Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 11/Dec 00:01

Squirrel with a Gun – Review

When a squirrel breaks into a secret facility, steals a golden acorn, and finds a gun, all hell is sure to break loose. With various firearms, you propel yourself to greater heights to collect as many acorns as possible. Federal government agents, tanks, and others will try to stop you, but none can contain the Squirrel with a Gun! Story On a normal day as any other, a lonely squirrel has found itself a way to a secret underground facility. There he finds a great golden acorn which he consumes. This seemingly gives him some form of superpower because suddenly he can solve complex puzzles. Furthermore, when a federal government agent accidentally trips and drops his gun, the squirrel can understand the purpose of the gun and use it. At this point of the game, the concept of logic doesn’t exist anymore, and you should not approach a Squirrel with a Gun with a logical mindset. While battling throughout the facility, which serves as a tutorial, the squirrel protagonist finds himself in the neighborhood where the biggest part of the game revolves around. From here, you’ll be on the hunt for even more golden and normal acorns. The initial start of the story was unique and interesting. However, the rest of the story is rather simple and doesn’t elaborate on why for example the government would be holding these golden acorns. Throughout the story, you encounter a couple of bosses who offer some cool fights but there aren’t that many, unfortunately. Finally, the story has a very short runtime. It’s possible to finish Squirrel with a Gun in just a couple of hours. Graphics For such a short game Squirrel with a Gun offers quite great graphics. There is a lot of attention to detail such as the face of the squirrel, lighting, and water animations. Something that is also animated nicely is the many executions you can perform when you stun an enemy. However, every gun only offers one of the animations. So, after seeing it for the 15th time, it starts to lose its charm. When it comes to most enemies, they are the same character model and offer very little variety. The lack of variety is a returning problem of Squirrel with a Gun. Sound The sound design is also neat. The music has some nice instrumental play and adds to the silliness of the game which is a great choice. The overall heavy soundtrack does add a lot of oomph to the game’s combat. The gunshots and explosions sound realistic. The same counts for objects when they are being thrown around. Even the squirrel and the enemies you face have some simple audio tracks. However, there isn’t much variety here which is a bit unfortunate. Gameplay Squirrel with a Gun is a 3D sandbox platformer in which you use guns to take out enemies and to help with navigating jumps. This last part is explained in the tutorial and gives a unique flavor to the platforming mechanics of Squirrel with a Gun. While jumping, you can use the gun to extend your jump distance or, in the case of some other weapons, increase the height of the jump. The controls are something to get used to. The jumping for example is sometimes a bit hard to direct. This can lead to frustration when you just miss a pole or an edge, and you plummet down. However, the use of the gun during jumping is a very interesting mechanic that makes sure the player will keep trying to find innovative ways to reach those golden acorns. The golden acorns serve as story progression items while the normal acorns are used to buy certain upgrades such as a toy car or even better more dangerous guns! This is a simple but smart way to keep the player busy grabbing those acorns. Apart from the platforming aspect, the guns of course also provide the player with a means to deal with the enemies faced in Squirrel with a Gun. They often use their weaponry to try to take you out. However, it seems that most enemies are rather static and don’t move around that much, making them an easy target to take down. Even bosses, while certainly imposing in comparison with our furry friend, don’t seem to pose much of a challenge and are destroyed rather easily. As mentioned before, there are only a few bosses which is also an unfortunate aspect. Lastly, a Squirrel with a Gun resembles a classical 3D platformer in the sense that you can only save at designated places. Most often, this is a birdhouse. While this is a nice classical touch, it can be annoying that you can’t just save on the spot. Conclusion Squirrel with a Gun is a funny short game that offers an innovative mechanic to the platforming aspect. However, due to the lack of variety, the easy-to-take-down enemies, and the short duration, it feels like Squirrel with a Gun could have had more potential. Then again, the few hours that Squirrel with a Gun provides the player are fun ones and it is interesting to wreak mayhem as a Squirrel with a Gun.