The Gunstringer Review




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Developer: Twisted Pixel Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: September 13, 2011 Available On: Xbox 360

Kinect owners longing to use the device for more than busting dance moves and barking voice commands have had a slow year so far. Apart from the occasional cactus flower like Child of Eden, the motion control landscape has laid barren with hardly a tumbleweed in sight. Now The Gunstringer, a theatrical western-style action game, takes dead aim to correct it.

As Twisted Pixel’s first non-downloadable retail title, The Gunstringer falls into a similarly warped vein as the developer’s XBLA hits The Maw, Comic Jumper and Mr./ Ms. ‘Splosion Man. The game tells a typical tale of betrayal and revenge in a decidedly atypical fashion. Presented as a live stage production, complete with a leathery-voiced narrator and FMV audience, the show stars an undead marionette cowboy, known as The Gunstringer, as he exacts revenge on his former gang-mates whose betrayal led to his present, non-living situation. Your role, as his Kinect-enabled puppeteer, is to help guide and shoot his way to the final curtain call.

While the gameplay can be categorized as an on-rails, third-person shooter, each of The Gunstringer’s stages (appropriately referred to as ‘acts’) is comprised of various platforming and shooting segments that are — for lack of better description — strung together. Most of the time it feels like playing simplified versions of Crash Bandicoot and Panzer Dragoon, simultaneously. The default scheme has you guiding The Gunstringer down vertical paths with your left hand and targeting enemies and other destructible objects with your right. Other segments require you to guide The Gunstringer across 2D planes or aim with both hands for dual-wielding sequences – each adding welcome variety to his 4-5 hour journey.

The Gunstringer’s primary control set-up works well, barring some quirks. The game tracks your pistol’s reticule very accurately but character movement only adequately so. At no point does it demand ultra-precision from the player to ‘paint’ targets for combos or avoid obstacles and enemy fire. However, it presents a respectable challenge by forcing the player to do both in quick succession. Unfortunately, responsiveness is dinged by slight delays in segments that involve a lot of simultaneous jumping and lateral movement. While some of this can be chalked up to the Kinect’s lack of one-to-one sensor tracking, these issues can lead to a good deal of frustration at times. Fortunately, the brevity of these segments lessens their impact on the overall gameplay, as they’re almost always followed by something more fun.

Visually, The Gunstringer doesn’t push any technical boundaries. The game isn’t quite as ugly as its flesh-rotted namesake but the simple-textured graphics are merely average – about on par with a lot of XBLA titles, which isn’t surprising as it was originally developed as a downloadable game. On the other hand, The Gunstringer boasts a very interesting art style. The bosses are audaciously bizarre while the makeshift scenery is packed with cut-out prop shrubbery, townsfolk and waves of murderous birds – which are lovingly destructible by your six-shooter. The game frequently cuts between its puppet-theatre shootout sequences and live-action footage of fittingly overacted audience reactions. In this respect, the game almost looks like a modern reincarnation of the cheesy FMV games from the Sega CD era – but in the most charming way possible.

Graphical limitations aside, there’s no doubt about the way The Gunstringer sounds. It’s stellar. The gruff narrator is swift and thorough in his account of your on-screen exploits, playing well into the theatrical context of the game’s presentation. Should all of your six-shooter’s chambers be emptied into hapless targets, he’ll acknowledge it. Eat a score-multiplier taco, he’ll make note of that, too, all while working in the greater details of the vengeful tale you’re attempting to weave. Driven by fluid bass work, bold drumming and dramatic guitar twanging, The Gunstringer’s soundtrack is a solid mix of Southwestern alternative country and instrumental indie rock that couldn’t be a better fit for the gameplay it accompanies.

Disappointingly, if you blast straight through The Gunstringer without revisiting any of its acts (and they are worth replaying to best your top scores and leaderboard standings), the credits will roll after a mere extended sitting. To prolong the action, Twisted Pixel included plenty of unlockable bonus features such as commentary tracks, developer videos and gameplay variants to extend the action a bit but most players will be ready to hang up their holsters in under a week. Yet while the game’s replay value is itself underwhelming, the overall package is actually a very good deal. The Gunstringer maintains a $40 budget price tag and includes a download code for the recently-released XBLA title, Fruit Ninja Kinect.

Ultimately, for the Kinect-less folks among us, The Gunstringer will not be heralded as the end-all reason to purchase the device nor will it be remembered as the developer’s best work. It is, however, a fun little shooter that’s teeming with charm and should not be overlooked by gamers with a Kinect and an itchy trigger finger. At the very least, The Gunstringer should be remembered as one of the first hands-free action games that actually work. More significantly, Twisted Pixel’s first Kinect title makes a solid case that games can actually be as unique and creative as the motion-controlled hardware they run on.

Graphics: 6.5
Sound: 9.5
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 9
Replay Value/Game Length: 6.5
Final: 7.9 out of 10
Written by Brian Vines Write a User Review

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