Guns 'n' Stories: Bulletproof PS4 Review: Fun to be had and well crafted, but suffers from two glaringly bad flaws

Guns 'n' Stores: Bulletproof Ps4 Review

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Patch Version:  Guns 'n' Stories: Bulletproof

I'm started to realise a trend with PS4 VR titles.   The more they attempt to push the limits of the PSVR engine in the form of trying to emulate realism in the sense of graphics and textures, the more they fail, so far at least.

However, Guns 'n' Stories is exactly the sort of game which doesn't do that.  It understands the limitations and pitfalls of going down such a low-resolution road, and instead, opts for a more cartoony approach, keeping the textures simple and primary in colour, which is good thing, trust me.

Before I even set foot into this old west world however, I find myself inside a four-seater cinema with a big screen before me that introducers the two key characters.  A young boy and his grandpa.  Guns 'n' Stories, so far, living up to its name. What's more, I've even a tub of popcorn to munch down on, my right hand holding it, whilst the left I use to interact and pick some up.  Guns 'n' Stories, of course, requiring two move controllers in order to be played.

Moving your handful of popcorn to your mouth will even simulate the eating process with audio to match.

Amusing...

The intro cutscene is told in a 2D styled cartoon.  You can skip it if you choose, but I watch it nonetheless.  It's not an Oscar-worthy plot, but hey, I'm not expecting it to be, so nor should you.

After watching it, the next thing presented is the difficulty menu.  There's five to choose from, each altering the image of the figure from a baby, right through to some terminator-esque machine.  I'm reminded of the difficulty menu in Wolfenstein: The New Order if I'm honest. Not a bad thing.  It's not really explained what the difficulty modes will alter though, other than short statements telling you how hard or easy they will be.

I plump for normal and load on in, quickly finding myself within an old west log cabin.   The mood seems set.

However, I'm still not in game yet, and before me is a wooden desk housing three figurines, each representing a different act of the story, and another figure linked to some bonus stages that are not available to me at the present time, requiring I complete the campaign first.

There's also a picture frame to my right that grants access to the game, audio and video settings, and in the desk itself are three interact able drawers.  Opening them will allow you to take out a book of sorts from each that you can flip through.  

The first, displaying the Guns 'n' Stories credits.  The second, a bestiary that covers all the different enemy types you will face, and the third, a collection of all the weapons the game has to offer, of which there appears to be eleven of them, which range from dual wielding revolvers up to full-blown machine and mini guns, but I'll talk more about the weapons later.

Choosing the first Act I load on in and appear behind some barrels in the middle of a frontier town with no guns though, instead, I'm holding a bottle of whiskey and a glass, and as grandpa tells the story from his memory to his grandson, suddenly two revolvers appear in my hands.  Time to shoot some damn varmints!

Initial Score after 2 hrs of play

Full Playthrough Score after 10 hrs of play

Overall Impression

On the surface, Guns 'n' Stories is actually a well fleshed out game, in all areas, be it level design, graphics, audio, even the A.I. is well behaved for 99% of the time.  The move controller tracking is also pretty accurate too, always important for a VR shooter, but there are two glaringly bad problems I discover right off the bat.

However, before I talk about what those are, let's talk about what the game is comprised of.

First and foremost, there's plenty of content here, surprising for a VR title.   Take the story campaign, which is comprised of nine stages that span three acts.  Each of the stages will also take you to a different location, and because of the cartoon nature the game has opted for, it allows the levels to not only be large but also renders them free from glaringly bad low resolution textures, which all helps to bolster that immersive factor.  Important for VR!

The stages themselves are comprised of a simple premise: defeat the waves of enemies using the weapons you are provided with.  It's important to note that for the majority of the campaign you cannot select your weapons, the stages all having predetermined weapons for you to use, each with their own style, some even with two firing modes.  You do get to change weapons at key moments, but again, the options are predetermined.

As you play through the campaign, Grandpa Bill and his Grandson will continually narrate the experience, this is because you are reliving the tale as grandpa tells it.

For the most part, this constant stream of conversing between the pair is fine, and in parts, might even make you chuckle, however, it soon becomes a little too much, and sadly, this is where the first problem arises, and that's the levels last way too bloody long.  Your only indication of progress is a percentage counter.  Reach 100% and you have completed that stage.

Why is this so much of a problem?  Well, here comes the second issue, the enemies for the majority of the time are bullet sponges.  Even a clean shot to the head will not fell them right away, especially so if they are wearing body armour that you must shoot off first. This makes the shooting experience feel more repetitive than it needs to be, but worse, makes the guns lack any sense of weight.

