Shotgun Cop Man is a wierd platformer. You play as a sq. man with a spherical, bald head who’s chasing Devil to arrest him. Initially of every of the sport’s 9 worlds, Devil offers you the center finger. And also you don’t simply use weapons for preventing, however for traversal as nicely.
You begin every world with two weapons: a rapid-fire however weak pistol and a extra highly effective shotgun that solely has three blasts. Once you’re on the bottom, your ammo always refills, that means you basically have infinite ammo. However while you’re within the air, in case you run out of bullets, you gained’t get a refill till you contact the bottom.
This all issues as a result of there’s no leap button. Which means you get into the air by taking pictures your weapons: the pistol allows you to hover, whereas the shotgun can rocket you upward to succeed in excessive platforms. You’ll be able to intention in any course, so the shotgun can blast you back and forth, too — it’s a speedy and enjoyable method to get round. It’s all a bit of bit like Downwell, however sideways.
Picture: Devolver Digital
You’ll must get round shortly to dodge Devil’s minions. Most frequently, you’ll tackle little devils that spit bullets and are typically a nuisance. However there are a couple of tougher enemies, corresponding to flying sentient saws with one eye. There are bosses on the finish of every world, too, like a flying cranium with horns that may manifest a physique to assault you with.
Should you get hit by an enemy or stung by a spike, your coronary heart will fly a brief distance away out of your physique. Should you get the guts again, you’ll survive one other hit and the guts will float away once more. It’s just like a Sonic recreation, the place you possibly can take successful as long as you have got at the very least one ring. Should you’re hit whereas your coronary heart is out, you’ll die — although due to the sport’s beneficiant checkpoint system, you normally gained’t begin too removed from the place you had been killed.
Every world has 17 brief ranges which can be stuffed with typical platforming risks together with baddies, spikes, shifting platforms, lasers, and block pushing puzzles. (Block taking pictures puzzles?) Particular person ranges typically take 30 seconds to a few minutes to beat, so relying on how skillful you might be along with your weapons, you possibly can zip to the purpose shortly and really feel like a speedrunner.
You’ll regularly discover new weapons, too. I used to be an enormous fan of 1 that made bullets bounce off partitions, which doubled as a helpful puzzle-solving instrument. The sniper rifle was a welcome improve as a result of it might blast via a number of enemies directly.
Picture: Devolver Digital
Visually, the sport appears to be like like a platformer in darkish mode: black is the first shade, and enemies are typically a shade of purple. All through the sport, you’ll hear a persistent, thumping, and unnerving soundtrack that appears like what you’d hear at some sort of Devil-worshipping membership. The entire vibe makes you’re feeling as in case you’re truly descending into the pits of some darkish hell.
My favourite a part of the sport was that you possibly can accomplish lots in a brief period of time. My full playthrough was about three and a half hours, and I might get via many of the 9 worlds in about 20 or half-hour. I appreciated the brevity, as a result of despite the fact that I very a lot loved the sport, the deliberately uncomfortable ambiance bought underneath my pores and skin, and I might solely play it briefly bursts.
When you perceive tips on how to navigate simply with Shotgun Cop Man’s weapons, you possibly can actually fly across the ranges like some sort of cartoony motion hero. By the tip, you’ll use these weapons to present the finger proper again to Devil.
Shotgun Cop Man is now out there on PC and Nintendo Swap.