Shoot 2 Kill, as the name may suggest, is a shoot 'em up game. More specifically, a side-scrolling shoot 'em up. This is normally the time I compare the game I'm reviewing to Mega Man to appease the little critic in my head who says that any decent review will highlight a game's faults and strong points by comparing it to a popular title everyone can relate to, but you know what? no. I'm not going to do that, because that would imply, at least to some extent, that Shoot 2 Kill was trying to be Mega Man in the first place.
Plenty of games on this list have marketed themselves as "unique," but very few have actually earned that title. Shoot 2 Kill is one of the few, the proud, the games that make blasting through enemies with a zappy thing in space interesting and original.
Time for a pop quiz, ladies and gentlemen. Since we're talking about Mega Man, one of the most distinguished game franchises out there, how did that game make itself so original? Answer: by introducing a new mechanic that people hadn't seen before, namely stealing the boss enemies' powers for use in later levels. Mega Man X distinguished itself with much different mechanics, namely wall-jumping and dashing, but it still used new mechanics to make itself unique. Shoot 2 Kill understands that, so instead of putting all its energy into bells and whistles that make the game seem unique, like that triple-orb system in Shattered Core, that didn't in any meaningful way change how the game was played, it devised a new and interesting mechanic that the player constantly utilizes to clear the level. That mechanic is "blinking," much like the ever proprietary mechanic from Dishonored, but here it's used for 2D side-scrolling platforming.
All things considered, the rest of the game is kinda substandard. Shooting enemies feels about as rewarding as wiping piss off a toilet seat; probably because while you're laboring away at an enemy with your weapon, you're tanking damage from the million other enemies on screen that you'd rather blink to and slice with your far more powerful sword, so really the game is more of a hack 'n' slash than a shoot 'em up. Although, some of the powerups for the gun do make it quite fun to use, especially the rocket launcher, which tears up everything in its path in a way that makes you feel like you're a demigod.
When all is said and done, zipping around the levels and slashing at enemies until they die is a very enjoyable experience. The enemies and bosses are varied enough to keep gameplay interesting. The game doesn't look or sound half bad, either. There are a few things that bug me, like why your character only moves at a speed that can be accurately described as "moseying along," which isn't really appropriate for the setting. The main issue, though, is how impossible it is to dodge enemy fire, especially when you drop into the tractor beam of an enemy you couldn't see. So yeah. The game really is just reduced to blinking and slashing, with the occasional boom boom. If that sounds fun to you, give it a go, but if you're more into the challenging shoot 'em up like Contra, which feeds your sense of accomplishment in addition to your primitive desire to see things blow up, rather than just relying on the latter, then maybe this one isn't for you.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay stimulating.
Links
shoot to kill...now keep shooting...almost...there ya go: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25995
