Okay, so there were two major factors that initially drew me to Dead or School. Firstly, it's a 2.5d Metroidvania type of experience, a genre I rather enjoy and have grown extremely fond of over the years. School of PE was incredibly helpful in guiding the study process and emphasizing the most important concepts to review. The course was very thorough, and I felt confident going into the test. More importantly, I still felt confident after the test and consider School of PE worth the cost to not have to retake the test.

Dead or School (Switch) Review

by Jordan Rudek - March 13, 2020, 1:00 am PDT

School's out for summer. Maybe even forever.

Dead or School is a 2.5D action-platformer about a girl who wants to return to the surface of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo after living underground to survive a mutant outbreak. The Marvelous-published game mixes a variety of art styles in presenting the story through animated cutscenes and stills, but the screens where most of the action takes place leave something to be desired, as does the framerate. However, the minute-to-minute gameplay is tense and exciting, feeling a little like an action-RPG version of Mega Man. Is it worth helping Hisako realize her dream of fighting off hordes of monsters to open a school in largely-abandoned Tokyo? Well, it depends on your priorities.

The story begins with humans having migrated underground, living there for years, to avoid a mutant apocalypse that has ravaged Tokyo. The surface is off limits to normal people, given how dangerous it is, but Hisako, who is the daughter of one of the faction leaders, is determined to reach the surface and lead a normal student life that she has only heard about in passing. The world mostly consists of subway stations and their surrounding floors that you navigate via corridors, elevators, and platforms. A mini-map in the top-right corner of the screen shows points of interest and your general location, but it can be hard to read in portable mode. Dialogue between characters is in almost in the 'so bad it's good' category, but grammar errors are also frequent enough to be distracting.

Gameplay centers on exploring each new area and completing objectives such as rescuing survivors and finding new weapons. Challenging boss encounters await at the end of each area, with mini-bosses and scores of enemies constantly assailing you during exploration. Hisako generally has three types of weapons at her disposal: a sword or other melee weapon, a gun, and a heavy weapon like a rocket launcher. You'll pick up a variety of weapons within each category, and you can upgrade them and modify their bonuses as well. Switching weapons and powering them up is key to defeating the more powerful enemies that show up as you progress.

There are some interesting RPG mechanics that add depth to the gameplay. Hisako levels up as she mows down monster hordes, and levelling up increases her life and stamina meters, while also allowing her to dole out more punishment and take less damage. You also gain skill points that can be put into one of three trees (one tree for each weapon type) and the trees have quite a bit of depth to them, too. The heavy weapon skill tree can make you more proficient with grenade launchers, for example, but it can also raise your stamina or allow you to gain stamina back when killing enemies. There's almost a grinding requirement in that enemies and bosses more than a few levels higher than you will be incredibly difficult to take out, even on the easiest difficulty setting.

In terms of visuals and performance, Dead or School is more dead on arrival. It almost looks like a 3DS game, and each environment seems to use similar colors and shades, all of which are quite dark and dour. Voip business phone system. It fits with the theme and setting, but it gets repetitive after you've gone through two or three of the levels. The sub-60fps performance is noticeable given the frequent combat encounters, but it's not the end of the world (pun intended). Even if you play in docked mode, the screen zooms way out to give you a larger view of the environment, but this makes enemies and your own character hard to say. Dropped items are even harder to spot, some of which have to be manually picked up as well.

The gameplay and exploration of Dead or School are surprisingly addictive, but enough small issues give me pause in fully recommending it. Grinding for levels, constantly upgrading your equipment, and completing sidequests for stat boosts are all practically required. It's very likely you'll encounter multiple final bosses that you simply aren't prepared for. Fortunately, many enemies respawn and save points refill your health and ammo, in addition to functioning as waypoints. Fanservice images pop up from time to time, but they aren't overly egregious and shouldn't dissuade you from a purchase. If you can look past its numerous imperfections, Dead or School is a satisfying and compelling albeit janky action-platformer that may be worth getting a hall pass for.

Summary

Pros

• Fun combat and exploration
• Interesting RPG mechanics

Cons

• Poor enemy variety
• Story and writing are questionable
• Very janky in spots
• Visuals and performance are lacking

Worldwide Releases

Here's a bit of trivia that might not surprise you. Erin Murphy, who played young Tabitha on the series 'Bewitched' shares a birthday with her twin sister Diane Murphy, who also played young Tabitha on 'Bewitched'. They were born June 17, 1964, making them both 55 years old (as of two days ago - Happy Birthday!) It would be a bit unusual if they hadn't both come into the world on the exact same day. But they aren't the only famous people to do that. Other, unrelated, famous people share the exact same birthday - month, day and year.

On the left are the names of three famous people, along with the date that they were born. For each of those names you'll see the names of three more famous people on the right. Your job in each set is to pick the person on the right who was born on the very same day as the person listed on the left. Some of the matches might surprise you.

Click on the names to find out more information about them. It will take you to their page on the site, but it will hide the date information. Use the back button to return to the game.

This one's low-tech, so note your answers (write them down if you need to) and check how well you did by clicking here.