The Company Man, one of our most anticipated Malaysian games, has finally been launched on Steam, and it delivers on all fronts.
This game, created by Forust Studio, sees you climbing the levels of the huge Good Water Company in order to become CEO. This side-scrolling adventure, like the business world in general, is not for the faint of heart and presents a hard task worth persevering through.
In The Company Man, you take on the role of Jim, a recent graduate and new employee at the Good Water Company. Jim must fight his way up the corporate ladder after being demoted on his first day to realize his aim of becoming CEO of the firm.
The Company Man goes all-in with its hilarious corporate environment, which is brought to life by its bright art style, highlighted by sharp animations and voice acting in the Banjo-Kazooie/Animal Crossing style. Because of this exaggeration of the usual workplace, each level is focused on an aspect of corporate culture, such as each level being real levels of an office building, each themed after topics like research and development or accountancy.
Jim, like other action platforming heroes, can hop, slash, and blast emails to defeat the executives and interns in his path. Jim’s actions are all rapid and fast, reminiscent of Zero’s parts in Mega Man X4 and Rayman Legends.
The Company Man even takes common game clichés like ice levels and gives them a business spin. The office building’s lobby serves as the game’s core environment, where Jim may utilize certain coffee vouchers to improve his powers. A quick tip: go for the Sarawak Beans early on so you can recover while you’re on the way.
With a continual supply of improvements, including several ranged attacks, Jim is more than equipped to face a wide spectrum of foes and monsters. The goal is to learn the patterns of each adversary, which requires some trial and error.
The Company Man, with its gorgeous presentation and animated setting, is a must-play game for platformer aficionados. Some issues include enemy wind-ups being a touch too rapid, which can be difficult for players with slower response times.
There are also no treasures or power-ups to spice up the game other than jumping and battling, and the game’s seven stages may leave you wanting more. So here’s hope that new DLC levels and the like will be added to the game in the future.
Overall, The Company Man is a competent platformer with a beautiful tale about corporate greed and the yuppie lifestyle. It’s right up there with No Straight Roads as one of the great games to come out of Malaysia, and it deserves to be recognized as such.
