First Look at Gunstringer

For those of you who are fans of Twisted Pixel, you are in for yet another installment of gaming madness.  The crew at Twisted Pixel had tried their hand at Microsoft’s Kinect.  Gunstringer is slated to be the very first title for Kinect that is an actual full game, complete with a plot and storyline.  So will Gunstringer save the day, or hang at the gallows on its own strings?  Keep reading to find out.

As stated before, Gunstringer is being billed as the first “real” Kinect game, a title that will take motion control to the next level.  In this game you will take control of the “strings” and guide your marionette puppet through his journey.  They have taken a very interesting mix of live action and gameplay to tell this story.  You are the Gunstringer, an old west gunman that was done wrong by his posse, left for dead, and now is back for vengeance.

The controls are simple and seem very fluid.  You use one had to guide your puppet, by his strings, from side to side in a forwardly progressing landscape.  You need to avoid rocks, fences, and other obstacles as you make you way through each level.  Your other hand controls your pistol, you sweep from side to side painting the targets and then pull back, in a recoiling motion, to fire at all of your targets in one fluid motion.

The Wavy Tube Man

As expected, humor is abounding throughout the title and we got a little taste during the demo.  As you progress through each level there is a commentator that tells the tale of the Gunstringer, and his comments are priceless.  Among other hilariously themed enemies, the main “Boss” battle we fought was against “The Wavy Tube Man.”  Hopefully that is just a taste of the good humor to come.

They have also done a very good job of incorporating live action into the mix with this title.  The story plays out like a live action theatre production starting first in live action and then transitioning into actual gameplay.  In the level we saw, there was often a hand in the background that was placing rocks and other elements on to the “stage” just like what you would find in an actual live performance.  The cuts from live action to gameplay and back again look gorgeous too, helping to blur the lines and keeping the game looking very clean.  This game is definitely on my radar and I can’t wait to see more!