Gunpowder (iOS) Review

The first thing that that will be noticed about Gunpowder is that the illustration for the "cover" (as it were) has a weird glaring flaw. There is a gap between the spot by the main character's arm and hat, as if the illustrator forgot to render the area. There are also a few artistic design flaws, even with the design of Incendio, the fox bandito hero. For some reason, Incendio's ears do not connect to his head properly, instead being attached to his hat since they don't line up with his anatomy in the correct manner. The character design in general is a bit on the bland side and lacks appeal, yet it is impressive that the animators took the time to make some very expressive and fluidly animated little vignettes that look like they were done by hand. Beating a level will result in an animated Boss Grimshaw raging hard, which is likely to raise a chuckle. It is all very evocative of the 1970s "Robin Hood" animated movie from Disney - there is a Robin Hood-type figure in Incendio - who is also a fox - and, of course, Boss Grimshaw, who is very similar to the rotund Sheriff of Nottingham - who was also a greyish wolf. It is an interesting choice for homage.

Generic or stock looking characters aside, the core game's 3D assets, while not terribly interesting, do get the job done nicely and show a wide range of ideas. Locations span across a fairly large amount of levels - well over 120 - from deserts, to mines, or caves, pretty much every Old West locale is covered. The real star of Gunpowder is by far the explosions, though. Rogue Rocket Games certainly made sure its explosions looked impressive and it is so important for a game like this to have this aspect work since it is a large part of the feedback. Its satisfying to see these blasts chain together and sending a flurry of smoke and debris with appropriate sound design. The explosions even come in different varieties to keep things visually interesting - some have sparks, others are smoky and sometimes they have large billowing flames.

Gunpowder's gameplay won't change game design as it is known but it does make for a reasonable distraction. The core gameplay is laying down a line of gunpowder around levels using the touch screen. Players drag their finger to barrels of gunpowder and lay down a few barrels of their own to involve some puzzle mechanics. Sometimes there are water hazards present and a lot of thought will be required to figure out the solution to make the most optimal method to blow stuff up while not running out of raw material. Gunpowder has some legitimate challenging set-ups and Boss Grimshaw should really consider getting his safes out of these locations… Rogue Rocket Games got a lot of mileage out of this simple premise and the end product is fairly engaging and surprisingly challenging. Every so often, a bit of story is presented through a comic book-style presentation. It is a very economic approach but it does give the player enough information and is expressed well enough.

For those that enjoy it from the start, there are a lot of levels to work through - about 120 of them - and while some can be done fairly quickly, some will take many tries and some experimentation if users aim to get a perfect rating. For $4.99, Gunpowder is a fair price and is an interesting enough game that runs smoothly and does provide a decent enough challenge during its later themed levels. Anyone who likes casual or low-friction puzzle games with an emphasis on physics like Angry Birds would probably enjoy this greatly. It may not look like much, but Gunpowder is pretty hard to put down and genuinely satisfying.