Gunstringer Interview and Impressions

Mr. Pharisee scored an interview with Jay Stuckwisch of Twisted Pixel about their new Kinect game, Gunstringer. Does Twisted Pixel come through or are they just pulling our strings?

Gunstringer is definitely the most interesting game I’ve been wanting to play. Ever since I heard about this neat little on-rails shooter from Twisted Pixel, I’ve been anxiously awaiting my chance to play it. At PAX East this year, I got my hands on this hands on experience.

The demo starts off a bit slow by introducing me to the plight of the Gunstringer, via an off-camera aged cowboy. I can’t help but compare it to Sam Elliott’s role in the Big Lebowski. I have no idea if that was their intention, but you know what, I don’t care. I’m sold. The Gunstringer was a part of a posse that left him for dead because they’re bad people and that’s what bad people in the Wild West do. Years later the Gunstringer has returned from the dead, and you’re going to help him get back the people who put him there.

Gunstringer plays like it’s a puppet show and you’re the controller of the lead marionette. As the cowboy explains what’s going on, it gives me the impression that the world of Gunstringer is partially aware that it’s a play. There is talk about the “hand” putting enemies in his way and sending them to the great beyond. The whole thing is very cleverly written and sticks with their theme incredibly well.

The gameplay controls excellently. The Kinect is capable of capturing your entire body, but it excels in determining where your hands are. The Gunstringer only focuses on your hands, meaning it’s as precise as it possibly can be. This makes the on-rails shooter that much easier to play. Basically you use your left hand to move left and right, or jump, and you use your right hand to select targets. When you get up to six targets highlighted, you pull your hand up like you’re shooting, and the Gunstringer shoots all the targets at once. It seems the motion concept isn’t easily figured out by all. Some people trying out the demo got through it on nearly perfect runs, while quite a few others barely limped to the end of it.

The Gunstringer definitely shows a lot of promise. There are some technical issues that hopefully get fixed before its release. Personally I hope the difficulty curve for it is incredibly tough. I don’t see that happening right now, but then again, I’m also not a game designer. Like everything from Twisted Pixel, the Gunstringer has a lot of charm and personality to it. As long as the laughs keep on coming, I’ll keep on buying their games.

Check out the official trailer below.