One of my friends told me about the excellent Guns, Gore & Cannoli back when it released in 2015. I never got around to playing it until recently — it was on sale for a couple of bucks that I just so happened to have on my account so I picked it up. Apparently there is a sequel that released at the beginning of the year as well, perhaps after I complete the original I might pick that one up too.
If you’ve played a side-scrolling platformer, you’ve played them all. There isn’t a lot here to set GG&C apart from the competition outside of its unique storyline and excellent hand-drawn art style. I suppose that goes for most platformers too, as each tries to carve its own niche in the genre in a similar fashion. Our story revolves around Mr. Cannoli, a mob man that was called to “Thugtown” to help with a job. Unfortunately for him, stories have been coming out of the town about angry mobs attacking any and everyone. These mobs of course, are Zombies. I love Zombie related media, so this one fits in nicely as a different take on the Zombie genre. There’s no real explanation of how the Zombies came to be, you just arrive at the town via ship after a short animated introduction, and Zombies have already boarded and eliminated the crew. Good thing you’re a badass mobster who’s packing heat!
As far as the action goes, it’s pretty straight forward. You will pick up a variety of guns that come in varying power levels. You’ll shoot, reload and blow up zombies with grenades and molotovs. You’ll eat cannoli to regain health. You can jump, you can kick, and that’s really all there is to it. You don’t get the full range of direction to aim with, it’s simply shoot left or right, jump if you need to aim higher, and crouch if you need to aim lower. Most zombies are upright, but there are those who crawl, some have shields, some throw barrels/axes, and some run while others walk. Pretty much the entire gamut of zombie themes are present here. I really enjoy the art direction and the gameplay is smooth and easy to jump into. The most recent game I’ve played that I’d compare it to is Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (which was also a rather excellent game — loved the soundtrack!). Really, there isn’t much to expect in the way of differences, but platformers have always been a fun distraction from more complicated games and are usually a good way to boost your trophy count. I can’t say that I would pay a ton for games like these, but when you can get them on sale for under $5, it’s worth the admission price.
Me Vs. Myself and I 