It's a DECENT game, if you really wanna buy it, wait for a sale.
But yeah it's quite fun for a bit.

This is a shooter quite like no other. The Wild West themed bullet circus is utterly insane and enjoyable. All the mechanics of the game feel finely tuned and precise: dodging bullets and sending them back feels so intuitive you should never have to stand there and bleed. The levels and areas are all varied and peppered with details and events such as carrying a giant explosive piñata, robbing banks, dodging rolling crates and so on. The structure of the game has these different level types shuffled around and enemy placement is randomized, but this only one small part of what keeps the action fun and exciting throughout.

The playable characters are a definite highlight of the game. While most games might settle for differentiating characters by stats or looks alone, the colorful cast of a Fistul also has different styles based around the actual input and control of the character: you have a shotgun toting teacher whose two barrels need to be reloaded individually, the wanted outlaw Billy who wields twin revolvers that only fire when the highlighted chamber is pressed, Bomberman fans will feel right at home playing as Pablo the demo daredevil and this is barely scratching the surface. Each character feels vastly different from the next and they all come with some alternative weapons that can be picked up in the game. Mastering each gunslinger bit by bit feels immensely satisfying and the only problem is deciding which one is your huckleberry.

However, strong characters would be wasted if they didn't have some clever enemies to go up against and Fistful delivers on this front as well. Machine gun wagons, rabid bears, magic arrows, among others, are all a great match up against the heroes of Fistful. However, even the more standard gunslinging enemies keep things interesting as they will move about the map, flank you, set of explosives, and shoot behind cover. To help out against the overwhelming amount of bullets, the game also has powerups in the form of different whiskey that can give you a chance to ignore a bullet or make one of your own explode. Even with powerups though, you will need to hone your skills to keep your continues from running dry.

This shooter has a sure sense of style. The narrowing wide screen, red tones throughout, panning shots, acid wild west colors, arcade font and voice over, and old west monologues all come together nicely to bring out a sense of the legendary west. The soundtrack also does a fantastic piece of Morricone inspired tunes. The chants, whistling and marching drums go along nicely with the rest of the aesthetics.

The local and online co-op are both fun experiences and each mode available is pure hectic fun. However, the 9 player local co-op is really more for laughs than ever actually accomplishing anything in the game. That being said playing in a group as The Magnificent Seven or going at it on your lonesome like The Man with No Name, there is a good time to be had. The story and arcade modes, aside from cutscenes and a definite ending, differ between some shuffled around mechanics and events (such as how upgrades work and taking peyote). Aside from unlocking characters in story mode, there are also safes that have a chance to drop new locations that get shuffled into the gameplay mix. The versus mode is a great way to let your friends know that this living room ain't big enough for the 2-9 of you. The different modes, unlocks, and urge to be better all go a long way in replay value.

As far as pure arcade madness goes, A Fistful of Gun has no equal. The top down shooting action, whether alone or in co-op, is frantic, adrenaline fueled, and challenging.

*Note: as an owner of Under the Ocean that did not refund my game, I was able to receive a free key from the developer ( See here for more info ). However, this does not affect my review of the game at all.

Fun game, interesting gameplay mechanic of every control method having a seperate character with each one designed to use that method's strength, should be interesting seeing how it grows overtime

Review Date: Thursday, 18th February 2016
Hours played prior to reviewing: 12.6
Achievement progress: 15/36 | 43%


Welcome to the Wild West! A Fistful Of Gun is a fast-paced top-down shooter with rogue-like elements separated into 2 main modes: Arcade and Story. There's 11 different characters to choose from, each of them comes with unique controls and their own fighting system. The game has full controller support but for some characters you have to switch to keyboard & mouse, otherwise the game won't let you play them. When you start up the western action for the first time, you most likely begin with Arcade Mode that lets you pick all of those characters. Which is nice for practice purposes but can be terrible if your first choice is one of the guys with very odd controls. I have to admit I rage-quitted the game after two short runs of Arcade because I thought there's something wrong with the Steam Controller bindings (I'm using a template from the community). The character 'Noah' was the reason for it though. He's on the very left of the character select screen and why would you not start from the left?
Well, obviously I gave the game another shot after checking the discussions and finding that other cowboys play very differently. I didn't regret starting it again because I found myself getting addicted to this little gem. Let me know tell you more about the main modes:

