I can’t say if it’s a lifestyle simulation, a rhythm game, a fighting game, a sports video game, or a WarioWare-esque collection of all four, but despite the amazing visuals and animations of the last generation, I’d like to see what Molly Shannon 2K23 is about.
Looks like it has a pretty deep career mode at least! Shannon, the first Saturday Night Live star (from 1995 to 2001) returned to host the April 8 showand this ridiculous reimagining of her life as an annual video game series (going back to 989 Sports and the PSOne, looks like in that jewel box) was one of the gags.
Yes, there are some typical gaming culture jokes in there though (especially the kicker). Molly Shannon 2K23 makes Jimmy Fallon’s overprotective laugh sound perfect with everything his guests say. There’s also the horror of finding out that not only are you appearing in a video game, you’re not even getting paid for it, which is still a hot (and sensitive) topic.
But like many sports video games with role-playing features, the dialogue choices that represent the good-guy/bad-guy path are just too obvious! I can’t understand why anyone would choose option B on NYU’s commencement speech unless they were making a YouTube walkthrough with all the clips. In summary, Molly Shannon 2K23 is a work in progress and Molly Shannon 2K24 will have to focus on strengthening the core features before adding to the existing modes. 7.5/10