Gatling Gears is a addictive top down shooter that at first glance seems to be typical for the type of game it is. It’s also proof that average can be ok.
I’ll be honest and say that when starting to review this game I was not looking forward to this one. I have never been a fan of top down shooters and I’ve never found a game to make me feel different. The game is set up in chapters and starting the game you are introduced into a prologue. It takes you through the basics of the story. Basically the “Empire†is trying to take over the lands and it’s up to you and your ever trusty mech to stop them. To be honest, when I started playing the game I never really paid attention to the story that much. By the end of the game I had kept up enough to know what was going on and considering the game really don’t need a story it’s actually enough to make you care by the end.
As you set out in your mech to stop the empire, most all enemies you kill will drop small silver cogs. You pick these cogs up to set your multiplier. You gin points for certain things in and through out the game. You are equipped with a spark bomb that will decimate all enemies on your screen. If you can somehow not use this weapon till the end of the area, you will gain points for holding on to it. Those points will be added with all of your other points and then your multiplier will be put into play. Based on the points you get you will gain XP. This XP goes towards several different unlockables. Everything from mech skins to a pet. Also in each area you’ll find bars of gold. The gold is used to purchase upgrades for your mech. As you upgrade your mech and use your unlockables your mech takes on different appearances. Using this method of changing things up in a very “rinse and repeat†shooter game urges you to keep playing to see what kind of damage you will eventually cause and to see what the final version of your mech will look like.
Depending on what difficulty you play on it will directly effect the length of the game. The game feels short and way too easy on the easy difficulty. I found that normal was a good pace to keep and played it on normal. I spent roughly about 7 hours doing the main story. These days when it comes to a downloadable game, 7 hours seems average to me. The game does support a 2 player co-op mode, but playing with a friend or alone the game really does not change that much beyond making any challenge present almost completely go away. The achievements are there, but can if not done by accident effect how you play the game if you want them.
All in all, Gatling Gears is simply put, average. It’s not a bad game by any means, but it misses the mark of falling under remarkable as well. In my opinion 1200 MS points is just a little too much to pay for such an average experience. Simply put, this game is Deal of the Week material. If it ever makes it their it’s worth a look, otherwise save your points.
