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The Gunstringer: Big Shootin' Impressions
Twisted Pixel’s second DLC offering for The Gunstringer lacks the humor of the core game and the insanity of the Wavy Tube Man Chronicles DLC, but does provide an intense shooting galley experience that rewarded me with 110 achievement points in just 20 minutes of play. That’s all the time that is needed to march through the entire DLC offering, which consists of 12 short rounds and a final boss that is more of an ode to Duck Hunt than a fight.
Each round is far more challenging and fast-paced than any of the gameplay in the core experience, usually consisting of waves that require all six bullets to be locked on and fired as quickly as possible. A combat modifier is randomly selected at the beginning of each round. If the “shotgun” mod is in play, the round will be much easier, as you can blast multiple enemies at once without having to tag them first. If the “metal” mod is in play (requiring all enemies to be shot twice), the round could become unbearably difficult. I rage quit on my first playthrough when it appeared on the fifth round, making the frog and alligator foes unfairly difficult. Even after memorizing the waves of foes, I still couldn’t complete this round.
After venting for a good 10 minutes, I returned to the game, and was surprised to see that I couldn’t start from that fifth round again. All 13 rounds must be completed in one run. Thankfully, on my second pass, the “metal” mod appeared on a much easier stage and I was able to reach the end of the game.
For a company like Twisted Pixel, this DLC is surprisingly out of character and really is nothing more than a generic shooting gallery. The DLC is available now for the low sum of 240 MS points ($3). Outside of getting easy achievements, there’s little reason to play it.
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