There are a dime and a dozen of indie pixel-art platformers with a brutal difficulty out there. So what makes RunGunJumpGun different. Well, it’s not necessarily different but what it is, is engaging fun and incredibly simple. Input-wise that is, the game is very difficult. But there are some things to take note of in this game that certainly make it your worthwhile.
The sun is dying.
While the game doesn’t prioritize story it manages to throw in some simple stuff. In the intro of the game, you learn that this solar system’s Sun is dying. You assume the role of a character dubbed as the Scavenger. The Scavenger is here to collect all this system’s Atomiks, green floating orbs that came from the Sun. That is the basic set-up the player gets before going on their adventure. Before every level, the player is treated to a very small piece of dialogue from one of this Solar System’s inhabitants. These are just one line texts with a neat animated character sprite next to it. Some of the dialogue is just a character’s crazy rambling before their inevitable demise by the Sun. Every chapter in every world has a new character with something to say. The further the player gets the more they get to know. It’s not a motivator by any means but it does a great job of expanding a game’s simple story where one might not have been. The narrative of the game won’t engage or entice players but it never gets in the way of the action and simultaneously delivers what little there is effectively.
The story is well delivered by these quirky scenes in between levels.
jumping and gunning.
RunGunJumpGun is a simple game. You only use two buttons and no control stick except when navigating menus. The player-controlled character keeps running in a straight line never stopping to catch a breath. One button allows you to fire your gun while the other allows you to fire your gun…at the ground. Firing at the ground will propel you upwards away from the ground. That’s all there is to it.
The player gets dropped in an auto-scrolling level and has to either shoot and destroy objects in front of them or shoot at the ground to avoid spikes and pits. It should go without saying that shooting at while shooting at the ground you can’t shoot in front of you and vice-versa. And that’s where the difficulty of the game lies. The game has three worlds with each forty levels and each world has its own unique mechanic. Throughout the levels are objects called Atomiks to collect. While there are forty levels the player only needs to collect a certain amount of Atomiks to unlock the next world. Every world is divided into four chapters with ten levels each. While the game is really difficult the developers made sure everyone will be able to play all levels. In order to unlock the next chapter, the player needs to beat eight of the ten levels and then they are allowed to pick any level of the next chapter. And if that’s still too hard there is an option to unlock all levels and Atomiks in the menu. It’s a nice little addition for those who aren’t skilled enough to beat the levels regularly.
The game is a blast to play. It keeps a great rhythm by making loading non-existent. When you die you see the character fly back to the beginning of the level and immediately the game continues. And considering the fact that you will probably die a lot means a fast restart is a must. The Scavenger’s speed is just right. It’s not too fast so that you can’t see what’s coming and not too slow as to leave a lot of downtime in levels. The level design itself while fairly straightforward has some alternating pathways with varying difficulty so if players can choose to take the easy route at the cost of possibly collecting fewer Atomiks. While every world has its own unique mechanics it would have been nice to have a little bit more variety or at least a few more worlds as the game is incredibly short. RunGunJumpGun is a blast to play and while the mileage may vary depending on if you are into replaying the same level twenty times over to get through it, the addition to unlock everything in the options menu might just be enough to convince those that don’t have the required skill.
The pacing is great and intense.
a Sharp and nice style
RunGunJumpGun looks nice, it’s a pixel-art game that uses a lot of dark colors with intense vibrant color distortions. It gives the game a feeling of being in a far away solar system while sniffing glue. The game itself looks the part of a hard-as-nails indie platformer but it’s the level select screen and the dialogue screens in between that give it its visual identity. The level select screen is beautifully done, with nice animation and colors. And the character dialogue screens are amazing as well. The characters on-screen have neat designs and the animation on the characters is top-notch. The music while very well done doesn’t really seem to stand out. It serves its purpose but doesn’t manage to captivate as much as it should have. While during gameplay the game looks nice if not a bit run-of-the-mill it’s everything else that look really good.
While the game itself looks rather plain the rest look amazing.
| The good: | The bad: |
| +fast and fun | – short |
| +strong visuals | |
| +accessable to all |
RunGunJumpGun is a game that almost perfectly nails what it set out to do. It’s a though 2D pixel-art platformer and that’s about it. While forty levels in every world sounds like a lot the levels are short. Having to redo most levels multiple time does stretch out the game but in the end, it feels like too little. And even if every world has something different going on mechanically and introduces a new gameplay element every chapter it would have been nice to see a bit more variety. The fact that being light on content is pretty much its only flaw speaks about the quality of the game. It’s a blast to play and dirt cheap too. If there was one thing that would have made it more appealing,it would have been a mobile or handheld version. A game like this would be perfect to quickly pop in and try to beat a few levels. RunGunJumpGun is a short game that’s fun and has a nice art style to boot. It’s one of those games that will make you say “let’s try that one last time” over and over.
4 out of 5:
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