Arcade: You can select any character and start on a warm-up map. The goal is to clear the screen to get to the next one and reach the highest score. The maps and enemies are randomized but get significantly more difficult over the time. After you cleared a screen, the game gives you the option to choose among 5 random upgrades to make yourself stronger. One shot or hit of an enemy kills you and takes a life (in form of a card). You start with five hearts but a horse - that you can either steal from an enemy or get through an upgrade - or an armor upgrade take 1 bullet instead of you which basically means an extra life. Arcade can be played in single-player, local and online multiplayer.

Story: Unlike Arcade mode, you can only pick one of the three already unlocked wranglers to start your journey with. The goal is to reach the 3rd chapter and kill the railroad baron Clayton Boon, the reason for all our troubles along the way. Each chapter ends with a unique boss fight and is 14 miles (= 14 screens) away from the start. Just as in the other mode, the enemies, type of maps and events are randomized, although you decide which direction you want to continue on. But keep in mind: There is no going back. Coins that you collect can be spent on several things such as new weapons, upgrades, playing cards (very important to increase the amount of your lives). Unfortunately the story can only be played alone or in local co-op and there is no support for playing it online.

★☆━━━━━━━━━[RATING: 8/10]━━━━━━━━━☆★

• Pixelart / Graphics: I adore them. The gunslingers have been designed with love and look super cute despite them being badass killers with moustaches and all. The maps itself lacks a bit of details on first glance - but honestly, it would make the bullethell just more confusing.
  
• Gameplay: The gameplay is incredibly fun if you learn how to play with the characters and pick one that you like. You will get addicted to Story mode after experiencing new things you haven't seen before and secrets that still need to be revealed.
  
• Easter Eggs: It would be too spoiling to reveal too much, just let me tell you there's a lot of stuff randomly going on that you wouldn't predict and that will make you laugh for sure.
  
• Soundtrack: The soundtrack fits the setting well and is neither annoying nor too minimal, they really did a good job balancing it.
  
• Events: The developer organizes special community events occasionally. Unfortunately I couldn't participate in any yet but I hope another one is happening soon! (These events are required to obtain some of the achievements)
  
• Steam features: Achievements - check, Trading Cards - check. Perfect! Cloud saving might useful to some players, I personally didn't need it. Workshop support would be pointless for this game.

• Difficulty: A Fistful Of Gun is not easy. Not at all. In almost 13 hours of playtime I still haven't beaten the campaign yet. I lost 30 lives in some screens and died because they really were impossible with the setup / loot I had. You need luck to get gold, to find a merchant and card players and you need luck with the screens you land on. Challenging games can be good and make you become ambitious but sometimes it felt like a pain in the ♥♥♥.. The achievements are (too) hard and rare as well.

• Mac / Linux Support: Not available. Every game should have support for all platforms on Steam or at least offer support for one additional OS.
  
• Online Story Co-Op: You can only play Arcade and Versus online with friends. But the focus should be on the story and that mode can only be played alone or in local co op.

Hardware	Windows	Mac
CPU	2.2GHz Intel Core Duo	2.6GHz Intel i7
GPU	GeForce 9100M	GeForce GT 650M
RAM	4GB (only 3 in use)	16GB
Storage	1TB HDD	256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
OS	Windows 10, 32 Bit	OS X El Capitan
Resolution	1920x1080	3840x2400 (Retina)
Controller	Steam Controller	Steam Controller

This game was played on my Windows computer.

I feel like this game is misunderstood by the people who gave them a negative review. Let me tell you why:

I´ve seen old Spaghetti Western films because of my dad, always had contact with those movies cause he loved Clint Eastwood as the badass bounty hunter, but his favorite Sergio Leone´s film is "Once Upon a Time in the West" starring Charles Bronson. Anyone that never watched Sergio Leone´s films will not understand the game title or even the concept idea that the developer want to give you here (I might be wrong tho). You don´t need to know about these films, but It will make you appreciate the game even more.

Just look at the first game trailer on Steam. People need to see The Good, the Bad & the Ugly movie to understand the intention: a Tribute to good old Western flicks.

