3 Out Of 10 Season One review

As Midge, you’re invited to an interview at the world’s worst game dev studio, Shovelworks Studios, in order to begin a dream of working as a game dev. Little does she know, without her knowledge or a proper interview, she’s hired to replace a former animator, Javier, who unfortunately suffered a bloody fate. Can you survive the chaos and help the studio deliver its shark game?

3 Out Of 10 Season One is basically an interactive sitcom; you’ll enjoy the “cutscenes” as if you’d enjoy a typical sitcom such as Friends or Seinfeld; characters will simply interact with each other and end up in crazy, impossible situations that each episode will resolve one way or another. However, the interactive part comes in with various sequences inspired by different genres.

Each gameplay scenario will differ from one another. For example, as the main character, you’ll have to shoot one of your colleagues in face, throw a trapped intern to colleagues in order to avoid angry fans trying to get said intern and interrupt your path; or as a different intern, you’ll face a stealth scenario where you’ll need to avoid spotted which results in instant death. While sounding interesting on paper, all gameplay scenarios have their problems; the biggest being the stealth mission as the intern. Given that he’s in a cat cage, you can’t move freely, you have to bounce around which increases the chances of being spotted.

Most of the mini-games are inconsequential to a certain extent as they can be skipped. Each episode you are required to collect stars by either successfully winning at the various mini-games and finding hidden special items throughout the office. It’s a nice incentive to get you to walk around and decent diversion from the constant yapping from characters. Additionally, you can fast forward through the episodes and you won’t miss any important information.

If there’s one thing that can be said is that this game, while its main premise being a “show”, does include a ton of gameplay variety; no two mini-games are alike and it’s a great way to entertain yourself between scenes. The problem is a lot of those are kinda done half-assed; especially the beat ’em up mini-game; mashing a single button through a few waves of enemies is quite boring. I love when games have a plethora of gameplay variety, but when it’s done right. In this case, less would’ve been better. Thank god for the Skipping option.

Another thing, which is quite crucial given it’s sold as a sitcom, is the lack of funny content. While the game does take a few jabs as the gaming industry and some of its problems/shortcomings, but none of it is really laugh-out-loud funny; let alone chuckle-worthy. The biggest example of this is that the fifth episode is focused on mocking the faceless incident of Assassin’s Creed Unity. It was funny when it surfaced, but today? Not so much.

3 Out Of 10 Season One looks like a late 1990 adult-oriented Nickelodeon cartoon. Character movement sometimes comes off as awkward and Midge’s odd proportions (super short upper body; ultra-long legs) never felt right to me; especially given the other characters’ slightly more proportionate bodies. Also, the camera always being focused on the controller character when moving around the office is annoying as it hinders players from looking around the room and finding things or other characters. The soundtrack features 40 minutes of eclectic, catchy, and unique tracks; although you’ll forget it as soon as you turn off the game. The voiceovers are fine, nothing to write home about. Lines are delivered with the proper tone; only Joan sounds odd; she’s a mid-50-year-old character that sounds like she’s poorly voiced by a man.

If you’re looking for a definitely unique experience with a bevy of gameplay variety, 3 Out Of 10 Season One is your game. The five episodes feature a lot of different gameplay from various genres; most of them actually enjoyable; albeit not perfectly executed. However, if you’re looking for a sitcom game, this ain’t chief. You’re best to boot up a streaming service and hunt down proper sitcoms as there aren’t much laughs to be found here.