Gunner’s Heart is one of the most entertaining action games I have played in months. It is quite refreshing to know that some of the most entertaining and original games are not coming from the bluechip game developers, but rather smaller companies like DHM Interactive. The game is done in the anime style, similar to Street Fighter or Acceleration Sugari, this style is popular in Japan, and becoming more and more popular in the States.
Gunner’s Heart is an arcade flight simulator, meaning it is not overly technical and focuses more on action than physics. In fact you are not given complete range of control of your airplane, rather you follow along a predetermined course. While completing your mission you try to eliminate as many of the enemy as possible. To do this you are given a variety of weapons, from your basic Vulcan cannon to advanced lasers, sound wave weapons, and good ole’ bombs.
From the start of the game you are hammered with non-stop action. As you shoot down enemies you can complete combos and it is not uncommon to have a combo of dead enemies in the upper 20’s, I think my personal best was 35. The game control is fairly simple making it perfect for younger users. The arrow keys are used for your vertical and lateral control (they can be setup similar to real airplanes or reversed,) the Z key pretty fires your cannon (it also functions as enter on the menus,) the key C will allow you to barrel roll to avoid oncoming missiles, and I used Q for my special weapon. You can easily change the mapping of keys for special weapons to make them more accessible in the options menu.
Gunner’s Heart follows your usual arcade action game, you will fight a few levels and if you win you will be forced to fight a boss character; and each boss gets more and more difficult as the rounds progress. One great feature of Gunner’s Heart is the ability to play with a friend, this make the game even that much more entertaining and is often a feature overlooked in games.
The graphics of the game are very console like, in fact they most resemble those anime games coming out on the original Playstation and Dreamcast. They may appear a little dated, but this game is not about jaw dropping graphics or cut scenes, but rather arcade action. Since the graphics are not very taxing on a PC, even users of laptops or older PC’s can enjoy this shooter without any loss in performance.
Gunner’s Heart won me over with its hip characters, great animation, easy controls, and just plain excellent gameplay. If you are into games like Starfox, Novastorm, or Skygunner, then you will want to pick this game up, you won’t be disappointed.
