Today we’re looking at Gunhead, a procedurally generated game from Alien Trap, makers of games such as Capsized and Cryptark. Gunhead is actually a kind of a sequel to Cryptark in which you are a privateer (aka a semi-legal independent space junk harvester) boarding a variety of alien ships to strip them of resources. Cryptark is a side scroller but the devs over at Alien Trap liked the concept so much that they decided to convert the entire game and concept to 3D and turn it into an FPS. Now we’ve got Gunhead, the 3D version of Cryptark and it’s a neat concept.
In many ways similar to Sublevel Zero Redux (review here), Gunhead takes you on mission after mission fighting a variety of robotic foes that attack in fairly predictable ways. Gunhead manages to be more impressive however because its ships feel more fleshed out. Realistic-looking machinery is everywhere and ships are arranged with complementary systems that you must disengage, destroy, or bypass in order to destroy the central core of each alien vessel for salvage. Do a good job and you make some money. The more things you preserve as per directives from your employers, the more money yo make too. That’s easier said than done though because the ships systems definitely want you destroyed and sometimes you’re locked in a room and must fight your way free by destroying systems that you’re supposed to preserve for cold hard cash.
You start off on a mothership and you’re given an option of three ships to choose to infiltrate and disable. Each will have different randomized specifications and loot and you’ll have to decide which one to destroy first. You can arm yourself from a weapons system on one side of the bridge but initially you simply don’t have the money to do so and you’ll have to suffer through until you conquer a few ships and save up the scratch. You can also look at the maps of places you’ve been and do a few other minor tasks on the main bridge but the vast majority of gameplay is out in the black.
To start a level, you’re rocketed out of your ship in a mech suit and have to fly through space to access the randomly generated ship from an unlocked air hatch. Some maps let you see what’s coming inside and you can plan your approach with scans while others jam your scanners and you have to go in blind and hope for the best. Either way, you’re moving from room to room fighting a variety of aggressive robot enemies and destroying various nerve centers of the ship you are on. Outside the ship you navigate in zero g and once you enter, artificial gravity takes hold. You have thrusters on your mech that allow you to jet about rapidly and fly almost anywhere in a given room though. This freedom of movement makes exploration of the ships easy and fun to boot.
Your weapon loadouts are simple to start but stronger weapons require additional ammo and don’t automatically replenish, which means that you have to be careful which weapons you take. You can have up to four on your mech at any given time, but some of the close range weapons tend to only be useful if you’re backed into a corner with no other options. Most of the guns and other upgrades available in Gunhead are prohibitively expensive as well, leaving you struggling through run after run with only a limited arsenal. Beating the Central Core takes you back to the ship and gives you more options to choose for your next run as well as a taste of narrative that doesn’t really explain the Gunhead universe.
Normally there would be more mention of story in the review by now but Gunhead doesn’t really have a traditional story. Sure you’re scrounging spaceships and there are some buyers that make some strange nebulous comments that could mean something but honestly, that’s about it. Gunhead has enough of a plot that you want to know more but not enough to develop any affinity for characters or actually understand anything. Should there have been more? Maybe. Or perhaps the game would work just as well with absolutely no story whatsoever because you’re pretty much just blasting a bunch of randomly generated rooms anyway.
At least Gunhead looks cool. The graphics in the game have a distinct cartoonish flair that’s entertaining and enjoyable. Designs are more than a bit reminiscent of Borderlands with thick lines and some colourful palette choices. Enemies have neat concepts as well and the ships themselves feel like abandoned wrecks with unpredictable contents in a spacefaring society. Gunhead is definitely a pretty game but it isn’t spectacular by any means, especially on the home ship. It’s clear that more care was given to the actual gameplay than the interim bits however which makes it almost disappointing to finish a mission.
Music is similarly average with some decent electronic music that sets the tone but doesn’t end up memorable and some fairly decent sound effects that feel somehow muted. The bits of voice acting were a nice surprise and they’re fairly well-done but there was barely a need for any story at all here and voice acting doesn’t really fix the underlying issue. Regardless, the overall soundscape is enjoyable but forgettable as well and there are some noticeable mixing issues that limit the potential of the music and sound effects here.
There’s really nothing else to Gunhead than that. Slowly upgrade your weaponry, fight a progression of more difficult ships that are variations on a theme, and repeat. The biggest problem that the game suffers from is a lack of identity and progression. Once you’ve seen most of the ship configurations, there’s really not much else going on here and unless you really, really like blasting through ships over and over again until you start to recognize the procedural components, you’re probably going to lose patience with Gunhead fairly rapidly. This is a one-trick pony that has some fun ideas and design elements but ultimately feels less cohesive than it should. The simple fact is that eventually, repeated play of nearly identical levels gets old and there just needs to be a little more depth in Gunhead to improve it’s gameplay loop. What that might look like? Who can say. But what you’re getting for $20 is a game that will turn into a bit of a slog fairly quickly unless you thoroughly enjoy bashing robots and having lots of questions. While the concept is sound, it might be best to wait for a Steam sale on this one.
This review is based on a digital copy of Gunhead provided by the publisher. It was played on a gaming PC. Gunhead is also available on PS5 and GOG Games.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.