Machine Gun Fury Review

First Impressions

Machine Gun Fury comes across initially as a love letter to all things 90s related. Action, big explosions, one-man armies versus impossible odds and a big ol’ super villain hell bent on world domination. You definitely get the reto arcade cabinet vibes from this one.

As soon as you start up this game, you can see were the developers got their inspirations. Ikari Warriors, Contra, Who Dares Wins, Commando, Green Beret, Silkworm, it’s like a smorgasbord of throwback arcady fun pulled straight from the golden age of gaming, arcades, bowling alleys and funfairs. Pixels and all.

The game has a fairly robust set of cheevos for 100% completion. The full Achievement list, however, can be worked through by essentially just playing the game, with hardly any grinding involved. Some Achievements are level completion specific for example, with other ones being for x amount of kills a certain way and so forth. So, with enough will, gun-ho attitude and determination, you’ll have your 1000G in no time.

Plot

Three Heroes. One Mission is the tagline of this no-nonsense retro shooter. The evil Madam-G has her eye on world domination and it’s up to our three G.I. heroes to take the fight to her and her unstoppable army. Through eight stages you’ll fight, shoot, and blow things up with extreme prejudice in the name of the ‘Merican Way.

Suzi Uzi, Gunner Jimbo and Mini-Gun Floyd are ready. Are you up to the challenge?

Gameplay Overview

‘Run ‘n Gun’ is the aim of the game here. And Machine Gun Fury does this concept very well. This title doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel gameplay wise, but instead focuses on a solid, pixellated shooter. You know exactly what you’re gonna get with this one.

The main menu has options for ‘Arcade Mode’, ‘Standard Mode’, ‘Game Options’ and ‘Credits’. Both Arcade and Standard Moves have three difficulty levels to choose from. ‘Grunt’ for easy, ‘VET’ for medium and ‘Green Beret’ for the hardcore masochists out there.

Game Options gives you the ability to change the Language to one of surprisingly several choices. With Music and SFX Volumes also to tailor to your own taste when playing.

Controls for the game are straightforward as you might expect. D-Pad to move your character around, ‘A’ to jump, ‘X’ to fire your rather colourful bullets of death and ‘B’ for throwing a limited supply of grenades, with ‘Y’ to jump in and out of tanks whilst in battle and ‘LB’ to use bombs to blow stuff up.

A nice touch is that all three playable characters have their own stats for movement speed, fire rate and damage resistance. Suzi Uzi has the least health but biggest jump and movement speed. John Rambo wannabe Gunner Jimbo is a good all-rounder with the most balanced abilities. And main man Mini-Gun Floyd is the heavy hitter with the biggest rate of fire and health, who was my main for most of the game when I was playing.

The level design in all eight stages is pretty linear, this works well with this type of game however as it allows the player to focus on shooting everything in sight. Although, you can sometimes go off the beaten path to find extra ammo, grenades, much needed health packs and better weapons. Your character’s standard machine gun is enough for most waves of common enemy soldiers, but for the heavier artillery like tanks, planes and turrets, you’re going to need much more.

As stated, better weapons can be found across each stages’ battlefield, usually uncovered for destroying scenery or certain enemies. Each one has limited ammo tho, so use them wisely and strategically. There’s also tanks on some stages, that help even the odds with more destructive firepower on your side, at least until it takes too much damage and you’re forced to exit before it explodes.

Levels also give you points multipliers for destroying so much in a short space of time. These can then help you rack up some impressive high scores. There’s also score bonuses at the end of each stage for killing all the enemies.

Presentation

Like so many games designed to appeal to the nostalgia in those Gamers who remember growing up with this type of game, there’s plenty of pixels on show here. The general gameplay is straightforward and easy to get into. Each level rotates between a different type of design. One level will have you running and gunning up the screen, Commando style, then the next will be a side scroller with platforming segments, then a buggy or boat level similar to Spy Hunter (remember that one).

This keeps the gameplay loop fresh for the short length of the title, and with stage select you can revisit completed stages to go for higher scores.

There is obvious references throughout the levels to other 90s pop culture. Whether it’s references to action movies from that era, to a freaking ‘ED 209’ style robot enemy straight from ‘Robocop’ on the later levels.

My only real criticism is that, although the game is made by a small team and studio, it can sometimes come across as too basic looking. Often icons are so pixellated it’s hard to make out what they are and there is only a limited number of enemy types encountered. With the enemy grunts being the main problem as only a change in colour and weapons making them appear different. If you’re not a fan of retro inspired games then this title is definitely not for you.

However, ESDigital Games and Reset Games did a great job recreating the general feel and authenticity of games on 8-bit hardware. With some smooth parallax backgrounds for the varied stage designs, keeping the game from looking to samey with each stage having its own look and sometimes, enemies.

Several heavily synthesised SID-Chop tunes play as you shoot up the stages so there’s at least there’s a bit of variety there. There’s also plenty of sound effects for the various explosions, enemies dying, etc. to enjoy.

The Bottom Line

Machine Gun Fury does exactly what you expect a game of this type to do. No thought or real strategy involved. Just fast paced, gun-ho, shoot everything in sight gameplay. Great for a quick blast as it were when you have a bit of time to yourself and want to unwind with some unashamed chaos.

The game is relatively short with only eight stages in total, which can be run though within a few minutes (especially on easy difficulty). But the nostalgia itch definitely gets scratched with this one. Gamers looking for a deep campaign, cover mechanics or squad-based combat tho, might find the title too simplistic. Myself, however, had a blast with my time with it.

For just £4.49 on the Xbox Store, there’s some short-term fun to be had playing through the game til the end. And another shiney 1000 Gamerscore to add to your tally. It’s a shame they didn’t include a co-op mode tho, maybe we’ll get that in a sequel?