In light of indie games receiving more critical acclaim these days than products that come from huge triple A studios, Playstation Plus has quickly become an inexpensive retreat to house some otherwise fantastic undiscovered talent. Within the past 18 months, Sony has offered its players the opportunity to play games from lesser known studios for only a small price per month, and in doing so, some real gems have been unearthed … and some turds have been buried. Every month I am subjected to a winner and an absolute stinker and what at first makes you think “Wow! A new game that’s free? Bargain!” can quickly translate to “Urgh no wonder it’s free, who’d pay for this?” … such is the case as this month’s offering, ‘Tower of Guns’.
‘Tower of Guns’ is a fast paced first person shooter developed by Terrible Posture Games and the latest instant game release for the Playstation 3 & 4. Created as a “lunch break FPS” it’s billed as a randomised, high octane shoot em up that could be easily completed in an hour or barely completed in 12. Featuring randomised enemies, levels and environments, the aim of Tower of Guns is simple, make it through the game as quickly as possible without dying, I never said it was easy, just simple. You begin each play-through by selecting a weapon and a perk, pick well and you can see yourself excel through the tower’s defences, pick badly and you’ll find yourself back at the main menu more often than you’d like; no consecutive attempt is the same as the game’s landscape, obstacles and baddies are randomised to keep you on your toes. Killing enemies will reward you with health, coins and weapon EXP, which will gradually make your gun more powerful as you progress, that is unless you keep losing health which unfortunately is linked to your weapon’s levelling. Designed to be played in short bursts, Tower of Guns sounds like a challenging romp through a torturous dungeon of enemy bots, but if anything it was more torturous for me to pick up the pad and play it more than once.
What I dislike the most about Tower of Guns is the sense of contradiction I get from its premise. It aims to be a game that is fun in short bursts and a fast paced challenge that encourages the player to keep going no matter how many times they fail, however I’ve found Tower of Guns to be neither of these things. To begin with you start off with a choice of 2 crap weapons that are massively ineffective against an overwhelming barrage of robots, and it is only after dying 3 times you unlock a new weapon that actually delivers some damage; even after unlocking this powerful gun it failed to improve my gaming experience. Tower of Guns promises to be an action packed heart pounding assault course, yet most of the time I found myself casually scaling ramps, effortlessly shooting enemies and progressing through the game at a snail’s pace, none of which was my intention. I too found that from the off the game was unnecessarily punishing for little to no reward, sure I beat the boss and moved on to the next chapter but why should I bother to continue when all I’ve got to show for it is I can now jump 3 times higher, how is that going to kill 5 dozen robots and a boss? Despite carrying a rather nicely upgraded shotgun, I was no match for this consistently difficult game as during a challenging boss battle, I didn’t know where to focus my attention, concentrating on the boss would cause you to be killed by its children, focusing on the robot minions would give the boss a free pass to kill you quickly, and not focusing on the environment will kill you just as easily. The only strategy in this game is to shoot shoot shoot, and though as fun as it sounds, I found it disappointingly bland and frustrating.
The general concept behind Tower of Guns however is genuinely interesting and unique as it does apply a certain degree of innovation to an otherwise ‘barrel scraped’ genre. Coins are dropped by enemies which can be used to purchase additional perks or items to help you in the current excursion, which could be a crucial health upgrade or a pair of jump burst boots to help you escape that pile on below. Perks also don’t need to be bought as enemies do occasionally drop them themselves, and seeing as you can only equip one perk and item at a time, the choice you make of what to carry could be the difference between life and death. Enemies also drop valuable weapon EXP which can be downgraded just as easily as it can be upgraded, especially if you don’t keep an eye on your health. Levelling up your weapon will make it faster to fire, more powerful and potentially give it a secondary ability, but the more damage you take the more EXP you lose, which isn’t great when you’re heading into a boss battle. Tower of Guns also advises you to not necessarily kill everything and just aim for the end with its ‘Parr Time’ at the start of each level, which again tries to encourage you to be vigilant of your environment and finish the round as quickly as possible, again backing up Terrible Posture’s boast as a “lunch break FPS”.
Tower of Guns in some ways works incredibly well, it’s a game which has stuck by its brief and in doing so has brought heaps of originality to an otherwise overcrowded genre. The problem I have with it is its real lack of appeal to keep playing it, even with it being a game that’s not intended for long hauls, I found it very difficult to keep going and have another shot at it. It looks bland and simple to say the least and with no sense of reward for its unnecessary level of brutality, it’s a game I just struggled to enjoy and appreciate. Currently it is free for Playstation subscribers this month and it is worthy of an investigation, however for those who would otherwise pay the £11.99 asking price I advise to let it slide. Tower of Guns is a game which screams charm and dedication from its creator who left a major Triple A studio to form his own project, and in doing so has created a game with plenty of humour, wit and bizarre references that all add to the game’s overall presentation. It may be a game I’ve not overly enjoyed playing but it’s clear to see it’s someone’s vision that has turned out exactly how it was intended, which I have to admire.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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