So much so is this a problem, that playing the game for extended periods of time becomes tiring, on the hands and on the mind, and bear in mind I've played first-person shooters for hours and hours, but with Guns 'n' Stories, fighting through more than one stage at a time feels more like a chore than a worthwhile experience, and it's a shame, because it is pretty fun.

Once you do finish a stage though, you'll be presented with a scoreboard that tallies up your in-game achievements for kills and multi kills in succession.  Headshots of course will earn you more points as well as the varied enemy types each awarding more points depending on their type, and there are even bonus points for killing enemies at longer distances, which award you with a sharpshooter bonus kill.

The only problem with this system is it does not explain how the multi killing system functions and considering this is how you rack up the highest scores you'd figure the game would tell you.  If it did then I missed it.  Either way, it seemed random at times.  Was it killing in quick succession?  Killing without being hit?  Killing without needing to let your guns reload?  In the end, I did figure it out, but given I'm a very experienced gamer, if I had trouble deducing the system, then that's a flaw.

Anyways, it was headshots.  Successful headshots in succession grant the bonus.  Sounds simple, right?  But because the enemies are bullet sponges, making the kills with a headshots, depending on your weapons, can be difficult, which explains why I didn't figure it out sooner.

Anyways, the point to the scoring system is, at the end of the stage you'll be presented with a scoreboard.  The higher your score, the more badges you will earn to a max of five per stage.  Your difficulty setting will also have an impact on your score, so bear that in mind as well, but you can change the difficulty in the log cabin via the picture frame I mentioned on the right of the desk.

Each of the campaign acts ends with a boss fight, each boss having its own unique behaviour and systems.  This I liked, not only that, the A.I., in general, was extremely well done.  Enemies will use cover, run at you, pop up at times from any and all directions.  In this regard Guns 'n' Stories most certainly will keep you on your toes and should be commended.

In regards to what you can do, other than shooting back, well, you can avoid incoming bullets in a few different ways. 

• Firstly you can dodge bullets.  Not very reliable as your character's hitbox seems larger than it should be.  
• Secondly, you have the option to shoot incoming bullets out of the air, which is actually easier than it sounds.
• Thirdly, you can hit them out of the air with your actual guns. This, to be honest, felt out of place, and I don't think should have been a feature.
• And lastly, taking cover as you do have the option to physically kneel, which only makes the experience more immersive.  And let me tell you, popping up from cover and firing your guns is actually rather fun, however, due to the bullet sponge problem, it will actually take you longer to kill enemies doing this, and will probably see you getting overwhelmed.

Death is a possibility in this game too, and if you do take too much damage you will enter into a slow motion mode, which highlights enemies for you for a limited amount of time, giving you a last ditch opportunity to not only kill them, but to let your health regenerate.

However, there is no onscreen indication as to your health, nor as to how long you have till it recovers.  All you see is a red glow along the bottom edge of the VR visor to indicate you are starting to take too much damage.  Though this is immersive, the lack of physical indicator lacks the signposting you might otherwise need, especially so when you are near death to indicate how close you actually are.

Playing through the campaign does have a purpose.  Not only will you unlock new and varied weapons, it also then enables them for use in the action modes, and completing the whole campaign itself will unlock the bonus levels.  So let's talk about those:

Let's start with the Action Mode.  Like the campaign, each Act has an Action Mode, and each Action Mode has three stages.  Sadly, these stages are carbon copies of the campaign, albeit with two differences.

• You get to choose from nine guns before you load in, these being the guns you unlocked whilst embarking on the campaign
• There's less narrative chatter from grandpa and his grandson.

Because of this repetitivity, the only reason I can see for playing through the action modes really, is to experience the levels using a different weapon than the default you originally used in the campaign, which is pretty lame in my opinion.  Oh, and you get to earn action mode badges similarly to the ones you earned in the campaign.

However, it's not really explained what earning these badges will actually unlock, in fact, other than the achievement system, these action mode badges seem absolutely pointless other than recording your success.   A shame really, if the action modes were faster and shorter than the campaign versions I could have actually seen my self-sinking more time in them, but as they stand, they suffer from the bullet sponge issue and the fact the stages last too long as well.

As for the bonus levels, I'm pleased to report that a little more thought has gone into this mode.  The bonus levels come in the form of six locations, some that are new, and yes, some you will have played in the campaign, but there's a twist for each level, and that comes in the form of a particular challenge mixing up the experience and making it more interesting.  This I really liked.

In fact, I much prefer the bonus modes to that of the campaign and the action modes if I'm honest, and it was when I unlocked one particular set of high calibre revolvers that the game really felt how I envisioned it should, and that was because in that particular bonus level it addresses the bullet sponge problem, since a single bullet from these guns will drop an enemy instantly.  So good was this experience that returning to any other gun was horrible after that.  A double edged sword for sure.

