Games can have quite the range, especially in the current era. We have seen genres that once were a hard sell find popularity and had games tell the most emotional stories that take us on an epic journey. Then we’ve got versions of all-time classics, reboots, original ideas that push boundaries. Then we have games that are just what thewy are.
That is the case with the odd but wonderful Shotgun Cop Man. From the creator of the equally odd and ‘sure, why not?’ game… My Friend Pedro. Instead of being a bullet ballet type affair as Pedro, instead this is more ‘Splosion Man with a shotgun.
Essentially Take N+ and mis it with ‘Splosion Man and you pretty much get Shotgun Cop Man. Levels are simple, with basic visuals that tell you everything you need to know with navigating though them to the end.
You move as normal, but can only jump with your shotgun fire, which you also need to use to blast away the enemy, whilst also using it to avoid various obstacles. Whilst it can sound like that is a lot to do with a single mechanic, it actually works wonderfully and is super intuitive.
RT will fire bullets and it generally used to aim at the baddies. Whilst LT will give a shot that allows you to also jump. By using the right and left sticks to aim and more you will fire off the floor, off walls and even in the air to navigate around levels, killing off the bad guys as you go.
The opening couple of levels allow you to feel out the controls with little danger, but as soon as you feel like you’ve got an idea of how it handles, Shotgun Cop Man ups the ante and the difficulty. Yet you feel empowered as you bounce around levels taking out enemy characters and avoiding all manner of traps.
The moment you first slide down a slope and fire off at an angle to then take out a couple of enemies on a platform above before making a quick landing and going again just feel exhilarating.
It feels like lessons have been learned from My Friend Pedro, where the game was fun, but could often get a bit bogged down with confusing level structures and just too much going on. Whereas Shotgun Cop Man seems to have picked a couple of core mechanics and leaned into them heavily to create a game that feels much more consistent, where you can learn techniques to improve and get better.
The simple visuals work wonderfully well too and again where My Friend Pedro felt like it was just a bit too busy and detailed at times, this is super focused, with the things that need to standout being clear as day.
I actually went into this with tempered expectations, but came out of it with a game that I had an (excuse the pun) absolute blast with. Fully recommend getting this if you want a challenging platformer that will test you over and over.
