One Gun Guy Review – GamersHeroes

We all know the drill when it comes to classic platformers – complete each level and get to the end. However, what would happen if the entire game was one giant level?

Ritual Games and GrabTheGames answer that question with One Gun Guy, an old school throwback on a massive scale. Should players take on its hazards, or are platformers best served in bite-sized chunks?

One Gun Guy Review

It’s pretty easy to figure out what’s going on from the offset. You’re the titular guy, you’re packing a gun, and you’re an army for one. Taking inspiration from the 8-bit platformers of old, there’s no time for exposition, cutscenes, or a single line of dialog – there’s robots to blast.

This title takes liberal cues from Capcom’s Mega Man series, warts and all. Packing a blaster that can be charged, one can double jump, glide, and find ways to fly through the air.

However, there’s a catch – you lose one of these perks if you take a hit. While there is the possibility to get things back with one of the many power-ups that dot the land, one (or a few, in many cases) will leave players stuck with a pea shooter, a lack of maneuverability, and a blonde protagonist in their skivvies.

This system does encourage players to plan out their actions – after all, it worked wonders for titles like Konami’s Gradius. However, without any serious sort of repercussion, this lacks any sort of bite. Despite there being conveyor belts, lasers, and smashing cylinders, we found this title far too easy for its own good. This is far from a brag – those who played through any platformer will no doubt feel like this is a cakewalk. This is exacerbated by the countless power-ups that restore your power and checkpoints found every couple of feet.

And therein lies the problem with One Gun Guy – the whole endeavor feels a bit pointless. Certain areas of its one main level have a different background, but the entirety of our one hour playthrough of the title felt like it blended together. Robots – and even the final boss – feel like generic placeholders compared to the Mavericks that put Mega Man on the map. Even the chiptune music gets to be grating after a while – expect to hear the same melody for most of your playthrough.

This extends to the other additions to the game as well. There’s a system to collect coins, but without any place to redeem them or even a leaderboard this seems pointless. There’s also nothing to do after the title is complete, outside of a hard mode. Put simply, this is one title that lacks any sort of originality.

One Gun Guy blatantly copies Mega Man’s homework and yet still manages to fail the assignment. The idea of the entire game being one screen has some merit to it, but that’s all it has going for it.

This review of One Gun Guy was done on the PC. The game was purchased digitally.