[h2] In short: [/h2]
A fun and hectic little action platformer with tight controls. Good for a few hours of entertainment; it took me just under 4 hours for 100% (achievement) completion, i.e., excluding bonus levels. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for full price, but from a sale it is definitely a good catch.
Overall rating: 6/10 when full price, 8.5/10 at half price.
[h2] More detailed review: [/h2]
Satan's been at it again, and needs to be reminded that the long hand of the law cannot be avoided. This is where you, Shotgun Cop Man, step in. As a wide king, your running skills are atrocious; luckily, you've been armed with your trusty shotgun which you can use to achieve lift-off and soar above the stinky demons who serve as your typical antagonist. Just remember, the shotgun houses only three shells before a reload is needed, unless a demon is killed mid-air, in which case, by the grace of God, one of your shells is refunded. For additional smiting prowess, you're also equipped with your trusty pistol, which you can swap for other secondary weapons that randomly drop from enemies. With these basic mechanics, you descend nine worlds (layers?) into Hell to bring Satan to justice, avoiding various obstacles and pulverizing the accomplices of evil. The game introduces new minor mechanics all the way to the end, keeping you engaged. Generally, these mechanics are tied to specific worlds, and are not likely to show up in others.
The weapons in the game are slightly hit and miss. The always-equipped shotgun has very short range and massive recoil, and is mostly used as a traversing tool. The secondary weapons are usually powerful, being the main method of clearing enemies. They can also be quite situational; for example, the mechanics of some worlds require accurate sniping of enemies without stray shots. In these cases, your starting pistol is without equal due to its relative shot weakness (no piercing bullets) and point-and-click accuracy. While there are not many secondary weapons that are outright bad, I did find myself avoiding certain ones (flamethrower and the scatter-shot pistol) due to their unreliability.
Each world is divided into multiple levels, and in each level you have the challenges of beating them without taking damage, killing every enemy, and within a given time limits. The levels range from basic traversal levels to arena fights, and each world is capped off with a boss fight. The bosses are generally quite easy, except for the final one being a moderate jump in difficulty. Each world also introduces new level mechanics, such as shootable moving platforms, throwable bombs used to destroy walls, etc., introducing minor puzzle elements into the carnage. Along the levels, new secondary weapons are also introduced every now and then, adding them into the enemy drop pool for further levels. The new mechanics kept the levels fresh throughout, and were quite fun to work around. The only exceptions were the platforms that turned between spiky and smooth by shooting and the shoot-to-push/shoot-to-pull blocks. For the former, I found great frustration in trying to avoid stray shots, as almost every secondary weapon excepting the pistol peppers walls as much as enemies. For the latter, while the idea of the blocks was good, I found them to not register hits occasionally.
Visually, the game is clear in its simplicity and pleasant to look at, and I had practically no issues parsing the important elements among all the carnage. The only exception was with some of the secondary weapons that had the tendency of cluttering the screen with bullets very easily (the scattering pistol being the main culprit). The game sounds are quite punchy, and work very well in conjunction with the simpler graphics. The music is repetitive, and I don't remember it changing between any of the worlds. I turned the music off at world 6.
The story in the game is non-existent, the game knows it, and this is by no means a bad thing. If you're looking for a game with a deeper story, you'll have better luck elsewhere. In fact, the whole story can be summarized by the first five words of the Steam description: 'GO TO HELL, ARREST SATAN'. Satan himself is a man(?) of few words and says a total of five (5) words in the whole game: [spoiler]♥♥♥♥ you, Shotgun Cop Man[/spoiler]. He definitely took inspiration from the "right to remain silent" part. It's too bad he forgot the "anything you say will be used against you" part, and for this boorishness shall receive justice at the barrel of a shotgun.
