Big budget activity gamesreallywant to print me . When I diddle something likeMonster Hunter Wilds , I ’m accept aback by the sheer scope and spectacle of it all as I remove enormous monsters while lightning strike around me . That technical ambition is often matched by a narrative one too . Dynasty Warriors : Originsdoesn’t just turn in thousands of soldier for me to carve up ; it aims to tell a dense story about fighting for public security . A lot of innovative action mechanism game almost seem abashed of the fact that they ’re ask you to shed so much blood , turn that action mechanism into a ego contemplation on the nature of violence . It ’s the unmated side force of an industry that ’s trying to render cracking thrill and more nuanced committal to writing in the same hint .
Shotgun Cop Mandoesn’t maintenance about any of that . Shotgun Cop Man just want to fool hit man and catch Satan .
Developed by DeadToast Entertainment , Shotgun Cop Manis an action game in its saturated form . It aim a wide-eyed premiss , one that has players jump only by shooting , and executes it in a optical maser - focalise fashion across 150 pungency - sized levels . It is diminished , dumb , and proud . In a landscape where so many games in its genre now come with some sort of asterisk , Shotgun Cop Manis an unapologetic eruption that packs everything I could need from an action at law plot into one $ 10 package .
Devolver Digital
It ’s not going to take long for me to explainShotgun Cop Manto you . There ’s a cop who loves shotguns . He break down to Hell on a quest to detain Satan . Satan utterly hates the guy . That ’s it . There ’s no pontificating on the nature of violence here . It ’s just a few hours of fast - pace demon shooting in which two line of talks tell each of its nine worlds — and one of those line is always “ F * * * you , Shotgun Cop Man ! ” It ’s in truth and purposefully stupefied in the most elegant direction possible .
The action at law hook is just as well-to-do to explain . Shotgun Cop Man can not jumpstart ; he can only blast guns . The military man knows what he likes . Luckily , his shotgun is powerful enough to propel him through the zephyr . If I bespeak it at the solid ground and shoot , he jump into the air . If I carry it to my left , he ’ll establish mighty . It ’s like It ’s more like I ’m piloting a starship than go a trivial guy around concealment . DeadToast refer to the plot as a “ precision platformer ” and that descriptor tracks as I postulate to cautiously institutionalize my gruff pal over spike pit and through spin optical maser .
While its lo - fi visuals look populace apart from DeadToast ’s premature game , the flashierMy Friend Pedro , the accurate same desoxyribonucleic acid is present here . Each storey is an legal action - platforming gantlet where I need to shoot his way through obstacles while killing ogre . That ’s a careful concert dance consider that any shotgun blast intended to take out a freak will institutionalize him flying across the screen too , though secondary weapons like pistols do n’t have that same recoil . fight , mobility , and puzzle solving are one in the same here , so I never need to stop moving once I get the hang of it all . level take no more than a minute to discharge ( and I ’m sure that speedrunners will only need mere seconds ) , giving me brusk jolts of epinephrine 150 times over .
As I tore through the entire thing in three hour , a serious question derive across my mind : What more do I postulate from an activeness game ? I think of , really!Shotgun Cop Manmay not crowd the screen with a billion atom effects or loud sound designing like a big budget action mechanism biz would , but does any of that spectacle actually make a secret plan better ? Blasting through the melody as a glorified stick material body feels just as exciting as cut down thousand of people in Dynasty Warriors . It feel like the video game combining weight of a formalist film , cut the pomp and circumstance of the genre down to its spare necessity . A trite story , round-eyed visuals , and a satisfying shot sweetener is all it needs to create a wickedly fun hitman .
Like so many not bad games in Devolver Digital ’s publishing catalog , Shotgun Cop Manisn’t go for sophistication . It is more than happy to sit in the loud seats among gaming ’s rowdiest fans . It is a proud piece of depleted artwork , though that term undersells just how much work DeadToast put in here . This is an like an expert designed natural process - platformer with tight , speed - based movement and clean level intent that take on reward of the core come-on in enough ways to keep spirit level fresh . It can only parade its minimalist silliness as confidently as it can because it bed that it has the activity to back it up .
Sometimes it ’s not the size or complexity of a game that matter , but how much ass it kicks . And Shotgun Cop Man kicks a stack of devil ass . That ’s kind of his integral thing .
Shotgun Cop Manlaunches on May 1 for Nintendo Switch and PC .
