Game Reviews

Gunbrick

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Gunbrick
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| Gunbrick

Last year, Nitrome cemented itself as one of the very best developers of short-burst, arcade-style high score chasers on the App Store.

If Gunbrick is anything to go by, 2015 could be the year when the Platform Panic dev establishes itself as one of the best creators. Period.

This is a majestic mashing together of puzzles, action, and shooting, that drags you in from the first swipe and refuses to let go.

Bricking it

The game sees you controlling the titular Gunbrick. It's a cube with a rocket launcher on one side and a shield on the other.

Ostensibly you're a delivery driver, rolling through puzzle-filled levels in order to get the weapon of mass destruction to its rightful owner.

The obstacles you need to pass through are fiendish in their brilliance. Your shield protects you from lasers and flames, but it needs to be in the right place. You can only jump when your rocket launcher is pointing down, so positioning is everything.

You swipe to move your brick, and tap to fire your rockets. The controls are smooth and swift, and you never feel like you've failed because the game couldn't work out what you were trying to do.

There are breakable walls to deal with, knife wielding enemies to squish, switches to push in sequence, and all manner of other eccentric devices to contend with.

It might look like an action game, but Gunbrick's heart is pure puzzle. Wrapped around that head-scratching core is a wonderfully worked, humorous world full of explosions, squidged bystanders, and boss battles.

Brick ace-house

You can't help but smile while you play. This is a fresh, brilliantly put together, strikingly original game that fizzes and crackles with neat ideas and clever twists on old mechanics.

And it's massive. There's a huge world to explore here, and every second of it seems to click in just the right way.

It might only be the second week in January, but if Gunbrick is any indicator of the quality of games we can expect from 2015, it's going to be a good year. It's bright, brash, and showcases a dev at the very peak of its talents.

Gunbrick

An ingenious, well put together mash up of genres and ideas, Gunbrick is the first must-buy of 2015
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.