It's also worth noting, that like the action and campaign modes, you can earn badges in the bonus stages too, with one difference, earning five for each of the six bonus levels will see you unlock a new weapon.  I'm not exactly sure what this weapon is as I have not quite managed to achieve five badges in each bonus level yet, but I would hope that it is bloody decent considering how difficult it is to actually earn five of them.

Speaking of the weapons, as previously stated, there's a plethora you can unlock, which are:

• Bills Revolvers
• Uzi
• Mr Shellbuster
• Saturnine Sammy
• Teslaguns
• Dynamite Crossbow and Shotgun
• Bella and Tallulah
• Mrs Jumbo
• Minigun
• Grenade Launchers
• Black Revolvers

They are modelled beautifully in all honesty, and the attention to detail should be commended, no two are any way alike, and depending on the gun you choose or are forced to use depending on the mode and level will almost certainly alter your experience, some guns being easy to use than others, and some even having two modes.  

I also liked how they really thought about how the move controllers could work in unison.  The mini gun for example, requires you to pose your hands with the controller as if you were actually holding a real life minigun.  A nice touch!  And if you're thinking, wait... a mingun?  Isn't this game based in the old west?  Though you'd be correct, this doesn't stop the game from using some quite imaginative weapons, in fact, it borders extremely close to steampunk. 

As for the enemies, again, some work has definitely been done in this department too.  There are fourteen different enemy archetypes to combat, and three different bosses, and as stated earlier in this review, I hardly ever noticed any glitches with their behaviour.  My only gripe is the bullet spongy-ness.  If it wasn't for this aspect, the A.I. would have been 100% fit for purpose.  They really do make use of every part of the environment around you.  They'll shoot from behind cover, fly at you from the sky, throw sticks of dynamite or fire rocket launchers at you, not to mention trying to club you to death with tombstones or bats.

In regards to the story, it's nothing special, but it at least has a story, which for a lot of VR titles this is something they lack.  It's not going to win any academy awards, nor does it have any twists, but the simple premise of Grandpa chasing after his beloved Charlotte who has been kidnapped does set the scene as you playthrough the campaign hot on her trail in an attempt to reclaim her.   

The interesting aspect to the story though, is how it melds with the campaign.  You see, you are playing from the perspective of Grandpa, who is retelling the tale to his grandson, and giving its many years since all this occurred, grandpa tends to forget aspects or embellish aspects, which can have amusing consequences for you as you play.  This was a nice touch.  It's just a shame that the game's two major problems I outlined let it down.  I'd have been much happier with the campaign experience had each stage been 50% shorter.   The burn out value with Guns 'n' Stories, I'm sorry to report, is very high, match this with the constant narrating throughout, at times, does become tiresome, and due to this, the story quickly loses its appeal.  You can turn off the narration via the audio menu if it does bother you overly so, so don't worry.

Ultimately, Guns ‘n’ Stories is a decent, well-crafted VR product.  The environments, levels, A.I, enemy archetypes and guns are well designed, the audio is sufficient and immersing, and graphically I have no complaints whatsoever, but the single most important aspect where it falters is within the core gameplay itself and it's such a shame.  The stages are just too long and the enemies too bullet spongy.  It makes the experience, in my opinion, drag opposed to flow.

If I land a headshot, the enemies, bosses excluded, should drop like sacks but they don't, and it's a real shame because you can clearly see that a lot of love, thought and imagination went into the title.  Not only that, but there are little details and polish you might not expect, such as hidden aspects to levels, the fact there's 51 achievements, right down to the difficulty, which will alter what you hold in your hand when you first load into a game.  Hell, even the controllers when you are not in game and in the menus are specially modelled.

Sadly, reinforcing this core gameplay problem is a pair of revolvers, exclusive to the bonus mode that you unlock when you reach the bonus levels.  Their stopping power is so immense that enemies will be felled by a single bullet.  I loved this experience.  These guns not only feeling weighty but the experience felt better paced and heightened because of it.

It's a shame that the rest of the game was not akin to this experience.  It's rare that you find a VR title with this level of fidelity that also has a story, and in moments, Guns ‘n’ Stories will amuse as much as it will make you smile, and it's because of this that I'm even more disappointed by the flaws engrained throughout.

If you're a fan of wave defence titles though, Guns ‘n’ Stories is one you should pick up if it’s on sale.  I've played better but I've almost certainly played worse, but due to aforementioned problems at its core, I would not recommend purchasing at full price unless the issues I have raised are addressed.

There's fun to be had with it, to say otherwise would be a lie, but that fun will soon become eclipsed by the problems engrained throughout the core experience.

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