TGS 2010 - Gun Loco Hands-on Impressions


In September, I attended Tokyo Game Show 2010 as press. These previews were originally posted at criticalgamer and my blog over at 1UP.

Gun Loco is an Xbox 360 exclusive, third person shooter from Square-Enix. It’s set on a prison planet inhabited by a number of extremely disturbed individuals, where inmates entertain themselves by dressing up and massacring each other. The tone and appearance of the characters, along with the mix of humour and violence, initially reminded me of the Timsplitters series. However, a 15 minute hands on with the singleplayer campaign quickly tempered such comparisons.

During the hands-on, Gun Loco was plagued by random enemy spawning, terrible ally AI and “who can shoot the other person in the face more than five times wins” stand-offs. Other frustrations included being one shot killed by an unannounced mini boss, and constantly finding one of your rabbit headed allies wandering in front of you for a slug to the back of the head. It remains to be seen whether Gun Loco will be better suited to multiplayer, which was unavailable in the demo, removing the annoyance of sub-par AI friendlies.

On the plus side, the weapons have a nice ring and kick to them and the sprint and slide moves are enjoyable, allowing you to traverse different surfaces and slide under others at speed. When combined with the trigger, you can discharge a super powered shot which makes short work of the enemies and bosses alike. Run and gun seemed to be the most effective way of progressing through the demo’s urban setting and vicious finishers became available when close enough to your target. The opposition, unlike your comrades in arms, are pretty handy with a gun, keeping you on your toes throughout, wary of straying out into the open for too long lest you are shot in the chin.

Gun Loco is a good 6 months from release, so we may remain optimistic that there is time yet to fix some of the issues which clouded what is still an interesting premise. Only time will tell, but from what I saw at TGS, Gun Loco still has a fair way to go.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TGS 2019 - PC Engine Mini Hands-on

Image
"Push run button" Run button? Does it mean press forward? That must be what it means. Hang on, no there is a Run button - how weird. I'd best press that then. I had never played a PC Engine until three days ago, when I spent some time messing about with the Japanese Mini at Konami's booth at Tokyo Game Show. I am assured that the emulation is excellent, being that it comes from developer M2. I can confirm that the games run smoothly, but I have no frame of reference for comparing them to the originals. The system looks tidy, the controller is solid, and the audio, experienced through headphones, is crisp. Despite there being 57 games available, the interface is uncluttered and the option menus are easy to navigate. Now we've got all that out the way, let's get back to my never having played a PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16 or whatever you prefer to call it. The original console has long been a mystery to me. I have no history with it, and don't recall
Read more

It's 2024 and I'm Buying a Nintendo GameCube

Image
Buying a new-to-you retro console is a lovely thing. A complete and well-appraised library ready to be experienced, an array of affordable games, and a wealth of written features, histories and buyer's guides to delve into. You're getting a new piece of hardware to explore, an unfamiliar startup screen to gawk at, and controllers to get to grips with. A new medium via which you can experience, or relive, a time past. A new box to pour some of your passion into. While the Nintendo GameCube isn't quite brand new to me, I've never owned one myself. However, I'm planning on changing that very soon.  Aside from chasing the new-console high, the decision to buy a GameCube was partially inspired by talk of Eternal Darkness a few weeks ago on The Back Page pod. I'm a sucker for historical-timeline-switching, and being that it's only playable on GameCube, Eternal Darkness is the perfect excuse for a console purchase. I was semi-familiar with it beforehand, but not o
Read more

The Massacre at Guthrie Farm

Image
I just wanted to say hello. I was out on my horse, exploring Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time. I was overwhelmed, unsure of the controls and equally unsure of where to go. I'd just skinned a bison and was combing my horse when I spotted a small farm on the horizon. There will be people there, I thought, and perhaps they'll have some important information for me. At the very least, they'll have something entertaining to say. I slung the bison pelt on the back of my horse, made sure my guns were holstered and headed straight for the farmstead in search of conversation and companionship. I spotted a farmhand working the field a stone's throw from the house. "Howdy partner", I said in my head, in a silly cowboy voice. The middle-aged man took one look at me, shouted something unpleasant, and drew his weapon. What a dick. Turns out Arthur (me) is a wanted man. Earlier that day, I'd unintentionally murdered a travelling salesman. I just wanted
Read more