Guns, Gore and Cannoli

Players will take on the role of Vinnie, a hired goon who’s been tasked to find a low life named Frankie the Fly in an area called Thug town. If it wasn’t bad enough that the mob are after Frankie too, but we also see a case of the zombie apocalypse has broken out as well. Vinnie must now race against the clock in order to save Sonny, fight off the mob, hordes of flesh eating maniacs and the army as well.

We’ve seen the zombie outbreak a billion times already and it’s difficult to really do anything new and dynamic with it. But what the developers have realised is that combing sheer numbers of undead fiends and heavy firepower makes for some pretty exciting gameplay. Taking hints from Left 4 Dead, Crazy Monkey Studios have decided to increase the number of NPCs to face and giving players a wide range of tactics and weaponry to take them out. From shotguns, hand cannons, flamethrowers and more, Guns, Gore and Cannoli does pack a punch when you’re dispensing the dead especially as the tension rises with the overwhelming numbers around. Otherwise it wouldn’t have gun in the title I guess.

The high level of detail in the destruction and gore systems is just beautiful, considering it’s all in 2D animation. The aesthetics and visually are pleasing on the senses and you can see the effort and the time that’s been put in to draw out the environments and the effects from the destruction and gore systems. Lovingly drawn and designed, you can see the vast effort that’s gone into making this game from the artists who produced it.

Overall, the mechanics and game design are simple with no complexities to over complicate things. Players will mostly embark on straightforward action, shooting up a large variation of different enemies, many with their own tactics and manoeuvres and engage with some epic boss encounters. Otherwise, there aren’t really any dynamic features that break this title away from many others. Keeping things simple but like so many other bigger AAA titles like Halo, simple actually pays off for some pretty entertaining fun. There are some dynamic events in place that include escaping poisonous gases rising from the city streets and traversing a maze of electrical traps and other devices.

The developers could have implemented more events like these, just like how Shank and Alien Hominid did many years ago. But considering this is an indie project and the amount of fun to be had already, this isn’t much of an issue to be had here. But what I did notice for the time I was playing, there were some frame rate issues when firing some of the heavier weapons and when larger enemies were killed. The game paused for a split second but this happened quite a lot. It’s again, thankfully not a major issue but it can be a little irritating when playing some of the bigger encounters.

One massive plus point goes to the multiplayer section of the game. Giving a large replay value with the four player campaign and giving us the chance for some fast paced classic death matches with multiple maps and weapon classes to create some pretty elaborate and highly engrossing action.

Gun, Gore and Cannoli is a sure way for some highly engrossing action for one or four players. A reminder that gaming doesn’t have to break the mould in story telling or dynamic gameplay, but to give us something simple, fun and pretty solid. Hours of fun, with a ton of replay value to be had, including the multiplayer modes given to you. For its low price tag, this is one of the best Xbox live arcade titles to own.

An Xbox One copy was provided by Crazy Monkey Studios