The Gunstringer

We would be lying if we claimed that we were happy with the Kinect software we've seen so far. Apart from a decent sports title from Rare and an excellent dance title from Harmonix, there really hasn't been much out there for core gamers to enjoy. And to be honest, there isn't a whole lot on the horizon either. With that in mind I was rather surprised to come across a demo version of {The Gunstringer}, a Kinect title for Xbox Live Arcade that is more of a gamer's game than anything I've seen on Kinect to date.

Twisted Pixel, the folks behind Splosion Man {Comic Jumper} and {The Maw}, have taken an odd concept with an undead marionette cowboy and paired it with Kinect. An original odd couple, but one that makes for surprisingly solid gameplay.

Your left hand holds up the undead marionette similar to how you would hold a marionette in real life. Wave your hand left or right and the marionette follows. Lift your hand and he jumps. Simple enough and your right hand simply locks on and shoots at whatever our undead puppet on rails happens to come across. As I negotiated the demo level that consists of about 10-15 minutes of action I'm surprised at how smooth and polished the experience is. Perhaps it's the presentation and style, the forgiving nature of the gameplay or a mix of both, but I don't miss the controller. Across the room is {Child of Eden}, a game where I sorely missed having a controller when I first tried it, but here's a game with core appeal that manages to succeed at what is truly the key to longterm success for Microsoft's device.

In many ways {The Gunstringer} is an old school experience similar to say a {Space Harrier} game. While you move forward on rails you can move the Gunstringer from side to side and jump to avoid obstacles. Most enemies don't do much and are merely targets in a shooting gallery, but some will try and hurt your marionette. From time to time there are set pieces where your put behind cover and you're meant to time your shots and avoid incoming enemy bullets. Everything feels intuitive, which came as a bit of a surprise after having watched the game in action from the sides before trying it myself.

One nice little detail with {The Gunstringer} is how everything is part of an old west puppet show. You will see hands "accidentally" moving across the set and there is a story framework that carries the trademark brand of Twisted Pixel humour. If Twisted Pixel just manages to keep the action varied enough, then this could very well be exactly what the doctor ordered.

{The Gunstringer} represents something that we'd like to see much more of on Kinect. It's a proper game, with tons of humour, strong gameplay mechanics and brilliant presentation. It doesn't try to be a shooter for the Kinect and instead carves it's own weird undead cowboy marionette niche, and by inventing a completely new control scheme it escapes the trap of its controls being measured against anything else. If you own Kinect you owe to yourself and your investment to keep an eye out for {The Gunstringer} - you may not get fit playing it, but you're likely to be entertained.