My thoughts on Gunman Clive 1, in brief, is that it's, like, solid. It's a quick little game where you're a cowboy mega-bustering your way past bandits and bosses to save your wife. You run through levels, you pick up powerups. It's nothing really amazing but it doesn't need to be — it's a nice way to kill an hour or two on your 3DS when you're bored and don't really want to commit to a bigger game.
Gunman Clive 2... tries to be more than that — more mechanics, more spectacle. It... doesn't really work out all that well. The loose way I can describe it is... if it kind of went for quantity over quality. You know (well, you probably don’t, but whatever) how Gunman Clive had that one vehicle level which was a fun little change of pace that still kept consistent with what you'd been doing up until then? Well now a quarter of the entire game are vehicle levels which throw new shit at you and all control like ass. You know how when the first game brought in new mechanics they stuck around often just played a little bit with how you were already doing things? Here there are new mechanics that barge in, completely force you to change the way you play, then disappear right afterwards. It creates a really uneven experience, where you can't actually apply anything you learn because it's rendered moot by future levels. The original Gunman Clive allowed you to become better in order to combat the harder challenges up ahead — this game just keeps you at the same level, which makes the endgame a process of you throwing yourself against the wall trying to break your way through the new mechanics that keep getting introduced there as well.
And it's a shame, because the strengths of the original are still present here — I like the artstyle and music, combat against enemies and bosses remains a highlight, and there's a certain joy in figuring out the path of least resistance as you try a level over and over again... it's just that this time this game's particular flaws magnify the flaws of the original game: getting sent right back to the beginning of a level when you die is extra punishing when a lot of the individual levels are gauntlets — especially with the vehicle levels where you can't go faster than the game allows you to. Controls still aren't amazing, and get even worse when you have to re-learn them on the fly or there's a new fancy gimmick which requires preciseness in jumping the 3DS analogue stick isn't built for and the first game never required from you.
But in general, like, man, I really wanted to see the changes made as an improvement on the first game — I'm all for sequels that experiment rather than just being the same thing again — but given how a lot of the expansion is straight up a downgrade... I think if I wanna kill time for an hour but don't want to commit to anything bigger I'll just stick with Gunman Clive 1. 5/10.
Gunman Clive 2... tries to be more than that — more mechanics, more spectacle. It... doesn't really work out all that well. The loose way I can describe it is... if it kind of went for quantity over quality. You know (well, you probably don’t, but whatever) how Gunman Clive had that one vehicle level which was a fun little change of pace that still kept consistent with what you'd been doing up until then? Well now a quarter of the entire game are vehicle levels which throw new shit at you and all control like ass. You know how when the first game brought in new mechanics they stuck around often just played a little bit with how you were already doing things? Here there are new mechanics that barge in, completely force you to change the way you play, then disappear right afterwards. It creates a really uneven experience, where you can't actually apply anything you learn because it's rendered moot by future levels. The original Gunman Clive allowed you to become better in order to combat the harder challenges up ahead — this game just keeps you at the same level, which makes the endgame a process of you throwing yourself against the wall trying to break your way through the new mechanics that keep getting introduced there as well.
And it's a shame, because the strengths of the original are still present here — I like the artstyle and music, combat against enemies and bosses remains a highlight, and there's a certain joy in figuring out the path of least resistance as you try a level over and over again... it's just that this time this game's particular flaws magnify the flaws of the original game: getting sent right back to the beginning of a level when you die is extra punishing when a lot of the individual levels are gauntlets — especially with the vehicle levels where you can't go faster than the game allows you to. Controls still aren't amazing, and get even worse when you have to re-learn them on the fly or there's a new fancy gimmick which requires preciseness in jumping the 3DS analogue stick isn't built for and the first game never required from you.
But in general, like, man, I really wanted to see the changes made as an improvement on the first game — I'm all for sequels that experiment rather than just being the same thing again — but given how a lot of the expansion is straight up a downgrade... I think if I wanna kill time for an hour but don't want to commit to anything bigger I'll just stick with Gunman Clive 1. 5/10.