Shotgun Cop Man Review

With your hands afloat of guns and a warrant for the Devil’s apprehension successful your pocket, Shotgun Cop Man sends you connected a nonstop blitz of caller ideas. This abbreviated and saccharine action-platformer continually reinvents itself crossed 10 clever worlds, leaving small country for a bully thought to get stale. Once I mastered its chiseled benignant of projectile-based movement, barrelling done the circles of hellhole turned into a axenic powerfulness fantasy. Even though it’s harder than it should beryllium to pursuit precocious scores and amended times, I inactive had a blast gunning for a much optimized tally aft the credits rolled.

Shotgun Cop Man’s goofy vibes, flashy acrobatics, and clip onslaught setup transported maine backmost to my mediate schoolhouse days of bypassing the browser information settings successful the machine laboratory to sneak successful runs of Flash games similar Fancy Pants Adventures oregon Electricman 2. Granted, this would stroke galore of those survey hallway clip killers retired of the water, but I could inactive easy spot myself racing to the extremity of its archetypal satellite with a person portion we’re expected to beryllium moving connected a probe insubstantial oregon mathematics homework. It shares the aforesaid choky scope and paired backmost tone, but present those disguise a amazingly heavy platformer.

Shotgun Cop Man isn’t conscionable a modular run-n-gun shoot-em-up. Instead, the recoil from your shotgun serves arsenic the driving unit down astir of the movement. Need to instrumentality retired immoderate demons to your right? Well, you amended marque definite the seashore is wide to your near erstwhile you propulsion the trigger. This challenging, but yet rewarding, strategy of ballistic blowback fills successful for genre-standards similar jumping oregon dashing midair, portion firing your sidearm — which ranges from a satisfyingly snappy but anemic pistol to a almighty gatling weapon — allows you to hover midair oregon marque much precise hops.

You can’t conscionable spray and commune you upwind up connected the adjacent platform, though. Each limb has constricted ammo, keeping Shotgun Cop Man comparatively grounded: the shotgun itself lone holds 3 shells astatine a time, truthful helium needs to interaction terra firma to reload. That said, sidearms thin to person bigger magazines, allowing for a reliable 2nd enactment to autumn backmost connected erstwhile you request to get to the crushed and instrumentality different changeable astatine a pugnacious jump. This restrained attack brings a levelheaded equilibrium to Shotgun Cop Man that encourages mayhem and velocity without leaving precision and accomplishment successful the dust.

To marque matters much difficult, Shotgun Cop Man besides has to contend with the armies of Hell arsenic helium chases down their leader. Aside from a fewer combat-focused levels that blend each ellipse of Hell’s unsocial mechanics into an arena-style showdown, arsenic good arsenic the requisite brag that shows up astatine the extremity of each 17-level world, Shotgun Cop Man is each astir movement. Because of that, enemies play 2nd fiddle here, being treated arsenic platforming obstacles masterfully woven into each level. They enactment similar the bright-red explosive barrels of a 3D shooter, providing the restitution of popping them portion offering absorption connected wherever and erstwhile to shoot. Shotgun Cop Man bets large connected its platforming acumen alternatively than falling in-line with different enactment platformer successes similar Katana Zero, and it pays disconnected successful spades.

Still, this unsocial question takes rather immoderate clip to get utilized to, particularly if you’re playing with a controller: Pointing successful 2 antithetic directions similar a twin-stick shooter (left for walking, close for aiming) makes for an unnatural platformer power scheme. Wrapping my caput astir it felt similar being asked to hitch my belly and pat my caput astatine the aforesaid time. Unfortunately, there’s truly nary amended mode to marque this circumstantial benignant of question enactment connected the sticks, though it is overmuch much comfy with a keyboard and mouse. Thankfully, Shotgun Cop Man’s accessibility features let you to skip definite inputs, similar making it truthful you prime up caller sidearms automatically, truthful you tin tweak things to beryllium overmuch much comfortable.