And It´s not about an idea only, the game in my personal opinion is amazing, It´s a fast paced 16 Bit graphics title. Full chaos at multiplayer, you need some skills at higher levels. I´ve always liked the "Simple but Fun" combination on other games, and this one has It.

I´ve had smaller problems with the multiplayer, but guess what, the Developer is there for you. How many times you people had complaints about game developers leaving the title abandoned? this is not the case, Its been 7 months since the release on Steam and he´s been there, listening to the people that bought It (don´t believe me? go to the discussions). Why he behaves like that I asked myself, It was the first time for me that a developer actually read what I wrote. Well probably It´s because he loves what he does and he appreciates people who support him and enjoy his fast paced title. This deal makes me like the game even more, thinking that maybe he will add some DLC or new characters on a near future. If not, we still have such a solid game here. Trust me, It has a big replay value, simple but fun is the way to go sometimes.

The musical score is amazing, It will tranfer you to that crazy time. The gameplay and difficulty are good. You can´t go wrong here, what else do I need to tell you?. Support this guy, he deserves better ratings.

Short Version: A short, but highly replayable and entertaining multi-directional shoot-em-up in the tradition of Smash TV. Great fun for a few bouts with friends now and then, but only buy solo if you're really into this type of game.

In a Fistful of Gun you can get together with a few trigger-happy friends to play with guns, get drunk, break stuff, and blow up angry chickens with dynamite all without the real-life consequences! You choose from one of 11 different characters to run through random levels of retro gunslinging action, grabbing as many gold nuggets, power-ups and alcoholic boosts along the way as you can.

One of the biggest draws of the game is the multiplayer aspect, with high-score progress designed to track a full posse of players. This is emphasized even further by the unforgiving gameplay, which can cause the 'continue' screen to pop up rather often in solo mode. Even though bullets are too scarce in many stages to push this into bullet-hell territory, between the heat-seeking farm animals of doom, stray crates of dynamite, and of course a horde of guntoting baddies, you WILL die. Simply completing the relatively short single-player story mode (which is truthfully about as story-less as a story mode can be) might take some practice.

Of course, once a playthrough ends, the secondary hook of Fistful of Gun may very well entice you into another round; Each of the eleven different characters to choose from features a different gun, which is actually an entirely new control scheme and shooting style. One gunslinger fires large shotgun blasts, but only in the direction you're currently running and limited to a single shot in each barrel, while another wields a 6-shooter that can be quickly fired in any direction, but requires joystick flicking and a lengthy reload period after you empty the chamber. Each of the guns requires you to learn a new set of skills, so perfecting them all could provide a very lengthy challenge.

All in all, Fistful of Gun is a fun, difficult game reminiscent of old school shooters, but with modern features added to boost entertainment and replayability. If you're buying it purely for solo play, you might want to wait for a decent sale or be certain you enjoy this type of game - a short Story Mode, and a highly replayable but somewhat repetitive Arcade Mode designed around high scores might leave you feeling that the experience was a bit lacking. However, if you love retro shoot-em-ups or have a few friends to play with, A Fistful of Gun could be a blast.

Received a free copy for testing/reviewing purposes.

I am enjoying this game immensely. It has so much style and different gameplay mechanics between the 11 characters you can play. So far I tried Arcade and Story modes and both are non-stop action for survival. You get a few lives and then have to start all over again in Arcade mode once you expend all your lives.

The music is decent as well as is the pixel graphics. Lots of interesting pick-ups and you can even buy from a store that gives you some power-ups. You also get power-ups after you beat a stage, which helps as you progress, since it does get harder.

Overall I think this game is really good, I just hope they continue to add more content and characters to make this an even better game in the future. Also I personally thought that Duke with his Mini-Gun is amazing at gunning down the many enemies you have to face.

I may update my review again after I try some of the online portion of the game when I find some more people to play with.

Good job devs, keep up the good work!

When starting up A Fistful of Gun for the first time I was greeted with retro style pixel graphics combined with the dusty zest of an old Western movie. I grabbed my controller and jumped right in, since there was no tutorial, and promptly died. The game is a top down shooter that is very much like a bullet hell game. Shots are flying every which way as you run around killing bad guys and picking up the gold left behind. Despite being horrible at this sort of game I still found it fun and enjoyable, albeit frustrating. It’s a good game to pick up every now and again, especially to play with friends.

