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Okay, I'm sure there are some people out there holding off buying GenkiBowl until they get a feel for what it's like, so I'd like to start this with a disclaimer:

The following review is an account of my own personal experiences playing through the DLC for the first time on normal difficulty.

Well, so after going through all the hassle I needed to get through in order to access the content I paid for weeks ago using the season pass on Xbox (way to make me feel like a VIP after laying my money down in advance!), I finally settled down to enjoy more Genki, as I have been really looking forward to this, even though it was obvious that it was just a bunch of extra activities long before official release.

First up we have Apocalypse Genki, which is basically just more Super Ethical Reality Climax in a slightly different setting, one which will be familiar to anyone who's been paying attention to SR3 glitch videos on YouTube!

I had high hopes for this, as I loved the S.E.R.C. in the main game, but it starts me off with a gun I really hate (Gravedigger) and I have a hell of a time activating a present to get a different one. Next I find a sequence of fire traps that I have a hell of a time getting through. It seems like you have to be almost pixel perfect in picking your places to stop inbetween the fire spurts in order to get through unscathed... OUCH!

The rest of the level seems to progress fine until a flamethrower hunter is released near the end... and he just won't frackin' die. I empty clip after clip of exploding bullets into his face and he won't go down. Finally, I mess up my timing trying to dodge his charge and I end up in the water with no apparent way to climb back up, so I'm forced to 'warp to shore' and I end up right back at the very start of the level with next to no time left on the clock... WTF?

This happened a couple of times before I finally gave up on trying to kill that hunter and instead progress through the DLC, choosing to move on to the second instance of this activity, where you have no weapon to start and have to brawl your way to the first mascot with a gun and take his weapon.... excellent!

But when a hunter got activated in the first minute I was somewhat dismayed, especially after my last encounter with one in Apocalypse Genki, but that didn't prove to be the problem here... instead it was the maze of traps that got me turned around and heading back towards the entrance, thinking it was the exit. I killed at least three hunters to get enough cash together to open the exit, only to realise it's a long, long way away, with only seconds left on the clock.... time to retry!

So, I finally figure out my mistake in that instance of Apocalypse Genki and, despite encountering another 'pixel perfect' trap - this time with lightning - make my way through to the end and move on to Super Ethical PR Opportunity where, after getting over my disappointment at the initial description making it sound like it was going to be Crowd Control, I instead discover it's a new type of Escort..... with a twist!

I must admit that I really loved this activity, much more so than the original Escort, and infinitely more so than the tiger variant, because the whole point of it is to kill people whilst avoiding some of his more 'overzealous' fans... and apart from one or two hiccups, it's GREAT!

The first hiccup was when I went to pick him up... he's running around in the street causing mayhem.. and seems to be more interested in his Murder Time, Fun Time than he is in getting in the fraggin' car... but hey.. an NPC taking his time to get into your vehicle is nothing new!

Then I get into the activity proper and had a whale of a time. The only criticism I have is that whilst the flamethrowers (yes.... you read that right.... PLURAL) are cool and all, for the most part, it's just quicker, easier and more efficient to run people over.

So, I was quite disappointed there was no second instance of this unlocked at this point, but they make up for that later.

Instead, we're given Sexy Kitten Yarngasm... which is just a new variant of Mayhem that involves rolling around in a giant ball of yarn crashing things to get your damage total up.

Now, I played both instances of this back-to-back and there really wasn't a great deal of difference in my experience between them which was, on the whole, kinda fun.

However, my main problem with it is, due to the fact that you're controlling a giant ball for a vehicle, it's really easy to get confused about which direction the vehicle thinks it's facing. As a result, it's really easy to get stuck on various obstacles in your path and screw up your combo building. As a result, I found myself really struggling to find enough stuff to destroy to get the total up as high as required. In fact, even on the attempt that I unlocked the C-C-Combo Breaker achievement, I still failed to achieve the $415,000 required to complete the first instance of the activity... I suspect I just need more practice though... as I found the higher $500,000 for the second instance a little easier to get.

It was around about this point that my disappointment over only getting one PR Opportunity was abated... as I was invited to escort Professor Genki once again before moving on to Sad Panda Skyblazing... and the scathing portion of my review.

