There are the obvious audio settings in which you can alter music and sound levels, but there's no sign of crucial gameplay options. What this means is there is no way of altering the often excruciatingly slow aiming speed, and (rather sinfully) no option to invert the Y-axis. For a first-person experience, these should be in there as standard, and will be a deal-breaker for many. With this aside, however, Kill It With Fire is a fun little distraction that, while only a few hours in length, will keep you entertained with its myriad array of gameplay opportunities and selection of weapons.
Comments 23
I have been having nightmares of spiders recently so this game is how i feel
So now I just want to go back to Deadly creatures on the Wii, a game where you play as either a tarentula or a scorpion, now that's something, and actually a great game if you ask me.
changing the thumbnail would be nice for people who have or a bit of Arachnophobia.
I've heard this game is unplayable as it's riddled with bugs.
@MrFox same here but sadly I had multiple times in my life people tried "to cure me" from it.
Let's keep it at this, trying to cure me from it made it only much worse, before I was afraid of them but only if in a small space or when they were really big (big = size of your handpalm)
"Curing" me caused me to even not be able to play some games just because when they look too realistic and I see it, that is enough to trigger it.
Sometimes when someone says "no" then listen, trying to help someone who didn't ask for it doesn't justify doing it anyhow, sometimes there is a reason for that "no".
I fear no spider.. but cockroach.. it scares me :/
Cockroaches are horrifying. So are centipedes. Spiders I‘m mostly fine with.
@Pat84
I second this sentiment, I'd love to see a return of Deadly Creatures.
I actually like spiders. I try not to harm them when I see them. Except for that one black widow I found once recently. No way was I leaving that alone.
I said it once and I’ll drop it here again - even if you’re afraid of spiders, there’s no reason to act like an a-hole and set fire on them for no reason. This game is stupid.
This screams "made for VR" to me.
Watched a friend play this in vr and they seemed terrified. I think that fear factor will be lost if not played in vr so I’ll probably pass.
I used to work in the termite & pest industry. I don't necessarily have a huge fear of them but they can give me the creeps big time. Especially being under a house and coming face to face a lot with various types of black widows, cockroaches, dead rodents etc. Nothing is more terrifying than turning a corner during a crawl and your flashlight reveals a giant black widow, rodent carcass (opossums were the worst), or a roach nest no more than 6 inches from you. Especially in the cases you have to move your new found discovery in order to advance further into the foundation I don't miss that job very much.
The 1990 movie "Arachnophobia" still to this day completely ruins me for months anytime I see it. Even just for 20 minutes while channel surfing. What is so terrifying about it is the fact it being a movie made in 1990. It was made with REAL practical effects and NO CGI. It gives it a sense of reality that CGI cannot reproduce as well. It's getting close but still has a way to go. All the spider effects from the small ones to that big motherf*cker were practical (a combination of real spiders and articulated models). It's insanely terrifying
@rushiosan
i am fine with killin some spiders
I love spiders and this is kind of provocative to me, mainly because there are actually people who think it's OK to kill spiders. If it was a game about killing, say, kittens, I would have thought nothing of it, because everyone loves kittens, right? The same with killing people; everybody knows it's wrong to kill people, so doing it in a game is just fun.
Not really my thang this but...... enjoy yourselves to whoever buys it
@MisterUnicorn we need spiders for the ecosystem.
This game bugs me because of the real-world violence it's going to inspire. Anyone who hates spiders enough to kill them but sees killing any other animal as wrong is an enormous hypocrite.
I heard great things about this game, but sounds like the Switch may not be the best version.
I understand some of the objections, but for me it is a cartoony game. Good Job! isn’t how I really think people should act at work. Simpsons Hit ‘n Run isn’t how I really think people should drive.
HOT TAKE FOR REVIEWER: If you play an FPS game with inverted Y-axis, you’re a MONSTER.
Haha.
@GizmoGladstone why? Really it makes sense. When you look up, you tilt your head back. When you look down, you tilt your head forward.
@Jare20 Oh, I'm just being a wise guy. Honestly? I don't care much either way. FWIW, though, when I'm in first person, I only invert to pilot controls when I'm in an actual cockpit.
But there's a very good chance I'm just wacky that way.
This game is pretty fun and enjoyable!
Now if only it wouldn't keep consistently crashing and closing every time so that I could actually finish it... //Facedesk
I have no idea why it would keep crash-closing on the Switch. It it some sort of bug/glitch or something? It's getting pretty annoying to deal with. D:
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