There is a story to the game but I won’t lie, I didn’t pay too much attention to it. From what I gathered there is a rich railroad baron named Cayton Boon and he’s making life miserable so a group of sharp shooters are after him. I am unsure if all of the characters know each or not, due to me not being very good at the game I didn’t progress very far in the story. There are currently three acts to the story and a fourth act coming shortly.

Where the game truly shines is arcade mode which I enjoyed a lot more than the story mode. You progress through short levels and at the end of each you can upgrade your character, making their shots hit harder or giving them protection from fire. You can also play with a friend go for versus mode, or even hop online to play with others. The game offers a fun experience alone but is even better with others. Whatever mode you play, you have the choice between eleven unique characters. You can use a controller or your mouse and keyboard though I preferred the controller. Each character offers a different play style, some use guns, others use bombs and one is actually a whole regiment of soldiers that loses a soldier with every hit. I loved the variety, however the game has no tutorial or training mode so the only way to learn is through trial and error.

The game has a decent user interface, but sometimes the text can be a bit tiny, such as when you’re selecting an upgrade in arcade mode. The graphics are great, it’s like a pixelated spaghetti Western in all of its cheesy glory. However, sometimes with all the action going on at the screen at once it can become a chaotic mess and disorienting, however that’s what most bullet hell games seem like to me. The music is very fitting of the game, has a great Western vibe to it and brings the package together well. You can buy the soundtrack separately if you like.

While a good game the price seems a bit high for what it currently offers. However, if you find this on sale or in a bundle then go for it. If you enjoy bullet hell style games or top down shooters this should be a fun experience for you. A Fistful of Guns is a campy throwback to old Western films using the modern medium of video games. It’s a great game to play with friends with a lot of variety, it also has Steam achievements and trading cards for you collectors out there.

I was supplied with this key by the developer, this however did not affect the review.

This review is rather neutral than good (I still hope that Steam will add "in-the-middle" option someday). In all honesty I expected to play "A Fistful of Gun" longer since it looked very interesting (very much like "Hotline Miami"), but sadly it did not keep me interested long enough.

Let's be clear here: this game is not my cup of tea. It's a classic "run around, avoid and shoot" game and I feel like it was design primarily for the multiplayer, which I haven't tested. Still, I've seen few reviews that compare it to "Hotline Miami" - I must admit, I don't see the similarity. "A Fistful of Gun" isn't much about strategy or planning, it's mostly mix of pure chaos, luck and skill.

Pros:
+ Game setting. I just enjoy Wild West and I think "A Fistful of Gun" does a great job in terms of creating right atmosphere.
+ Great music.
+ Very nice graphic. Come on, who doesn't love pixels?
+ Few characters to choose from. Characters that are different not only in the way the look, not only in terms of their skills, but also have different controls, which I find very interesting.
+ Funny. There are few clever, humorous encounters.
+ Self-aware. Game isn't set in serious tone, it's absurd and that's exactly the way it should be.
+ Multiplayer. This game is just design for two (or waaay more) players. I can imagine it gets even more chaotic and waaay more hilarious when you play it with the group of friends.

Cons:
- Story Mode. Yeaaah... nope. Not much for a story really. Just an intro, few encounters and fights. I didn't feel like I was playing with any purpose or goal, it was all rather foggy.
- Only for shoot-em-up fans. If you're not particularly fond of this genre (like me) and you're looking for something else to keep you interested in the game (like story, lore or even unique gameplay), you will not find it. With this game you pretty much get what you see.

Shortly:
If you're a fan of shoot-em-up and/or plan to play it with friends - I recommend it.
If not... Well, you can safely pass on this one.

A Fistful of Gun - The Righteous Review
A few months ago I found a stream on twitch by this guy, Paul Hart, whom I had never heard about before. He was designing some graphics that seem to be based around the wonderful Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, A fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in America and others. In the background he was also streaming some music from those same films by the incredible Ennio Morricone. The art was good. The art was very good. I then realised this was not just some static images, this was all for a game that he was also developing. I have to admit, I was instantly hooked. My favourite movie genre was being recreated in my favourite pastime, video gaming.