Honestly, my first reaction when this activity started for the first time was "WHAT THE FRAG IS THIS!?", which was not helped at all by the fact that the explanation of what you're supposed to do is given whilst I was busy trying to keep myself from plummeting to the ground, so I totally missed the fact I was supposed to land on rooftops and kill mascots. As a result, after a near perfect flight through rings and bouncing off of tiger balloons, and the best landing on Magarac Island of all my attempts, I only had around one third of the required total... I was PO'd!

Once I finally figured out the mascot stuff I fared much better, but the first time I cleared a rooftop I then realised that you have no control over which direction the cannons launch you and the one I chose sent me hurtling away from every other rooftop and, again, I fell short of the required total by quite a margin... PO'd again!

So, having figured out that the best way to leave rooftops was by jumping at balloons, rather than using the cannons provided for the purpose, I managed to get through the first instance of Skyblazing on my third attempt... and I will admit that the lessons learned stood me in good stead for the second Skyblaze, which I got through first time, but it still left me thinking the same way as when I started the activity for the first time... WTF?

So, after completing everything, you're finally left with a Closing Ceremony cut scene which was, quite frankly, a load of drek. You're still dressed up in the panda suit, presumably because they couldn't be bothered inserting your actual appearance into the scene, and you talk with what sounds like the same warped voice you use during 'When Good Heists Go Bad', before character generation that is so obviously male, despite the fact I was playing a female character.... what an anti climax!

Don't get me wrong, there are some good things about the DLC.. I love how the same commentary team is back.. and the rumour about Johnny Gat that scrolls across the screen during the first cut scene fills me with hope for future DLC, but this one definitely left a bitter taste of disappointment in my mouth and I can't say I'm in a hurry to play through it again.... except for the Super Ethical PR Opportunity, of course!

ene 17, 2012 -- 11:07, Saint_Pingu wrote:

FINA-F*CKING-LLY! Someone who can type a review and doesn't blather on about pointless crap that is totally off-topic. Well written, well presented, you sir, have just earned yourself an invisible DOUBLE, choc-chip cookie =)

You're welcome! *MUNCH*MUNCH*MUNCH*

ene 17, 2012 -- 11:07, Saint_Pingu wrote:

Anyway, how long did it take you to finish the DLC?

I was playing it for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, though I'm sure better gamers than me will have gone through it significantly quicker.

ene 17, 2012 -- 11:07, Saint_Pingu wrote:

The PR Opportunity sounds hilarious though, do you unlock Professor Genki as a homie afterwards? Or are you stuck with the fakes? :D

Best part of GenkiBowl, by far, in my opinion.

Including CheapyD, I got a total of 5 homies unlocked from the DLC, but Genki was not one of them. You do get the car from that activity, though! :-D ... along with another 4 vehicles, including the Mouse ATV.

Edit:
The way I had originally answered the question about play time caused some confusion and has now been edited for clarity.

I don't know about you all, but I'm giving this DLC a 10/10 just because of this, "Johnny Gat alive? Rumors of the fate of this notorious gangster are quickly spreading!" I saw this at the bottom of the news slide at the start and flipped out.

Okay, so I just went back and played through GenkiBowl again with a different character save file, this time on casual difficulty, mainly to get the achievements I missed the first time, so here's a few more thoughts:

- I may have been a little harsh about the tight sequences of traps in Apocalypse Genki, but not by much. I still haven't been able to kill that flamethrower wielding hunter in the first instance though!

- I was right about needing more practice on Sexy Kitten Yarngasm. I wasn't using the shockwave very well first time round and, this time, I used it to keep combos going better. Still got stuck on stuff because of the directional issues... but I had fun with it and only had to retry one instance on one occasion. Definitely second best activity after Super Ethical PR Opportunity.

- Speaking of which... Super Ethical PR Opportunity was just as fun second time round. This activity will probably be single-handedly responsible for getting my money's worth out of this DLC.

- Sad Panda Skyblazing was slightly more enjoyable this time round, now that I have a better idea about how to do it. The lack of control over the cannons was still frustrating though, especially when I was trying to get the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof achievement, as some of the mascots had a habit of running round them when I was trying to kill them.

- Finally, I have noticed a lot of people complaining that this DLC is basically all activities, but an advantage of that fact has occured to me... it does mean that pretty much the entire DLC is replayable.

I thought the DLC was pretty good. I kind of expected it to be just activities but they were all pretty entertaining. Save for the Apocalypse Genki because it was pretty much the same as Super Ethical Reality Climax. And yes I was happy that they put that little headline about Gat; it gives people hope. All in all I say it was an 8/10. And yeah the good thing about activities is that its replayable.