☆ Review: Greedy Guns "An absolute MUST for fans of local co-op, you don’t like it? Talk to the hand!" ☆ #GameDev

Greedy Guns - PC

I make no secret of my love for co-operative video games, growing up in the 80’s and 90’s and having a younger brother; co-operative games have been a huge part of my personal gaming history. 

I’ve played truly great local co-op games over the last few years, games that were fine in single-player mode but elevated immeasurably when played in local co-op. 

Games such as Hunted, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Dead Nation, Mother Russia Bleeds, Broforce, Crimsonland and 7 Days to Die spring to mind as recent titles I’ve played through and I’m sure there are many more that I’ve missed. 

Greedy Guns is a game that has been in development for over four years by Portuguese team Tio Atum and it is one of the most fun and rewarding experiences that I’ve had in gaming this past year.

Billed by the developers as ‘Metal Slug meets Metroid’ which is a fair description of the game but this isn’t a cheap cash-in, melding mechanics from both games in a haphazard manner, Greedy Guns is a fantastic game in its own right bursting with ideas and character.

The story that starts off the game is that our protagonists (Bob and Kate), who are soldiers for hire are dropped off on an alien planet and told by their  current employer (Holocorp, represented by a large, humorous and surprisingly emotive cigar-smoking hand) that their mission is to find and kill several large creatures in order to obtain their unique DNA. 

The game is a 2D action /platformer with vibrant graphics and very smooth animation that is backed up by some of the most intuitive controls I’ve encountered in a game of this type. The game is a twin-stick shooter allowing for gunfire in full 360° rotation, the left trigger is a second jump button that seemed unusual at first but soon came in handy during the more frantic sections of the game where jumping, aiming and shooting is of a high priority when there are so many enemies attacking at once.

The game has a sense of humour running throughout, each character has a red nose as a nod to Broforce and the dialogue is also tongue-in-cheek (in a sharp contrast to my previously reviewed game, Evil Genome, the translation in Greedy Guns is flawless) which adds to the cartoonish style of play. 

Don’t let the vibrant graphics and ambient, sci-fi music (with a hint of ‘Amiga’ about it) fool you, Greedy Guns does NOT mess around when it comes to challenging. The games’ difficulty curve is extremely well-judged. 

You start off doing the usual, finding areas that are currently closed off to you until later in the game and working your way through the labyrinthine levels, blasting enemies (which drop cash after you kill them, which can be used to pay for new guns once they are unlocked)and completing platforming sections, but cut to a few hours in and you’ll be desperately blasting hordes of enemies spewing attacks at you in almost ‘bullet-hell’ fashion as you leap from platform to moving platform dodging circular saw blades and pits of spikes. 

The game also features screen-filling bosses which are very well implemented, each boss has their own sections and patterns which provide genuine challenge and variety. When killed, the bosses drop DNA which powers up your characters in different ways, allowing you to reach other hitherto ‘cordoned-off’ sections of the map (the entire game is played on one large map centred on the area that your ship landed)

The co-op element is very well designed, when one of your characters is downed, you can raise them by simply standing next to them, the kicker here is that the bar that fills as you raise them drops again if you shoot your weapon or move away and so during sections where one of you dies, (which will inevitably be when  there’s a massive boss or an enormous assault of smaller enemies) is that the remaining player has to decide whether to risk ceasing fire to dodge attacks and raise the other player or fend for himself until the attack is over, it’s a really fun balancing act that adds tension to the gameplay. 

The game plays out as almost a series of set pieces. In some areas screens will have various sections requiring intense platforming action and waves of enemies but if you do fail, you will be reset at the start of that screen, so there isn’t any arduous back-tracking due to the quality of the level design.

In all honesty, it’s difficult to find fault in the game, aside from a couple of occasions in which the camera went a bit wonky and cut off a few inches off the bottom of the screen (which was easily rectified by leaving and re-entering a ‘room’, there were no glitches at all. You can see that the four years in development were well-spent ironing out any bugs that may have existed. Aside from the main quest, there are also hidden areas that not only contain small bonuses and stone statues of Kickstarter backers for the game but entire sections that have secret bosses featuring what I assume are the faces of Kickstarter backers who put more money towards the project.  

It all adds up to make a lot of content and at £11, it’s also good value for money as the game is around 10-12 hours long.

Summary:
I know that this review is heavily focused on the co-op style of play but I do recommend that it’s played in this way as it is such a great multiplayer title and truly awesome new local co-op games aren’t exactly rife. 

As I’ve said, it’s difficult to find any issues with the game.  The fact that this is Tio Atum’s first title bodes very well indeed for them and I congratulate them on releasing one of my favourite multiplayer titles of the year, I’ll definitely be following them closely to see what they come up with next.

Wow, I said ‘local co-op’ a lot….and I regret NOTHING.

Right, I’m off to do what Holocorp pay me to do….shoot….in all directions….lots…whilst double-jumping….GOOD.

RATING: ICE COOL

Ratings Explained

ICE COOL (Great Game Recommended)

MELTING (Just Falls Short Of Greatness)

MELTED (Not A Recommended Purchase)

Game Link: Steam

Dev Link: Greedy Guns

Review By Britt