I was halfway done the astir 5 hr run by the clip I felt similar I’d afloat climbed its comparatively steep learning curve, mastering this propulsion-based blend of combat and movement. Normally, this archetypal conflict would beryllium a sound against it, but Shotgun Cop Man perpetually introduces and innovates connected caller ideas portion rewarding your increasing mastery of them. It besides sets up systems that successfully encouraged maine to obsessively replay levels successful an effort to shave nanoseconds disconnected my time. This potent blend dangles an appetizing carrot-on-a-stick to gnash astatine successful bite-sized speedruns erstwhile you’ve recovered your footing.

When helium inevitably takes a hit, Shotgun Cop Man’s bosom comically pops retired of his body. Running into it volition prime it up and reconstruct health, but he’ll dice successful 1 deed without it. When that happens, the camera zooms successful connected his oddly elaborate look arsenic helium says, “I die,” successful a goofy, computerized voice. This minimal, self-aware consciousness of wit sets the code overall, arsenic there’s different not overmuch of a premise to explicate present (and developer Dead Toast Entertainment adjacent pokes amusive astatine this successful the credits by putting quotes astir the connection “Story”). You’re a bull with a shotgun trying to apprehension the Devil. Naturally, Old Scratch doesn’t play ball. Each clip our leader catches up to him, Satan tells the lad successful bluish to shove it, and you proceed connected your pursuit erstwhile more. It’s thin, but it works, and is conscionable amusing capable to support things moving.

Unfortunately, that consciousness of wit yet becomes Shotgun Cop Man’s Waterloo. Each clip it zooms successful connected his look arsenic helium points retired the obvious, it takes acold excessively agelong to get backmost into the action. It takes arsenic galore arsenic 3 fastener presses to respawn, and adjacent longer to restart a level. I cognize however silly this sounds successful the look of everything Shotgun Cop Man gets right, but successful a crippled wherever you’ll beryllium dying and trying again rather a bit, these adhd up to wholly hamper immoderate consciousness of momentum. That’s particularly glaring erstwhile each level successful Shotgun Cop Man grades your show connected whether oregon not you killed each enemy, bushed the par time, took immoderate damage, oregon did each 3 of those successful the aforesaid run. In what feels similar a large oversight, there’s nary speedy level restart fastener erstwhile you die, truthful to pursuit that cleanable run, you request to resume the level aft that death, pause, and past deed the retry enactment from there. Because Shotgun Cop Man trades successful seconds and milliseconds (most levels took maine little than a infinitesimal to complete), this different tiny bump successful the roadworthy became an outsized, unnecessary portion of mastering each level.

That said, for a crippled that lone took maine astir 5 hours to spot from extremity to end, Shotgun Cop Man crams successful a staggeringly awesome scope of innovations and spins connected its seemingly elemental run-and-shoot formula. It ricochets from thought to idea, ne'er allowing a mechanic to get aged — successful fact, determination are rather a fewer I privation got immoderate much clip to shine, similar reactive floors, which alternate betwixt harmless and deadly each clip they’re shot, oregon clever box-moving puzzles that enactment your knowing of each weapon’s powerfulness to the test. Most mechanics get a accidental to radiance earlier being woven into much caller mechanics aboriginal on, but there’s besides an awesome level creator (exclusive to the PC version) that lets you artifact with immoderate of these ideas yourself if you consciousness similar your favourite didn’t get its clip successful the sun.

I’m not overmuch of a level decorator myself, but the instauration suite provides a robust artifact thorax for dedicated designers to messiness astir with. It doesn’t conscionable diagnostic tools that alteration you to recreate oregon grow upon immoderate clever thought recovered successful the campaign, it adjacent includes wholly unsocial mechanics that aren’t recovered there, similar other force and NPC types. I didn’t get to effort immoderate user-created levels during the pre-release period, but I’m truly excited to spot what radical deliberation up erstwhile Shotgun Cop Man is retired successful the wild.