No time for questions, we have demons to kill!
Wildcat Gun Machine does not care about such problems as story exhibitions. The team had to make an otherwise quite correct assumption that by creating a dynamic, arena shootout, a rich story would not be the most important element for the audience. Except they went a little over the other way and gave a spook of something that would make sense of our actions. After choosing the option of a new game, we go straight to the first of the available boards, and the combatant heroine immediately goes into action. What you can see is that an incident that is well known to fans of the DOOM series happened– futuristic corridors have been flooded by demons from hell. Also, without any dialogues or deliberations on why this situation came from and what the protagonist is doing there, all that remains is to go forward and send the monsters home using an extensive arsenal. Is it pleasant?
Lots of shooting in vain
The game was designed in the convention of a twin-stick shooter , i.e. a type of arcade action game in isometric projection, in which we control the character with one knob of the controller, and the other one aims at the hellish hosts, traversing successive interconnected corridors, often requiring a colored card to unlock the path to the rest of the level. The more progress we make, the more enemies appear on our way, who – as well as the occasional bosses – will flood the heroine with a barrage of bullets, creating a literal bullet hell . Well, it’s a formula that is quite old and worn out. Which does not mean that it cannot be interesting and pleasantly realized, such as the full of ideas Enter The Gungeon croissant. Only that, unfortunately, the Wildcat Gun Machine takes a very safe path and is not surprising, while being just… fine. We are dealing with a formally correct game that initially attracts attention. We quickly discover new types of more agile and slower opponents, forcing you to quickly change your technique, and this is helped by quite a variety of weapons.
There was a potential for a successful position in the game, but these basics never stand out above well-known mediocrity, and are burdened with significant problems. So what if we have 40 different pieces of weaponry at our disposal, since there are only two slots available at once, one of which is reserved for a not very useful handgun with infinite ammunition. The most annoying, however, is the difficulty level balance. The campaign has clear jumps, after a very easy section it can surprise a very demanding boss, but vice versa, the final opponent of the stage may turn out to be disproportionately easy compared to the rest of the board. The secondary structure of the game and its repetitive corridors also does not help, so despite the relatively short time needed to beat the title, boredom creeps in.
Nice invasion
It can be admitted, however, that the overall subdued impression is pulled up by a really attractive setting. Although this is not the most obvious choice when it comes to the theme chosen by the studio, cartoon graphics complement the production very well. The game is vivid and full of colors, and the various, nicely animated models of opponents stand out in particular, and in the case of the boss project, you can talk about showing off your ideas. We are also pleased with the relative aesthetic differentiation of subsequent locations, which makes it possible to somewhat hide their twin-like structure. The colorful visual effects accompanying the actions of the protagonist and opponents also attract attention, which make it much more pleasant to navigate between the sea of incoming missiles. The dynamic action of flavor is also added by an equally energetic, electronic music track.
Save yourself the fights
I wouldn’t say that Wildcat Gun Machine is a disappointing game, because I didn’t have any particular expectations for it. It is a correctly sized twin-stick shooter , like many, but there were no mechanics that would make the position of ChunkyBox Games stand out above the average. Even an attractive graphic style will not help with the redundancy of the content. People who like the genre convention may spend a few good hours with the title, but I see no reason to decide on this particular item.
