Who doesn't love a good old' fashioned sci-fi dystopia? The oppressive governments, the lack of free will, the general sense that we're all doomed, and that the rich will always be in control while the poor will always suffer. Nothing like the real world, right? These tales have been around forever, and people just love wallowing in the despair of a world that's lost all hope, especially if there are some fun robots and lasers thrown in for kicks. Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory gives us yet another game where humanity is living under less than ideal circumstances, although it never feels like anything more than George Orwell fan-fiction.
Party Like It's 1984
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory is based on a tabletop RPG game where mankind has been enslaved by a rogue A.I. named, Friend Computer. Humanity is now nothing more than a bunch of workers living in a giant facility known as Alpha Complex, a place full of bureaucracy, backstabbing, and constant surveillance. Happiness and obedience are mandatory, and anyone who's unhappy or dares to question the will of Friend Computer is terminated and replaced by an identical clone. You play as the leader of a squad of Troubleshooters, a bunch of glorified mercenaries who are forcibly sent out to do various dirty, dangerous jobs that no one else wants to do.
While the reality of what's happening in this future should be terrifying, it's undercut by comedy that almost feels like something written by Douglas Adams. For example, one mission requires you to get into a room with a broken door that you need to get fixed, but in order to fix that door, you need to fill out a repair request. This proves to be difficult since the forms are trapped in the same room behind the door that needs fixing. Paranoia is filled with a lot of these darkly funny moments that demonstrate the banal insanity of a society ruled by bureaucrats and emotionless machines.
It is a humorous game, but the actual story seems a little too familiar. The whole "evil sentient computer conquers the world" plot isn't a new idea, and it feels like a worn-out dystopian premise. Technically, Paranoia may have been one of the earlier proprietors of this trope, as the actual tabletop game came out in the 80s. Even so, this setting gives me a serious case of "been there, done that."
So, It's Treason Then
The game is a CRPG which means you have certain skills that you can pump points into that open up different ways of completing your objectives. You could use your psychology to trick a suspect into giving you vital information, or use your mechanical skills to fix machinery. You also have a Treason level that rises when you do anything that's against Friend Computer's orders, like killing someone without permission or asking stupid questions that you should know the answers to. Once your Treason level gets too high, you're hunted down and executed, with one of your clones taking your place.
You only get so many clones, and each time you use one, you essentially get to wipe the slate clean, erasing your level of Treason and re-specing your character's skills so you can approach the mission differently. Although, even when I did reassign some skills, it seemed like the only advantage to these attributes were that they gave slightly better dialogue options or allowed me to open a door with less effort. That being said, having your decisions constantly watched and mentally logged by everyone around you does inspire the kind of paranoid atmosphere that this game is shooting for, so it definitely more than earns its title.
The missions will occasionally have you do interesting things like interrogate citizens to find out who's hacking vending machines to turn them into killing machines, but they usually devolve into combat sections, which is where Paranoia falters. I didn't find the real-time combat to be all that engaging, as it felt like all I did was click on the enemies and then watch my team fire wildly until everyone was dead. The cover system also seemed unclear as to what was cover or if the selected Troubleshooter was even actually behind anything, leading to me getting annihilated by lasers or shooting a wall because it wasn't something I could shoot over. The combat just didn't seem very strategic, and after a while, it felt repetitive, which is a shame considering it takes up a large part of the game.
Perhaps one of the worst problems with Paranoia is the lack of a checkpoint system. Failing a mission gives you two options: either that version of you dies and you use one of your limited supply of clones, or you restart the mission which puts you all the way back at the briefing room. So, if you die near the end of the mission and you're out of clones, then get ready to do everything all over again.
Someone Get This Computer An Interior Decorator
The overall look of Paranoia leaves a lot to be desired. It mostly takes place inside the cold, metallic corridors of the Alpha Complex, so chiding it for having a lot of similar-looking environments seems unfair, as that's kind of the point. Yet, even though the Alpha Complex is supposed to be an unfriendly, sterile-looking factory setting, it's still not all that exciting of a place to walk around. Every area looks like a cut and pasted copy of the previous zone, with maybe some different office equipment strewn about or a new color scheme indicating the areas that you don't have clearance to go beyond.
The various inhabitants of the Alpha Complex are also pretty bland, with a lot of the same character models used over and over with every character having the same set of animations. I did like the design of Friend Computer as an all-seeing, giant blue eyeball watching my every move, but everything beyond that just didn't do much to impress me visually.
Been There, Been Oppressed By That
The premise of Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory is fine, but the idea of an Orwellian society where everything you do is scrutinized and judged is a pretty overused one. It needed a particular hook to make it stand out from other dystopian settings. It does have a good sense of humor, and some of the dialogue got some solid chortles out of me. I just wish the gameplay had been more fun, as it hits a lot of the usual CRPG notes with some pretty generic combat and dull role-playing elements. It doesn't help that Disco Elysium came out a month and a half ago and is a more entertaining and innovative CRPG in almost every way.
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory demands you be happy and obedient, but you're more likely to be bored and upset that you didn't play something else.
A PC copy of Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory was provided to TheGamer for this review. Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory