Gunboat God Review: A Shoot-Em-Up that Flies a Little Too Close to the Sun

Who doesn't love a good Shmup, am I right? To anyone unfamiliar with what I just said, that's actually shoot-'em-ups for you, because before we had a specialized genre called Bullet Hell, the former was the one that pioneered this type of title first.

And ever since the 1960s, the near-endless array of shmups has shifted gears periodically with intermixing sub-genres like the run-and-gun format, side-scrolling, Roguelikes; you name it. Presentation also matters in these games to help them stand out, and with the shoot-em-up I've got for you today, it certainly deserves a spotlight in this regard.

Gunboat God is a side-scroller shmup that oozes with vividness and style. Although it won't be the densest time-sink, it does deliver where this genre needs to excel in several ways—bringing a heavy dose of fun along the way. So if you've got a few minutes, then allow me to take you on this sweet yet bumpy and short ride that I had with Gunboat God this past weekend.

More than Your Typical Ferry

In Gunboat God, you play as an unnamed human who gets banished from the ascended Citadel, one of the last fragments of humanity. Ultimately, this gives you a one-way ticket straight back to the pits of the world below.

And just when you think you're lost, you just so happen to conveniently land yourself on a specialized raft, or should I say, gunboat. This belongs to Yeti the Crocodile, who soon makes itself known to a meatbag like us with his sudden appearance.

Yeti cuts a deal with us; we help him slowly build up his prized gunboat with different junk parts across the world, and in turn, we can use the heavily armed artillery on his boat to help us punch a ticket back to the Citadel. Funny how this instantly reminded me of the partnership between Max and Chumbucket in Avalanche Studios' Mad Max video game.

It surprised me with how charming and playful the writing is throughout this roller-coaster adventure. There are several quips and one-liners thrown in here, with some slight modifications if you pay enough attention to Yeti the Croc's words of wisdom. At one point during this whole voyage, you even get to help this lowly yet cunning reptile find and rescue his trapped son.

It's a pretty welcoming element, even though the main appeal, or rather, the meat of the piece for a title like this, lies in the gameplay. But I just wanted to get this one out of the way since...well, the gameplay left some painfully mixed signals from me.

More Gun, Less God

Before I start my rambling, let it be clear that I try to enjoy a "thing" as much as possible. I mean that with any media consumption, but there comes a breaking point for me, like any normal human being. In my case, that's called pure tilting annoyance. And it pains me to say it, but Gunboat God's gameplay just did not do it for me.

Let me just clear it out of the way first with the positives here; Gunboat God has a great variety of guns and abilities, as well as a varied world design that intermixes new enemies based on the world's ecosystem and theme. But the execution and the overall progression are where this game can make you feel, well, conflicted.

Now, I don't mean the gameplay itself is cumbersome. Gunboat God does a splendid job of making you feel the adrenaline rush from a shoot-'em-up title. You constantly need to damage and defeat enemies to fill up your character gauge. And as you progress a bit further, you get to unlock abilities which have a separate gauge that you need to manage to optimally clear levels.

So, where does the problem start to become noticeable? Well, right from the opening moments, actually. The introductory sections or hours of any game matter a lot to the average player. They can truly be make-or-break points for any consumer. While I truly believe this can't account for every games out there, such as Crimson Desert, where you need to spend quite a few hours for it to click in, I genuinely couldn't believe Gunboat God failed to capture my attention even after clearing most of the first world.

The fluidity of the shooting elements and the arsenal you're given are astounding. But where does it start to fall apart? For one, many of the game's stages are clearly unbalanced. For a game that emphasizes movement right from the opening gates, it loves to throw a sizable chunk of enemies at you with no room to breathe, especially with some mob designs having such an absurd pattern.

I don't mind the fact that you can secure a snowball mechanic with the energy gauge fill-up, but what's the point of that if you have a million hazardous obstacles at every step that can degrade my HP? Like seriously, forget all the enemies or weapon switching. Your health is possibly the most important thing here, since you can easily let it deflate with a barrage of obstacles coming your way. Not to mention the Gunboat itself is so slippery to operate, especially underwater.

I love that the game slowly makes you acquire all the abilities and guns themselves throughout each world's major stages, but for first-time clears, it can be cumbersome to beat some of these levels, no matter how high you have your weapon damage level or your individual guns upgraded. A lot of the enemy swarms become increasingly annoying to deal with during the endgame sections of each level, to the point where I'm fighting for my life just to not get touched by a pixel from the ensuing chaos.

A Shmup With a Triple S-Rating in the Style Department

With all that's been said here, I'm not THAT much of a negative Nancy to admit that the overall visuals of this game just ooze style. And seriously, tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this game's art direction reminds me of the Patapon games from the PSP. The backgrounds and the lighting within them also change with each world's stages, going beyond just the hostile entities that inhabit them.

The whole visual identity and writing aspects of this game have no right to carry that much weight as they are here, but the fact that they stand out so much alongside the gameplay is such an appreciative gesture. You can undeniably pinpoint the imperfections, but at the end of the day, Gunboat God is still a shmup that'll give you a temporary dose of joy should you need it. And once you do actually get to the endgame sections like the Atomic Ruins or Citadel itself, you won't feel that tiresome feeling from the beginning as much as you've at least come to terms with how the game works.

This made a whole heap of difference when I was annoyingly trying to complete each main level, versus having more build freedom at the end with a whole range of weapons and abilities at my disposal. But that still didn't help with my sour aftertaste from tedious sections where I had to protect Yeti for a set period or complete an atrocious obstacle course.

It admittedly soiled my enjoyment factor quite a lot, but again, don't let my harsh judgment make this seem like a brutal experience—the assisted mode is also there should you need it, and for all the highscore min-max tryhards out there, you can also later unlock and jump into the game's hard difficulty called the Dread Mode.

But the question remains: will the current shortcomings hinder this game in the long run? I'd say no. I feel like consistent updates or reworks can generally improve the game's flow as a whole, but besides those hindrances, you still have a relatively great shoot-'em-up that leaves a long-lasting impression via its witty writing, fluid gameplay design, and stylized art style.

Gunboat God feels like a game caught between flashes of brilliance and moments of frustration. It absolutely nails the things that make shmups so addictive: slick gunplay, a strong sense of style, and a surprisingly charming narrative that gives the whole ride a bit more personality than you’d expect. But that enjoyment is often held back by its rough balancing, and (occasionally) overwhelming level design, especially early on. Still, there’s a solid, entertaining shoot-'em-up underneath it all, and the more you unlock and experiment, the more it starts to come together. It’s not a perfectly smooth sail, but for players willing to stick with it, there’s enough charm and chaos here to make the journey and fight back to the Citadel worthwhile.