Run n’ gun games are fun as hell. Fast-paced gun-toting action has had a universal appeal almost as long as there have been video games. Games like Contra and Gunstar Heroes defined generations of gamers’ experiences. Since the rise of indie gaming, there has been a big resurgence in run n’ gun games and a whole new generation is now experiencing the genre for the first time. Gun Crazy from Ritual Games and published by Ratalaika Games is the latest run n’ gun to hit digital marketplaces. This is a vintage style side-scrolling run n’ gun, or at least it seems so at first. On closer analysis, there’s a lot more going on here though than simply blasting baddies, and that includes visual elements, graphic choices, and even gameplay.
Gun Crazy starts out pretty normal. Run to the right, shoot everything that moves. What you’ll notice first is the huge size of the sprites, which makes the graphics look dated. It’s an easy mechanism to hide the fact that the backgrounds are less than idea, and it looks pretty rough on a big screen TV. With huge sprites, you’d expect some leeway in dodging and hit boxes, but there’s none to be had in Gun Crazy. Any overlap results in a hit, making things a bit tougher. You’re equipped with an infinite ammo gun, as per the genre standard, and you can double jump and dash as well. Dash works in midair too, which is good since half the time, enemies fire at you just as you’re jumping, almost seeming to lead your motion with their shots. The AI is mediocre but unforgiving as it targets you at the most inopportune times, but regular popcorn enemies don’t present much of a problem. Get to close with autofire blazing and your character automatically punches them, usually killing them, but also resulting in a slight motion delay which can be a problem if you’re also dodging bullets.
In short, basic combat is a bit of a mess. There are hesitations, and as you progress, enemies are quite accurate, which wouldn’t be a problem if the sprites weren’t so big and you didn’t get hit by what should be a near miss. On top of all that, there’s also the coins. Every enemy kill results in an explosion of giant coins that clutter the screen, obfuscating the bullets coming at you. In early levels, this isn’t as much of a problem because there are less bullets, but kill more than 3 or 4 popcorn enemies and the entire screen is riddled with gold, streaming down to the corner of the screen to add to your score. It’s a chaotic visual that’s incredibly irritating as you can barely see what’s going on around you. This is a mechanic that’s best left in shmups like Crimzon Clover and certainly shouldn’t be in a game like Gun Crazy.
Then there’s the level design. Most run n’ guns have clever platform sections, multiple pathways, and terrain effects. Gun Crazy’s levels are overly simplistic with generally only one route. Just run to the right and kill stuff. It doesn’t leave a lot of options for dodging and makes the levels quite boring. Without more complex designs, levels simply blur into a parade of pointless backdrops. Now, each level is weirdly different, to be sure, but level one in particular is tediously designed. Level two is a single screen and you play Buster Bros (aka Pang!) with guns. And then enemies start firing at you and you have to jump into the paths of the balls to avoid getting shot. It’s a mess. There’s no real reason for this style of play either as it totally throws off the flow of the game. The third level is entirely on your car while driving, but at first it’s hard to tell that if you move to the edge of your car it moves forward and back. Even here, sprites are too big and end up making it hard to dodge more complex boss attacks.
Speaking of bosses, Gun Crazy has lots. They’re all crap. Level one alone has two mini-bosses and a full boss, the first two of which are complete jokes with simplistic patterns and the final stage boss is unfair at best. It’s easy to make it through the first level barely taking a hit, only to burn two to three lives on the end boss due to unfair bullet patterns that don’t quite leave time to dodge properly. The firing patterns are so fast and abrupt that it puts shmups to shame and only really survivable if you know what’s coming. Expect to use a continue on the first boss, no question. The stage two final boss is even worse, with essentially undodgeable attacks that are done before you can even react, hitting your character almost instantly. Even credit feeding won’t help you since you only get three and then it’s game over, too bad, so sad, start again.
It’s too bad that Gun Crazy is so unbalanced. The basic design of the game is great, the character designs are decent, and the bosses look cool. Even the music is pretty good, although not buy the soundtrack good. The pixels are way too big, but that would be bearable if the gameplay was fun. It isn’t. There are simply too many flaws, cheap attacks, and frustrating issues to make Gun Crazy even a decent game. Even the button layout for the PS4 version is terrible, forcing you to let go of the fire button to reach dash properly, making it impossible to blanket vicious bosses with bullets and take them down fast. Special weapons help, and they’re significantly more powerful, but you can’t switch them off and they have limited bullets so usually, by the time you get to a boss, you’re back to your weakest weapon again.
Gun Crazy ends up being a game of almosts. Almost good. Almost balanced. Almost fun. But it never really manages to pull all the disparate elements and good ideas into a cohesive whole that’s fun to play. Instead you’re left with a game that feels more like a school project than anything else, and one that was put on the market after it’s developers figured it was ‘good enough’. Don’t settle for good enough. Save your money, even though it’s only $5, and skip Gun Crazy. Perhaps if there were some major updates it could be a fun game, but for now, chances are you won’t be crazy about it.
This review was based on a digital copy of Gun Crazy provided by the publisher. It was played with a PS4 Pro using a Sony 1080p 55” LED TV. Gun Crazy is also available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Steam.