Everything is perfect in the land of Kewtopia: The sun shines bright over manicured green lawns, lollipops and cotton candy appear in abundance, and it's impossible to turn a corner without being bombarded by rainbows, hearts, and smiley-faces. But these wretched little Smurfs, led by their adorable/evil princess, aren't satisfied with just one utopia: Under "Operation Free Hope," they want to expand their way of life to the grimier territories outside their kingdom, in a beautification process that involves eradicating the uglier species. It's up to you to resist this process: You take on the role of Raze, a gnarly indigent beast with a sharp spike for a left forearm and an arsenal of organic "squib" weapons, not unlike the creature in Oddworld, to which the ingenious budget game Raze's Hell owes an obvious debt.
The game can be appreciated on two levels: As a biting polemic on Gulf War II—complete with Fox News-style cheerleading, suicide bombers, and a hilariously clueless "Information Minister"—or as catharsis for anyone who ever wanted to rip the stuffing out of their little sister's Care Bears. Either way, it's a good time, though the onslaught of pint-sized, candy-colored Kewlett warriors makes it unreasonably difficult to advance from one level to the next. Raze's Hell earns its M rating through sheer over-the-top gore: The Kewletts, with their earnest chipmunk voices, appear to be composed of 1 percent skin and 99 percent blood, and they explode like sated mosquitoes. The bloodier, the better, since your oft-depleted health is restored whenever you suck up their guts. The Kewletts come in a range of cute guises, from grunts who shoot lasers out of chest-mounted jack-in-the-boxes to troops with heavy armor and rocket-launchers, many parachuting from the sky on heart-shaped balloons. Too bad it takes so much blasting and gut-sucking on dreary terrain before you reach the Oz-like gates of Kewtopia, where the scenery finally changes for the better.