Gatling Gears

Developer: Vanguard Games
Steam Release: Aug 2011
Hours Played: 11.7
Similar To: Forced Showdown / Leap Of Fate / Meltdown / Steel Storm: Burning Retribution
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
With pew-pew aplenty, satisfying deaths and gargantuan explosions, Gatling Gears is a rip-roaring experience. Throw in graphics of the first order and added power-ups for extra destruction and you have a frenetic blast 'em up on steroids. The game is similar to Tiny Troopers in that you journey through a battlefield in isometric view along a linear path. You control a walking mech while the screen constantly moves forward meaning you cannot retrace your steps and gets you in the mindset of collecting the dropped nuts swiftly which disappear after about 10 seconds. The game is silky-smooth and looks stunning. Environments are varied and enemies are rendered in the steam-punk style. 


BALANCE & PACE
In all, you have three weapon types which are easy to use once you've done the tutorial. Your standard gatling gun gives you your typical conal machine gun type fire. Cannons take down more powerful enemies, while your grenades (which have to be aimed before firing) can take out the more hard-to-get-at hostiles. For added fun, you get to pick up golden power-ups along the way which dramatically increase your fire power for one of those weapons. Now those are fun! To sum up; you mow down your enemies, collect the nuts and gold bars, use the gold for upgrades between areas, and happily blast your way through the game. The varied enemies, fantastic explosions, thrilling sound-effects and dynamic environments all help to keep the game fresh and exciting.


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Luckily, Gatling Gears no longer forces you to open an account with EA Games before you can play so we can be mightily thankful for that and is yet another reason why I strongly recommend shelling out for this game. Once installed it really is solid goodness all the way. Menus are chunky, stable and well designed with a user-friendly format. You get six chapters with five levels or areas in each and this info is accessed after you click on the Campaign mode. The fifth and final level in each chapter always features a 3-phase, bullet-hell style boss. Survival takes you to a choice of three games which throws wave upon waves of enemies at you challenging you to survive for as long as possible.



PROGRESS SYSTEM
There are 3 difficulty settings: Easy, Medium and Hard and cranking this up to Hard does seem to have a positive effect on your score. After completing an area you get plenty of stats at the end such as kills, hits taken, gears collected, structures destroyed etc, along with your best score for the area plus an award commensurate with your score. This is accompanied by a rotating cog and a mechanical sound-effect. You may, of course, replay any level you have completed to collect all gold bars and/or improve your score. Once you have orientated yourself, it is a very efficient system which traces progress very well and clearly shows how well you are doing. Upgrades are purchased at a shop between levels.

CONCLUSION
Shoot 'em ups are all about the fun-factor and Gatling Gears provides that in spades. This is helped mainly by its fantastic graphics but also kept fresh with its three different types of attack which really enhance the player's feeling of power and control. Dropping a well-timed grenade on that pesky tank and pumping a load of cannons into that bulky air machine is an experience that never really grows old; not to mention picking up that gatling-gun power-up and spraying bullets at the enemy infantry like a madman possessed! It's all very well done and, once experienced, is a game whose spirit will definitely call you back multiple times.