The Gunstringer was developed by Twisted Pixel and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on September 13, 2011.
The Gunstringer is the fifth game by Twisted Pixel and the developer’s first venture into making Kinect games. In The Gunstringer, you play as an undead, gun slinging marionette puppet, cleverly named The Gunstringer, as he hunts down his old posse who shot him in the back and left him for dead. Essentially an on-rails shooter, The Gunstringer tasks you with shooting enemies, dodging obstacles, and occasionally platforming over obstructions, all while the vengeful Gunstringer runs on a set path through the enviroments.
Here’s what we liked:
Doing motion controls right - On the way to killing your old posse members you’re going to run through a lot of cannon fodder, and you’ll do it all with the flick of a wrist. Seriously, you’ll use the crosshair to paint up to six targets, then flick your wrist up and BAM! they’re all dusted. You control the Gunstringer himself with your left hand, moving him left to right and jumping by moving your hand upwards. The controls aren’t without their faults – the Kinect sensor will sometimes lose you and have to recalibrate – but %99.9 of the time the game goes off without a hitch.
Fantastic FMV - It’s not much of a surprise to see Twisted Pixel’s delightful take on FMV make its triumphant return in The Gunstringer. But unlike previous games, the live action video takes on a much bigger role. From a full audience of people to a single arm coming down from the sky to make your life that much more difficult, and other short sequences of FMV along the way, The Gunstringer uses intentionally cheesy FMV in the most charming way imaginable. The presence of FMV not only gives you a few laughs, but keeps up the feeling that you are putting on an actual marionette play.
Pacing - It’s not often that a game handles pacing as well as The Gunstringer. The game is split up into chapters, or “plays”, and there are four in total. As you complete each play, the game increases in difficulty, and The Gunstringer does this flawlessly. There are no steep spikes in difficulty, the game eases new enemies at you, and it gives you time to adjust to the new weapons and power ups as you receive them. The only moderately difficult parts in The Gunstringer are the boss battles. These can be a pain sometimes, as it takes some time to adjust to the sudden switch to a 2D plane and the immediate change in combat tactics.
Here’s what we didn’t like:
Length - The main problem with The Gunstringer is that it’s too short. With the experience only lasting for about four to five hours, it can be played through in just a few sittings (standings?). There are tons of unlockables to go back to, and modifiers to enable if you really hate yourself, but neither of these things give you enough incentive to go back for another play through. The Gunstringer seems like it would have benefited from a small cut in size and a downgrade to XBLA.
Crippling arm fatigue - Holding both of your hands out at a 45 degree angle quickly becomes tiresome. With the game demanding you be precise, it becomes increasingly more difficult to advance levels when you can barely move The Gunstringer at all, much less lift your wrist quick enough to dodge obstacles the game lays in front of you. Twisted Pixel thought of this and suggests to you throughout the game that you may be more comfortable playing while seated. Though this does help some, it does take away a little bit of the fun you get from playing while standing.
All in all, The Gunstringer comes out to be one of the best experiences you can have on the Kinect. The short story and repetitive gameplay keep this game from being great. That said, if you own a Kinect you should at least give The Gunstringer a try.
Score: Try it
