I've put something around 20 hours in this game and for the life of me I don't know where all that time went. But I do know why I don't mind losing hours of my life to play this game; it's fun as hell.
The story is as simple as a redneck [read: An angrier Alan Tudyk from Tucker and Dale vs. Evil] has been mummified by mysterious Egyptian figures while dune-buggying on the wrong side of the pyramid. Luckily you are immortal and all this accomplishes is sending you into a rage-fueled killing spree.
But it's not hard to ignore the simplistic story because this game packs all the fun you can into shooting an endless supply of cute things.
Perks
For starters the random perks you can pick up are usually non-detrimental. Which means that as you progress through the pyramid you don't have to worry so much about losing all your health, gold or weapons, as you do switching out all your weapons for random ones, not being able to see your health-bar anymore, or now you can only run instead of walk.
This way instead of encountering random drawbacks that make it more likely for you to die in the next room, you receive a trait that forces you to change the way you play the game.
For example:
You gain the perk Monster Hunter, which gives you a large sum of gold for clearing entire floors of their monsters. So now you want to explore everything and pit yourself against every room for that sweet, sweet gold bonus at the end.
But the next perk you pick up is Love is Blind, and now you can't see your health bar. This introduces decision making into your play-style. Do I think I have enough health to explore the rest of the floor or should I continue to the next one? How much do I want that gold bonus? Am I skilled enough to not take another hit in the next few rooms, or do I have enough of a health cushion to breeze by easily?
With those two perks combined you are now playing a complicated game of Russian Roulette. The only difference is the amount of bullets in the metaphorical chamber is based on how good you are at health preservation.
The last thing to mention about perks is that they are balanced enough to maintain the intended flow and design of the game. No perks are powerful enough to make you a god, so that moving onto the next room doesn't hold the same sense of 'I could die in the next minute or two if i'm not careful'. If you get a damage boost, you can only carry one weapon. If your movement speed increases, missing a shot now costs two bullets. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
The same goes for making you too weak; it doesn't happen. No perks are going to turn you into a squishy push-over that is surely going to die in the next room. Just a bit of good game design that will force the player to rethink their strategies when heading towards the next challenge.
Level Design
People who prefer online-multiplayer games will never understand the true joy of conquering levels that were designed by professionals. They don't depend on latency to make your experience a good one, they aren't full of over-leveled players that have better weapons and stats than you do, they don't have objectives that can't be met because your randomly selected teammates are four autistic monkeys and a thirty-year-old basement-dweller who flinches at the word 'teamwork' because that's what his parents yelled repeatedly while beating him.
The creators of Immortal Redneck realized that adding verticallity to a shooter added some depth, and with that depth came fun gameplay. There is no need to add more players or teams. If you seamlessly integrate platforming into a shooter you get something beautiful, and the level design is a sign of that realization; it's complimentary, well thought out, and challenging.
Its you, a room full of clever monsters, a couple platforms, and your beloved guns. Run, strafe, and jump around the room and kill what you can, but don't be too careless or you'll die to something that you could have avoided.
Weapons and Enemies
There are 52 weapons that I know of. That's a lot. And what's more, they are all unique and thrive in different situations and usages, as well as mix and match with certain perks.
You have your explosives for big damage and crowd control, your automatic weapons for clearing paths, your handguns for popping off weaker targets from a distance, your Electric Flamethrower for when you are cornered, and your Taser Sword for when you want to express your hatred for the terrible ending of Samurai Jack this year. All these weapons have their pros and cons; a quaint balance of range, damage, carrying capacity, and maximum ammunition.
This way when you are feeling the hurt from all the frogs flooding the room and your Shotgun just isn't doing the job, you prepare better next time and keep hold of that Burst Machine Gun you thought was stupid a few floors back, instead of switching it for the totally sweet looking Phoenix that shoots freakin' homing fire-birds from your mummy hand.
Basically, this game is an exercise of skill and caution. You can prefer some weapons over others, but it's best to have all your bases covered instead of stocking up on missile launchers. Not all enemies are equal. Some hop around, some drop bombs, and some give birth to cute little mummy babies that just want hugs, they 'promise'.
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