Can you become the one CEO to rule them all?
Battle the corporate machine in The Company Man! A 2D action-adventure where you can hit your crazy co-workers with a keyboard and shoot your evil bosses with emails. Survive the struggles of working life and fulfill your lifelong quest to be CEO! Jim finally graduates from university, ready to launch his epic career in the Good Water Company. But things quickly spiral into insanity as he finds himself fighting to keep his job. Drink coffee to survive the tortures of working life. Learn the quirks of each department, from the air-conditioned ice lands of accounting to the mountains of paperwork in human resources, beating every floor on your journey to the top!
The Company Man is a 2D platformer with combat thrown in, but it’s not your typical “rescue the princess” deal, but more a case of ascending through office floors with a keyboard and emails to hit and shoot your co-workers. Each floor is varied in its design and the boss fights are smart, while your character Jim can only regain health from coffee.
There are checkpoints that break up areas in the levels, but these are a bit scattered and inconsistent on how often they pop up, but sometimes you’ll go a good while before seeing one, making you feel so relieved when you finally glance one nearby. There is a balancing issue with enemies too that could do with some work, but ultimately this is classic 2D platforming, even including the difficulty which can be brutal at times.
It almost feels reminiscent of the old-school Mega Man games in its design and difficulty, but it doesn’t quite have the same level of replay value or quality than Capcom’s series. Having said that, there is a good level of quality to be found here and the art style is also very appealing overall. The end result is a game that ticks most of the boxes but could have been more with a bit of extra time and polish.
Like I said, the art style is appealing with its cartoon approach, and it runs at a solid framerate throughout the game. The soundtrack is also impressive overall, while load times are short as you would expect.
The Verdict
The Company Man is a good platformer that feels like it could have been great with a bit more in the tank, but it’s definitely worth considering if you are a fan of old-school platformers in both difficulty and quality.