When Dobsoft Studios released a ten-second preview for Gun Fu in July, my thoughts upon seeing it were: “What a tease. This looks really cool, and yet it doesn’t tell us anything whatsoever about the game!”
Well, it’s said that the best way to hide things is in plain sight, and when I fired up the copy of Gun Fu Dobsoft recently sent our way, I smacked my forehead as I got the joke: that teaser trailer could, for all intents and purposes, pass as in-game footage! As much a work of slick art nouveau as it is a videogame, Gun Fu is a good example of how much a developer can accomplish with a minimalistic approach.
Gun Fu plays like a cross between Equilibrium and Saturday Night Fever, if you can imagine that. Seriously, if a disco spotlight suddenly started shining on Christian Bale in the opening scene of Equilibrium, or everyone in the disco suddenly pulled a handgun on John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever‘s opening, this would be the result. To the sound of some disco-worthy techno, the player commands a dance of death that’s stunningly choreographed even in the most inexperienced hands — it has to be, because the player character’s survival depends on his ability to wave guns around as if he were a Cirque du Soleil contortionist dropped into the middle of a war zone. He’s constantly surrounded by enemies that will strike him dead within a few seconds of appearing, so the player will get well acquainted with multi-touch as a way of thinning the opposition quickly.
iOS shooter fans already familiar with ShootingDemon will feel right at home with Gun Fu‘s simple tap-to-fire interface, though Gun Fu is far more visually streamlined and ammo is in unlimited supply. As a tradeoff for that infinite ammo, the player can only miss so many times before failing; not that that’s too much of a concern during the game’s most intense moments, where there’s a high likelihood an enemy will be wherever the player taps. A string of quick and accurate shots fills up the player character’s Fury Meter, but we’ll wait for the review to tell you what happens then! In the meantime I think I’ll keep practicing my gun kata.
Keep an eye on iFanzine for more coverage of Gun Fu as the game approaches release! We’ll have an interview with the developers coming up in addition to a full review.