Xbox 360 PS3

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

Shooter

Time to beat: about 13 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is a 2009 third-person shooter video game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. The game was developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by D3 Publisher.

Eat Lead puts players in the role of the title character, a "legendary" gaming hero who is "returning to glory" in a new video game, some 25 years after his debut game and 6 years after his last game. In reality, the Matt Hazard character is in his first video game, with a history made up by D3 Publisher to chronicle the character's rise and fall in popularity. The Return of Matt Hazard marks Hazard's fictitious "comeback" to the gaming scene. Hazard is voiced by Will Arnett, while Neil Patrick Harris voices his nemesis Wallace "Wally" Wellesley.

The game itself is a parody of action-gaming clichés. The October 2008 debut trailer was done as a Behind the Music spoof called Inside the Game complete with Jim Forbes narration. It chronicles Matt Hazard's successes and hardships, and mirrors the progression of the Duke Nukem series of games, from early 8-bit to modern consoles.