Charlie Murder is an action role-playing beat 'em up video game developed by Ska Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Ska Studios for PC. First revealed in January 2010 as an Xbox Live Indie Games title, the studio announced in May 2010 that the game would undergo a "complete overhaul" and be published in 2012 through Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360. Charlie Murder was eventually released on 14 August 2013 to positive reviews, with critics praising the game's soundtrack and hand-illustrated visuals. Versions for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS were released on May 12, 2017 via Steam.
The game features five playable characters—all members of the garage punk band Charlie Murder—who fight a demonic army raised by a former band member in an attempt to save the world from the apocalypse. Charlie Murder has both single-player and four-player online and offline cooperative gameplay modes. The game was created using Microsoft's XNA tools.
Gameplay
Charlie Murder is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game with role-playing game elements. Players select one of five band members to play as; the lead vocalist and band namesake Charlie Murder, guitarist Lester Deth, bassist Tommy Homicide, backup vocalist Kelly "Skelekitten" Skitten, or drummer The Rexecutioner.citation needed Players can complete the game alone, or can team together with up to three other people, through either offline (with all of the players using the same Xbox 360) or online cooperative gameplay (co-op). With each additional player, the number of enemies that appear on screen at once increases. Players can also fight each other in special areas of the game. The game takes place across several different areas, including a construction site, a graveyard, a pirate ship, and a mall. Players are pitted against a large variety of enemies, including zombies, witches, ninjas, giant rats, yetis, and sharks with dynamite strapped to their heads. Interspersed between the normal combat levels are a number of minigames and special levels, including driving and flying levels.
Players fight using two buttons to string together combinations of light and heavy melee attacks. Players can also use grabs, launch enemies into the air, use character-specific special attacks, and pick up and use weapons. In co-op mode, players can also team up to execute highly damaging group attacks. Scattered throughout the game are bosses, unique and challenging enemies that have more health and are more difficult to fight than normal enemies. There are also "minibosses", enemies that are less challenging than bosses but more challenging than regular enemies. Minibosses have the ability to block and counter players' attacks, which few other enemies in the game do.
Each of the five band members has a unique character class, which vary from one another mainly by the special magical attacks, called Anar-chi, that they can use. Anar-chi attacks include Tommy Homicide's ability to summon acid-coated buzzsaws and The Rexecutioner's ability to summon and use a debris-spitting drum kit. Players are able to use new abilities by visiting an in-game tattoo parlor. Tattoos, and the special abilities that they unlock, are character-specific. Players can also unlock new abilities, including additional combination attacks, group attacks, and the ability to use two weapons at once, by leveling up.citation needed
Players use an in-game Windows 8 phone to manage their inventory, level up, read emails that explain game mechanics, and scan QR codes that unlock items and give the character money or followers (the game's experience point equivalent). Players earn money by defeating enemies, and outside of combat, they can purchase weapons and armor (all of which is visible on the character), stat-boosting food and alcohol, and the aforementioned tattoos from shops.
Plot
The game's protagonist, Charlie Murder, is a member of a garage punk band of the same name. Charlie kicks one of the founding members, Paul, out of the band, and begins to experience chart-topping success creating music in a new genre with new bandmates. Under the name Lord Mortimer, Paul forms his own band, Gore Quaffer, and makes a pact with a demon, raising an army of demons and undead in order to destroy Charlie Murder. Charlie and his band are killed at the beginning of the game, fight out of hell, and are reborn on Earth amidst an apocalypse caused by Lord Mortimer and his army. In order to stop the apocalypse, Charlie Murder must defeat Gore Quaffer in a Battle of the Bands.
During the game, a series of flashbacks detail the game's backstory. As Charlie and his new bandmates experience success without Paul, the latter becomes increasingly upset, eventually vowing revenge. The flashbacks neither paint Charlie Murder in a wholly positive light, nor Paul in a wholly negative light. Charlie Murder has an in-game talk radio station, which plays in enemy-free areas. Additional information about the band and about the game's world is presented in the form of people calling into the radio program.
