Gunhead Review – IS THIS FPS REALLY THAT DISAPPOINTING?
When I first heard about Gunhead, I was really intrigued. This ambitious title promised to bring us an addictive roguelike FPS with a procedurally generated level design. Whilst this definitely had me foaming at the mouth, when I actually dived in, I was a little surprised at what I found.
The challenging gameplay in Gunhead
Gunhead features some really intriguing gameplay elements. The most notable being a multi-weapon attack system. Instead of opting for the traditional FPS style of cycling between firearms to choose which one to use, instead each weapon is mapped to a specific button. This enables you to be able to fire off shots from each gun that you have equipped simultaneously. This was a really neat mechanic in Gunhead, especially because of how simple it is to use. However, this does not lessen the challenge that awaits in the various spaceships. After all, this is a roguelike we are talking about, and Gunhead seems pretty intent on reminding you of that… and often…
This is definitely one of the more demanding roguelikes that I have played. Enemies seem to pop up out of nowhere, and the ever increasing challenge forces you to use every single thing in your arsenal, just to survive. Now, there are different difficulty levels available, so if you have had enough of dying after your one thousandth attempt, you could always lower it… But where is the fun in that?
If you have had enough of dying after your one thousandth attempt, you could always lower it… But where is the fun in that?
Gunhead is a pretty game!
I must say that Gunhead’s art style is quite charming! Featuring a cel shaded aesthetic, the basic design elements almost have a ‘Borderlands on a budget’ vibe. However, it works really well here. Despite the basic visuals looking nice, the game overall design is a bit samey. Once you have seen one of the spaceships, you have essentially seen them all.
Gunhead suffers from being an overly repetitive title. At first, I thought that there might be a decent amount of variety, especially because the alien ships are procedurally generated. Unfortunately, it just seems like the various areas in the ships just get shuffled for each new run. Admittedly, there is a sizeable amount of weapons and abilities to pick up whilst battling through each ship, so that is definitely something. It just isn’t enough to distract from the lack of variety in each encounter…
It just isn’t enough to distract from the lack of variety in each encounter…
Gunhead has a story?
One strange decision that was made in Gunhead was to include a story… Well at least sort of… It is no surprise that Gunhead’s focus was to create challenging environments for you to try and blast your way through, so any form of narrative would not have been necessary. However, for some reason there is a very minimalistic basic story that was included. It tries to give a reason as to why you are raiding these ships, but because it doesn’t really explain too much, but still has filler dialogue from various characters, it just feels like it left out way too much… I would have been completely fine if there was no story at all and the game just shoved me into blasting through enemies. But because there was a little something given here, but not nearly enough to create a decent narrative, it just feels out of place and leaves a lot to be desired.
Decision
Overall, Gunhead sets out to be a challenging FPS roguelike. Whilst at its core it does achieve this, the lack of variety and rinse and repeat formula makes this title rather monotonous. I did find myself having a bit of fun for a few hours. Unfortunately, it just didn’t last.
By Samuel Incze – Reviewed on PC
Average
Gunhead is a FPS roguelike that promises a level of challenge with its procedurally generated levels and unique gunplay system. However, it can’t escape the monotonous rinse and repeat formula of the gameplay, and the samey level design. The inclusion of a sporadic half-baked narrative in this style of game just leaves a lot to be desired.
This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Alien Trap Games. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.
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