The Gunstringer Preview

Twisted Pixel took a brave move with Gunstringer. Set to be the first Kinect title to hit the market with “sitting support” (for want of a better phrase) and from first impressions, it looks like their gamble is set to pay off.

After a play session in the Microsoft booth at E3 I can now confirm Kinect works flawlessly from an upright sitting position.This will be great ammunition for the Kinect fan-boys to counter the cynicisms of all the naysayers out there at the moment.

The game starts off with a live-action introduction movie, set in a traditional stage theatre. The player has a first-person view from the eyes of a puppeteer, preparing to go on stage. The curtains pull open, the puppet is introduced and the player is warped into a western-style cartoon world.

Most of the early Kinect titles were on-rails. Free-roaming movement seems to be a bit of a challenge when it comes to Kinect titles; developers obviously need a little time to get their heads around the new tech. In The Gunstringer the guys at Twisted Pixel have used an interesting technique for player movement, which genuinely links in to the game’s overall theme. As a player, you’re told to imagine that your left hand is controlling the puppet, this leaves the right hand free to aim and fire the gun.

Combat is extremely easy in this title. The player simply moves their right hand across the screen to highlight enemies. After highlighting any number of enemies, the player lifts their right hand in a gun recoil action and the puppet character fires at all the enemies respectively.

We were told this title is no longer destined for a digital release via Xbox LIVE Arcade and is instead being shipped to store shelves. While the Twisted Pixel guys were really excited about this, it could be a decision that bites them in the butt. The game is a nice fun technical demonstration of what Kinect can do, but how they’re going to stretch it out into a full game is yet to be seen. Twisted Pixel did hint at a lower price point to reflect the title, but we’re still a little dubious about this one.

Gunstringer is another family-friendly Kinect title, but with this one you won’t have to leave the sofa!

The Gunstringer is out this year for Xbox 360, exclusively for Kinect.