Eat Lead is one of the rare post-modern videogames, in that, like the GTA and Metal Gear Solid games, it full makes you aware that you're playing a video game, and parodies this to a hilarious end. It is far from perfect, but it's also rather clever and quite entertaining.

The premise is a scathing spoof of the brainlessly action-orientated games out there, like Wolfenstein and Doom, depicting you as Matt Hazard, a retired video game character who drove his own series into the ground by trying to change the creative direction. He has been coaxed back for one last hurrah, though.

Though replicating the old-school style of older, more brainless games, Eat Lead is actually pretty good looking, surprisingly. The character models are fantastically over the top, the particle and explosion effects from the weapons really kick a bombastic punch, and the levels are well designed for the most part. However, I can understand why some of the game's more ironic choices, such as leaving parts of the map deliberately incomplete, might fluster some gamers, as it seems just TOO blatant, even for this game.

Strangely, the gameplay is more in line with the tropes of current video games than those of old, which is a strange creative choice given that the game is meant to clearly be sending up older video games. There are some fairly intricate cover systems and such, and the game doesn't deliver the over the top carnage you might expect from the game's case. It's more restrained than it should be, making the game's humour a little eschewed and inconsistent, even if it does raise regular laughs.

It is quite uneven, but its brave attempt to spoof the video game medium is fairly succinct, and worth playing.