Developer: Terrible Posture Games
Publisher: Terrible Posture Games LLC
Platform: PC, Mac, PS4, PS3, Xbox One
Tested on: PS4
Tower of Guns – Review
Do you like over the top action games? Do you like big guns? Do you like total chaos? Well, Tower of Guns offers all that good stuff and makes you feel like the next action hero. If you’re one who’s quite sensitive to motion sickness or epilepsy, you’d to well to skip this title as it’s very, very fast. Still, Tower of Guns provides an arcade, fast paced and incredibly satisfying roguelike experience which you won’t find in all those serious, need-to-save-the-world kind of games. Let me enlighten you in my review.
Story
Well, story wise, there’s not so much going on in Tower of Guns. Aside from a few sentences written on top of your screen, there’s not really anything that holds some kind of story but that’s okay. I can’t imagine a story which would suit this game anyways.
Graphics
The game is a very colourful one with a nice broad array of flashy colours and effects like explosions and fire everywhere you look. Tower of Guns is not a game you’ll play for the incredible good-looking graphics but it’s still cool to see how they made this game such a pleasant one to walk through. The level design is also pretty varied as one time you’ll be walking through something that looks like an industrial plant while the next level clouds your enemies in darkness.
The only downside that lies in the graphical department is that, as said before in the introduction of this review, it’s easy to find yourself getting a bit nauseated by all those effects and colours popping up right before you. The player will be spinning, jumping and falling everywhere and sometimes, after a very intensive fight with a boss or after defeating a crowded area, it was necessary to take a few seconds to clear the head. Besides this issue though, the graphical style is really quite enjoyable and fitting for this kind of shooter.
Sound
Music wise, the game knows a fine soundtrack but fails a bit in keeping things as fresh and new like it does in the graphical department. It could’ve used some more diverse tracks and sound effects. As you probably won’t notice a lot of music playing in the background (trust me, you won’t have the time for it) it does stand out when you pause for a moment to catch your breath. In the midst of the action though, the constant BLAM BLAM, explosions and razors sounds only enhance the situation of total chaos and get the adrenaline flowing pretty quickly.
Gameplay
Tower of Guns is a sort of roguelike with obviously, shooter mechanics and a lot of gun gameplay. You start off by choosing a very basic weapon (in the beginning you have two kinds of guns to choose from) and try your luck in the game. Each time you defeat an opponent, they’re likely to drop some loot like red orbs (which give you back some health) or blue cards. Those blue cards automatically upgrade the weapon you’re carrying and give it that extra oomph to make your way safely through the levels. Watch out though, if the character takes damage, the blue bar on the side will go down which makes your weapon lose its upgrade. Starting off with such a basic gun might be a bore after the fifth run or so, but even then it feels pretty fun to completely max out your weapon and bring carnage everywhere you go.
There’s a nice range of enemies which will need to be put down. To name a few of the anomalies you’ll encounter: flying razorblade robot things, canons, big canons, ultra big canons, flying bombs, flamethrowers and so on and so on. Even though this might make you thing that Tower of Guns is very varied in its opponents, it really isn’t. The same enemies keep popping up and besides the boss fights (which are not even that special most of the time), the game keeps putting down the same kind of enemies.
Luckily, there’s still one major aspect of the game that’ll make you come back to it: the fact that levels are randomized. No run is the same and memorizing the spots where booby traps pop up is of course of no help. Going from power-ups to opponents and boss fight, every time you load up the game, you’ll have no idea what to expect and this proves to be the perfect formula.
Conclusion
Tower of Guns is something totally different than you’d expect from another first person shooter. The levels and enemies are all randomized which keeps the gaming experience fresh each time you load up the game for another run. While the incredibly fast gameplay might not suit everyone (especially those sensitive to motion sickness), the bright colour palette fits right in. Restarting every time with basic weapons will not please everyone however as it might feel tedious after some time.
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