Hello gamers, I hope you are doing well.
Welcome back to the next episode of my gaming series Retro Roam. In this series like always I'll be sharing some of my experiences of playing retro games, they could be from any area and from any console generation too as long as they have the retro vibe to them.
Birds With Guns
I've already shared some of the games of a fantasy console called Pico-8 but let's do another one. This will be the last one and I'll be talking about my current favorite game from this console. This game is called Birds with Guns and it is exactly what it sounds like. Birds with so many guns and a lot of fun.
This will be my review of the game Birds with Guns so let's start.
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The story is not that deep, you are a bird trying to get back your eggs and free all the caged birds from the evil antagonist Robofox. The game doesn't even tell you that, you can just see that from the game description. Birds with Guns is not about the story it is about the gameplay.
You choose a bird at the start, each comes with a unique set of weapons, ranging from a pistol to a bazooka. Each bird holds two weapons, these weapons have ammo which you can find in the destruction you create. You have only one life and if you get hit enough times your life will deplete and you have to restart the game again from the first wagon. you can get some health and there will be random weapons available along with the ammo on the map.
What makes this game fun is the destructive nature of the level, the different types of enemies and how they each behave slightly differently each of them has their own quirks some have low health, while some are quite beefy and have random movement patterns, while some don't even move and some just spurt out multiple bullets at the same time. The bomb makes a big explosive that can hurt you and the other enemies.
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Addictive Gameplay
The gameplay is quite addictive and you want to play with all the different birds and see which one works well with you some of them work best against specific areas or specific types of enemies. Even though the game is not that long it has just 7 small areas but the game still has good replay value.
The soundtrack has to be one of the best things in the game there is just one main track that plays over and over but it is freaking genius it sounds so cool you will never get bored. There is a different track that is in the gaming screen as well so maybe 2 tracks in total. It goes well with the graphics.
And while we are talking about the graphics it is not anything over the top or exceptional, just retro 2D blocky pixel art graphics. But the graphics are not the main focus of this game, it's the fun gameplay, the action that takes place that is the main focus of the game even though there is nothing wrong with the graphics all the things look good and you can easily recognize every element from the foreground to the background it's simple but it's effective and it works well.
The controls could have been better but I don't blame it on developers too much as it is on Pico-8 limited resources. You can play with a mouse and keyboard which is in my opinion the best experience. Otherwise, when playing with a controller the bullets will auto-aim at the nearest enemy and you don't want that always.
You can download the game for $2.99 or just play it from the browser for free. Here is the Itch.io link if you want to try it.
I grinded it for an hour and got so close to beating Robofox. I will try again tomorrow and see if I can save those eggs! Here is the recorded gameplay of my last run (I was very patient in this one). It has a steep learning curve and once you know it becomes much easier.
Final Thoughts
Birds with Guns is a cute little game with so much action and a fun gameplay loop which will keep you busy and addictive for some time. The difficulty is quite balanced as well and the last boss fight is not easy. There is just one life with no saves so you have to restart if you die which forces you to learn to use different weapons in different situations. Have enough health and work on your shooting and dodging. It is a high-action-paced game and I loved it. If you love these kinds of shooters, it is an interesting game in the genre. Nothing genre-defining or doing completely different things but it does all the basics beautifully.
Thanks for reading...
Note:
- All the content is mine unless otherwise stated.
- Hive gaming text divider from Raizel posted in Hivegaming Discord Server.