Milanoir, a Portmanteau for the Italian city Milan and film noir, lets you play as no-nonsense mobster Piero throughout a story filled with betrayal, greediness, and vengeance. Shoot, sneak or choke your way through hordes of underground mafia goons and knife-wielding trollops in search for the one who betrayed you. Think of Milanoir as a 70s crime movie with all the gory death, destruction and even full frontal (pixelated) nudity you might expect.
Twin-stick shooting
Milanoir uses a top-down perspective where you use the renowned but sometimes dreaded twin-stick shooting mechanic– except if you’re playing this game on a PC. You move your player with the left stick while aiming your sight with the right stick. This way of playing can be a bit daunting at the beginning. Aiming in this fast-paced action-packed game is pretty hard when you’re not used to it.
The game does provide an aiming help in the options which helps snap your sight on your target while aiming in the proximity. This helps but you still need some time to get used to the controls. When I first tried the game, I had to put the controller down a few times because my hand started to feel strained from the finger gymnastics I needed to do in order to complete a level.
Gun control
You’ll run through Milanoir with a standard gun with 8 bullets in the chamber. Ammo for this gun is unlimited but the reloading takes a short moment and leaves you defenseless. If you take hits, the screen starts to smolder from the side – like in the old 8mm movies – a sign to hastily look for cover. Most stages offer a few handy hiding/cover spots where you can reload or take a breath while your health automatically recovers.
Throughout the campaign you’ll get the chance to slaughter your foes with other means than your standard gun. Molotov cocktails, a one-shot-kill magnum, a knife, grenades, an uzi, … appear during certain levels where you’ll use these for a short moment until you revert back to your old trusty handgun. Since every weapon forces you to play a different style, it helps break the repetitiveness other twin shooters sometimes have. Growing tired of the fast-paced action, Milanoir lets you take a breather with a few sneak missions… before throwing yet another gun blazing level in the mix.
Two player couch co-op
Milanoir is a challenging game where you’re bound to die a lot. The game only saves after completing one of the 7 chapters which results in a challenging experience. Learn from your mistakes and adapting accordingly, is key to completing the levels. When you are stuck you could also try completing the levels with a second player in couch co-op. This makes the hordes of mobsters in Milanoir much more manageable.
Visually stunning
Milanoir tells a cliché filled story with enough over the top twists to make it enjoyable. But where the game really shines, is its visuals. Pixelart style is maybe the most overused thing in an indie game these days but this one really made it so beautiful that it didn’t bother me at all. The developer team of two men brought in a freelance pixel artist to make their vision come to reality. Just look at the screenshots to see how good of a job they did. Add The 70’s funky soundtrack to the mix and you have the ideal setting for a dark tale in the underworld of Milan.
Conclusion
Milanoir is a great-looking game with a high learning curve. It’s challenging controls often left me frustrated but with some perseverance – and a lot of dying – I managed to have a fun experience. I would recommend playing this game with a second player. It’s less frustrating and more fun to experience the game’s humor with a friend next to you.
