Squirrel With A Gun Review

Occasionally, I like to share a gaming experience that ventures off the beaten track, so to speak. One of the best examples I can give of this is games like Goat Simulator, Octodad, and others that, on the surface, are simply outrageous but hilarious at the same time. I laugh playing games like this with my six-year-old son, and we often seek adventures that will make us laugh together. As soon as I clapped my eyes on Squirrel With A Gun, I instantly knew this would be the same calibre as the games I’ve mentioned. The trailers showed it to be a wacky, chaotic time and if the title doesn’t give you a clue, you’ll be controlling a squirrel with the ability to shoot anything in its path.

This Squirrel Is Nuts

There is no explanation early game but you start out stuck in some kind of government facility and your first puzzle serves as an introduction to the movement mechanics. Now, I have to say they take some getting used to and it is hard to explain in words unless you play it yourself. The movement and jumping mechanics are extremely frustrating to begin with but eventually after some time I kind of became accustomed to them. When jumping to try and reach another platform it felt a bit floaty to the point I had to make several attempts to gain height on obstacles that had several jump aspects.

I had to remind myself though, that the game is essentially one that isn’t serious and is all about fun. Eventually, you come across a clumsy agent who drops his gun and after a cutscene that made me and my son cackle with laughter, you are free to cause as much pandemonium as you please. You don’t just stick out the game with one gun though, as you progress you’ll find uzis, RPGs, shotguns and even grenade launchers at your disposal. Collecting acorns becomes pretty addictive and seeking out the scattered golden ones throughout the world map and trying to discover them made the game a bit more fun with a little purpose. You don’t need to collect them all to finish, but the completionist aspect got the better of me. There are a couple of bosses to contend with as you go along but they are particularly challenging whatsoever.

Visuals & Audio

I did encounter a handful of performance issues during the game with a few crashes and screen freezes sadly. I have noticed, however, that since my review a few updates have filtered through, I’d imagine these are fixes for some of the issues. The visuals aren’t mind-blowing but I didn’t expect it to be for the overall cost of the game, I’d liken it to the earlier Goat Simulator titles. It has that hazy look as you look into the distance but there are some well-designed cutscenes and whilst animations are slightly lacking when it comes to engaging with the weapon variants, they are decent too.

The AI behaviour and animations are laughable and I’m not sure if that is intentional but I did find myself chuckling at how dumb they reacted in certain scenarios. But then it did have me thinking of how I’d act if I just randomly came across a squirrel running about with a handgun. The soundtrack has some smooth calming music during gameplay but eventually, it reminded me of the kind of jingles you’d hear when you’re on hold about your car insurance or ringing the doctor, it becomes repetitive. Aside from this, I didn’t have any issues with the sound effects overall and they do the job.

Final Thoughts

Squirrel With A Gun never takes itself seriously and it doesn’t need to. Me and my little lad loved playing this one together and at various points, he did have to hand me the controller for a helping hand with some of the trickier platforming moments throughout. The game doesn’t focus on just mindlessly gunning everything down in sight, it has some puzzle elements and areas for you to explore and discover along the way. But if you ever fancied taking a tree rat into moments akin to The Matrix and Max Payne, then this is a real treat. For the price point, it offers several hours of enjoyment and whilst it is a little clunky and frustrating in particular moments, it never stops being fun. For those with youngsters who are out for a laugh, or just want some casual fun its worth a punt.