GUNCHO review
Arnold Rauers has been in the business of making clever little mobile games for awhile now, so it's probably no surprise that the release ofGUNCHO garners some attention. This game is a slight departure from the designer's typically card-based approach, though, and–while it can be pretty fun–it lacks some of the elegance and refinement of previous releases.
Step or shoot
GUNCHO is a wild west shootout game that takes place in a turn-based fashion. On a hexagonal grid full of cacti, oil barrels, and plenty of sand, you control a six-shooting desperado as they face off against waves of gunmen, trappers, miners, and more. Your goal is to clear all these waves by moving or shooting one turn at a time, though all it takes is one false decision to wind up biting the dust.
You see, in this game, you are just as fragile as your enemies, meaning any explosion, stray bullet, or brush fire can take you out just as easily as it can your enemies, so you have to be smart with your moves and with your ammo to survive. Another key mechanic to GUNCHO is how its gunplay functions. At the bottom of the screen you can see your revolver cylinder turn whenever you move, which is important because in this game you can only fire bullets if you have ammo in the chamber that points in the direction of what you want to shoot at.
Revolver roguelike
Outside of these systems, GUNCHO is a generally straightforward roguelike. When you clear a level, you get the option to choose an ammo or ability upgrade which allows you to pick from three random cards that give you new powers, like the ability to shoot piercing shots, leap over obstacles, etc. If you die, you can try again from the beginning starting with nothing.
GUNCHO offers three game modes, though all three are very slight variations on the same core game. Normal mode is–presumably–the default mode, which differs from Expert mode by having a more gradual difficulty ramp and the ability to retry levels a limited number of times. Finally, there's a daily challenge that adds three random mutators to the game, all of which are unique to that mode exclusively.
Randomness reload
There are times when GUNCHO feels freshly dynamic and like it's the best new tactical battler you can play with one hand. At others, though, the chain reactions of different enemy and environmental mechanics can feel too chaotic and random, ending runs in ways you couldn't have easily predicted. To account for this,GUNCHO does have its retry system (for at least 2 of 3 modes), but this isn't a very satisfying or elegant solution to this problem.
Of course, you can see if this is how you feel about the game for yourself, as it is free to download and play. If you like it, you can pay $4.99 for the “full unlock” of GUNCHO, which only seems to disable ads.
The bottom line
GUNCHO is by no means a bad game, but it does feel like it's missing something. Previous games from Rauers have a few more wrinkles to them that help make them stand out, whereas this game is just another solid roguelike.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/guncho-review/
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