Guns N’ Runs Review: Gunning And Running Into A Brick Wall
The run-and-gun genre is one of, if not the most straightforward, video game genres there is. You simply run from one side of the screen to the other, all the while shooting any target you see, before moving onto the next presumably more challenging zone to do the same thing until eventually you reach the end of the level, or participate in a hectic showdown with a final boss. This basic concept is, unfortunately, tougher to digest in Guns N’ Runs is as ass-backwards as its title, a game that boasts the name of the genre it’s trying to curie favour in, yet stumbles in its attempts to dazzle and delight.
Proceedings start out generically enough, as you select one of eight archetypal characters to play as. You’re then swooped into the fray, where sparse text blobs bring context to your predicament during the opening level. The initial conversation drags on a tad, making you think that your time is getting wasted already. What happens next disappointingly confirms these concerns.
To Teach Or Not To Teach?
The introductory “tutorial” in Runs N Guns isn’t so much a tutorial as it is a test of patience that doesn’t help you speed up as much as it does slow you down. Blue projecting boxes show you what you’re meant to do visually, but with no button prompts to guide you, you’re left to your own devices to figure out what the game expects of you. For example, you’re made aware there’s a cool dash maneuver you can pull off, but the game doesn’t tell you which button to use nor how to use it efficiently. You’ll come across various confusing blue screens that aim to guide you, but you’re better off ignoring them by instead figuring out how to navigate the levels yourself, as they’ll only slow you down and make you scratch your head.
Eventually, Guns N’ Runs gets into its flow state, and it’s here where it is competent yet run-of-the-mill…mostly. Platforming follows a left-to-right movement scheme, where you lay waste to miniature robotic drones and impish hoodlums, all the while dodging their projectile attacks, dolling out weapon blam-blams as you do so. You need to eliminate all the enemies to move on to the next area, so there’s no escape from the dirge when your health bar is low, and you just want to get the hell out of there.
Your lightening dash will prove a reliable crutch to lean on throughout your time in Guns N Runs, helping you to evade traps, zip you between protruding drill spikes, bounding you up and over otherwise hard-to-reach platforms, and making you tougher to hit during end-level boss fights. Blinking circular doodads float in the air for you to lightening dash upwards and propel yourself onto a higher-up surface, but trying to latch onto them is an arduous trial and error undertaking, making you miss, fall down, and attempt again to nail your ascent- a truly aggravating nuisance that may burrow into your psyche after prolonged attempts to overcome the hurdle.
What’s Old Feels Old Again
Such niggles pervade Guns N’ Runs a bit too excessively, and you can’t ignore its sloppiness. The uninspired level design, littered with copy-paste traps and enemies, are generic and boring, the weapons don’t pack a punch, and you don’t feel powerful unless you unleash a thunderous special move, which you’re better off only using during the boss fights. The only times Guns N’ Runs does give itself some shine is by borrowing ideas from elsewhere.
Contra and Metal Gear are the most evident inspirations flaunted in Guns N Runs, cribbing the former’s explosive boss battle idiosyncrasies and mechanical claws, whilst grabbing the latter’s dialogue boxes and signature animated font for “Mission Start.” The implementation is a mixed bag, with some elements working adequately enough, and others merely paying homage to the classics without adding the substance to go with them.
Guns N’ Runs does manage to garner some oomph with its end-level boss fights, echoing the bombast of Contra as you frantically jump and dash to avoid onslaughts of hellfire and sneaky attacks that’ll catch you off guard at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, your arsenal only consists of one firearm, a shield pick-up, and an item allowing you to use your special ability. As a result, you never feel like a brutishly equipped rogue, just a grunt who carries either a contraption that flings green shards, bright blue lightning bolts, or a hyper blaster that spreads a mighty electrical surge.
Furthermore, the bosses utilize suspiciously similar patterns of fire. They like to hurl projectiles where your primary means of defense is getting as far out of the way as possible. Your main chance of success at times is finding distance, then unleashing devastation when there’s an opening, before that opening closes, forcing you to flit about finding another platform to wait momentarily at before initiating your barrage again. Achingly still, there are times when you beat the boss, and it runs off, obliging you to give chase by swooping through more drearily routine platforming zones before you catch up and try to best the runaway again.
It’s Cool To Be Old School
Respect has to go to the old-school visuals, as they do authentically replicate that juicy nostalgic aura that permeates the game along with its other inspirations. Sure, this blurry blocky aesthetic has been shown off in many different kinds of games in various genres, but here there is a sense that the visuals coalesce well with the classics.
Similarly, the soundtrack is authentic with its catchy electronic and percussive arrangements hitting with a beating tempo that matches its retro stylings very well. If only the rest of the game were as on-point as the music, then harmony would truly be achieved.
Meanwhile, the performance of Runs N’ Guns on Switch is rather inconsistent. It usually plays with a buttery fluidity, but at times there are framerate drops, even when the action isn’t hectic-but rarely is that ever the case. There’s no reason for Guns N’ Runs to run poorly at any stage, and when it does, it’s baffling, but thankfully it isn’t game-breaking.
In games of Guns N’ Runs’ ilk, it’s ok to fight against the odds. But the major difference that separates this game from similar titles is that time and time again, Guns N’ Runs proves itself able to entertain for a few minutes, before devolving into a gnawingly rote annoyance that constantly battles against players with its terrible tutorials, minimal health bar, lack of power-ups, dearth of weaponry, paint-by-numbers design and a chugging framerate. There is clearly a love for the retro classics, which the presentation and soundtrack evoke lovingly, but the frustrations inherent in the gameplay are a bit too much to ignore. Give Guns N’ Runs a try and you may like it for a spell; just be warned that you will likely grow bored of it sooner rather than later.
Final Verdict: 2/5
Available on: Switch (Reviewed), PC; Publisher: Pixel Heart; Developer: Statera Studio; Players: 1; Released: September 29, 2022; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $11.99
Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Guns N’ Runs provided by the publisher.
