Welcome to the fast-paced, side-scrolling action that is Gun Crazy from Ritual Games and Ratalaika Games. Find out if the game’s worth your time in our Gun Crazy review!

 

The game starts with no introduction or story, but if you read up the description on the store page, you’ll learn that you are in the police force, and you are actually the fiercest lady they have. Unfortunately, there isn’t much more to it, but at the same time, it shouldn’t impact your enjoyment when playing the game since this is a run ‘n gun shooter.

Gun Crazy is a side-scrolling shoot ’em up with some fast-paced action that’s meant to have you running and shooting until you can’t do it anymore. Moving is done with the left joystick, with the Cross button to jump and the Circle button to use one of your abilities, the Dash move. This move allows you to attack enemies and also avoid some bullets or enemies coming your way. Shooting is done with either L2, R2, or the Square button. You can also hold the L1 or R1 button to lock yourself in place so that your left joystick controls where you aim your gun while shooting.

At first, your gun will be able to shoot at close-range, so you can’t really hit your enemies from afar. As you progress, you’ll eventually find some power-ups that will allow you to shoot three-ways, or with a laser beam, to name some example. These weapon boosts don’t last forever, but they do cause a lot of damage to enemies. There are no pickups to improve your overall health bar, so you’ll be having the same number of hearts for each of the lives you get. If you lose all your lives you will be able to use the few continues that you get to try and complete the four levels the game has to offer. Gun Crazy features some colorful pixel art, but the action goes so fast that you don’t have time to admire it, what with all the bullets and enemies coming at you.

 

My first reaction when I started the game was that it was maybe a bit too direct, with absolutely no introduction. I was glad I checked the menu that explains all the controls before jumping right in! So I started running and shooting, until I encountered a mini.boss, then another one a bit later, and finally the first level’s boss. The second level was different since it was a single room with no scrolling, only with balls dropping from the ceiling. Bigger balls would explode into smaller ones until you get to the smallest ones that end up destroyed. That was it for level 2, which felt a bit lacking. Considering the game has only four levels, having one as simply designed as this one didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth.

 

And to prove the content-lacking aspect, once I completed the second level, the Platinum trophy popped up along with the last trophy I was missing for completing the second level. Nothing is missable if you get there while killing everything in your path, and it took me 12 minutes to do so. Unfortunately, this is one of the rare games that doesn’t have a PlayStation Vita Cross-Buy version, so if you want a new Platinum for your collection, you’re looking at spending 15 minutes shooting at stuff.

 

Final Thoughts
If you’re a trophy hunter, this is a win for the time you need to invest. But considering there is no PlayStation Vita version, and that the gameplay is a bit basic, you might want to wait to get this one until you’re looking for a bite-sized run ‘n gun game.

PSN Price: $4.99

Disclaimer
This Gun Crazy review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Ratalaika Games.