Fast forward a few months to present time and I get to present to you the A Fistful of Gun review and if asked to sum up my feelings in one word, that word would be, wow.

A Fistful of Gun – For a Few Gun More, is in simple terms a top down shooter where you and up to nine, yes nine, other players get to wield the baddest, most righteous gunslingers in the wicked wild west. Simple terms however do this game no justice, A Fistful of Gun is one of the most frenetic, hilarious, addictive and complete video games I have ever had the pleasure to play.

To say that Fistful of Gun is a multiplayer game would be doing it a severe injustice though at it’s heart it really is meant to be played with others, both locally through a wonderful system of couch co-op or online with fully optimised net code. Have no fears that this is yet another Indie game with tacked on online play as it is not, Fistful of Gun plays incredibly well online and offers a wealth of modes and fun, however I shall start with the story mode.

Taking the role of one of eleven characters you play the part of a lone gunman with one task, to stop the evil railroad Baron, Clayton Boon, and avenge the ‘righteous psychosis’ of those he has wronged. To do this you must traverse thirteen miles of barren western deserts, hokey townships, corrupt lawmen, arrow toting red Indians and much much more. Along the way you will find pickups to upgrade your guns, barrels of Whiskey that really test your drunken gun-slinging skills, and even a very powerful drug induced high that will have you trippin’ all the way to your characters tombstone. After it’s initial release we are also promised access to Spirit Animals to help you on your quest. All of this is done through a top down, almost bullet hell game play filled with colour, and extremely pretty pixel styled graphics that invoke a retro gaming feel but a very modern and fast gaming experience.

Levels in A Fistful of Gun vary extensively in looks and feel and you will find that what worked on the previous one will not do so on the next. This makes the game feel fresh every time you progress and each play-through is always a little different which can and will keep you coming back for more. Top this off with an excellent high score list that keeps track of all global players and your friends and you have more than one reason to keep coming back for more.

In addition to the single player Story section of the game we also have Local and Online Arcade mode which involves multiple levels of gunslinger action across all the varied themed areas and with harder A.I. as you progress. The arcade mode can also be played solo or with up to nine other players through online play or Fistfuls unique control style where all nine players can couch around just the one PC and use a combination of purely mouse control, pure keyboard control and of course full game controller support. I won’t lie, the controls can get confusing and each character has varying ways of being played so for some a controller is the only way, for others mouse and keyboard is your only option. This forces players to prefer one character over another but with eleven to choose from there is always a character for everyone’s style and abilities.

The other main online mode is Versus and as the name suggests it is you versus everyone else but as this is A Fistful of Gun the areas are also spiced up with TNT, Trains, Mexican outlaws and much more, all designed to make your job of killing your opponents as hard as possible and as much fun as it can be, and believe me it is fun!

Online play is done through dedicated servers and also includes the ability to create your own server on your PC using the included server.exe which is a rare thing these days and I applaud the developer Paul Hart for designing the game around this option from day one. It is both refreshing and inspiring to see more indie developers do this. Online play through either the dedicated or personal server is fast and easy to use from my pre-release tests and due to the inclusion of the server.exe I see no reason why this should not continue.

Often overlooked in indie games is the audio and whilst the actual audio options are simplistic for Fistful of Gun the actual music, audio clips and voice acting are not. There is an inspired choice of musical style here that jumps from excellent heavy rock when needed to a more traditional Ennio Morricone spaghetti western theme that invokes even more memories of those classical movies. The voices used, whilst a small selection fit the genre perfectly too and just help to make the game feel like one of the most complete experiences I have had in many years.

The options are somewhat basic with little choice in resolution or effects but like many games of this ilk they really are not needed and will max out on virtually any PC from the last three to four years with ease with an option to drop the quality for older machines whilst still looking and playing gloriously.

Released for Windows PC that also includes a raft of Steam achievements and trading cards this game is an absolute steal and my biggest must buy of 2015.

Strap on your belt, load up your six shooter. There is a new Multiplayer Game Of The Year and it is called A Fistful of Gun – For a Few Gun More.

Buy this game, now!

*This review was wrote in its entirety to The Ecstasy of Gold by Ennio Morricone*

Original review here:

http://www.thegamesshed.com/a-fistful-of-gun-review/