Game Reviews

Guns ‘n’ Glory

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Guns ‘n’ Glory
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| Guns 'n' Glory

Your typical western film is pretty black and white. Stoical, intensely moral heroes. Devious, homicidal villains. Unreasoning “Indians” attacking all and sundry.

Whichever perspective these films shoot from, though, good is always right and bad is always wrong.

If Guns ‘n’ Glory were a western film, it’d be a pretty controversial one. Here you’re in charge of a murderous group of wild west bandits, and your task is simple – to prey upon the defenceless settlers of the time.

Guns on the patriots

This isn’t a case of staging a jolly hold up, charming the women before scarpering with their jewellery. It’s about staging a brutal ambush and wiping out each and every one of them.

Beneath the slightly tasteless premise, though, Guns ‘n’ Glory is a very entertaining tower defence game with one or two noteworthy twists.

For one thing, your units aren’t stationary. Having recruited a bandit (they’re found lazing around each level) you take direct control of their movement, placing them at a strategically advantageous point around the mesas that make up each battleground.

As the hapless settlers amble through the valleys, each bandit – be they a gun-slinging Desperado, a dynamite-tossing Mexican, or a fiery arrow-shooting Indian – will automatically open fire.

Unforgiving

With the ability to move your units comes new tactical possibilities, such as redirecting them to cover an unguarded pass or chase down a loose wagon. You can also divert a unit to pick up a stat-boosting power-up, at the risk of weakening your defences in its absence.

It really does make Guns ‘n’ Glory a unique proposition, although the scenery has the annoying habit of snagging your units. You’ll often have to shuffle them around in order to get access to an area, which is rather irritating.

Also annoying is the level of difficulty. There’s usually an optimal way to tackle each level, a correct mix of units that will see you holding out nicely. If you don’t go with this, it’s rare that you’ll survive until the end of the round.

While we like a stiff challenge, it shouldn’t come at the expense of tactical flexibility. There’s still plenty of scope for doing things your way in Guns ‘n’ Glory, but you'll often find yourself restarting a level several times until you uncover one of the ‘correct’ ways to handle it.

Out in a blaze of glory

Our overall impression of Guns ‘n’ Glory, though, is a hugely positive one. It really is a refreshing take on the tower defence genre.

Other neat touches include the special units that can be brought into play, such as cannons or – our favourite – a steam train that can be fitted out with multiple Gatling guns and manoeuvred to support multiple positions.

Then there’s the lovely cartoony presentation which, while at odds with the dubious setting (sample quotes: “Ha! We have filled these insufferably troublesome settlers full of lead!” and “We should drown them in this lake!”) does serve to make the game stand out from the militaristic crowd.

Taken as a whole, Guns ‘n’ Glory is a bit of a Billy the Kid – tough and morally dubious but uniquely fascinating and compelling all the same.

Guns ‘n’ Glory

A tough yet original take on the tower defence genre, what Guns 'n' Glory lacks in taste it makes up for in quality
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.