The current generation of video games is made up of 100+ hour RPGs, thousand dollar HDTV monitors, ginormous hard drives, and tons of assorted peripherals. With all the technology and sophistication of modern-day interactive entertainment, sometimes it’s easy to forget that simplicity can make for the best kinds of games. Gun.Smoke, an old arcade hit from Capcom ported to the NES in 1989, is a great example of this.
The year is 1848, and California is in the midst of the Gold Rush. The hardworking folk of ‘Hicksville’ have fallen under siege by a gang of evil bandits known as the Wingates, who killed the sheriff and regularly drop in to rob the city coffers. Enter your character, Billie Bob. Riding into town with a ten-gallon hat and “the sunset behind him”, he vows to gun his way to the gang leaders and free the populace.
The gameplay is easy enough to pick up. You control Billie Bob from a top-down perspective through six scrolling stages. The direction pad moves him around the screen while the A and B buttons are used to fire left and right (or forward if you hold both of them down). Enemies come at you frequently and in increasingly large groups, and the object is to shoot them down as quickly as possible before they hit you. A single shot means instant death. There’s a final boss at the end of each stage, but you must find a wanted poster in order for him to show up; otherwise the level repeats itself over and over.
To keep the restless hordes at bay, you’ll need something to outwit them. Your walking speed and firing distance are increased by acquiring boots and rifles that appear on the map; shooting barrels uncovers these essential items. In an interesting twist, your total score double as currency. You’ll need to spend the points you earn in order to acquire more powerful weapons, and buy things like extra ammo, horses, and the aforementioned wanted poster. All of these things can get pretty pricy, so it’s generally a good idea to get a lot of killing done before making the level’s boss appear.
For extra protection, Bob can uncover (or buy) a horse, which serves as little more than a shield. Ever willing to die for its owner, the horse will take two bullets before dying. It’s useful, albeit expensive and hard to come by.
Other than that, it all falls down to the same basic pattern: shoot, shoot, shoot, hide behind barricades, shoot, shoot, destroy all the enemies on screen with POW icons, shoot, get moneybags and boots, shoot. This type of gameplay sounds mundane and repetitive on paper, but Gun.Smoke can be hopelessly addictive. Those without good time management skills may find themselves spending many hours shooting through the bad guys.
While the graphics aren’t awe-inspiring (this is a pre-90s NES game, after all) they aren’t bad to look at. All the powerups can easily be identified, and enemies are recognizable enough. The six stages are either set in real locations (the Cheyenne River, Fort Wingate) or otherwise successfully capture the look and feel of the Old West. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’re guaranteed a good time here.
There are certain aspects of Gun.Smoke that are either out of place, weird or just plain politically incorrect. I have some reservations in particular about level 3, aptly titled “Comanchi[sic] Village” Here, all your regular enemy sprites are replaced by Native American stereotypes. They hop around, throw tomahawks, try to scalp you, and snipe from teepees. And you, devout Christian and staunch defender of the white womenfolk, have no choice but to blast them all down to headdress feathers. Racking up a body count in a manner akin to genocide doesn’t quite feel right, especially with the level’s choice of background music. It makes me wonder where Nintendo’s censors were the day the cartridge was stamped with the ‘Seal of Quality’ logo.
And then there’s “Death Mountain”, where the Wild West theme takes somewhat of a backseat and you end up… fighting ninjas. Yeah, that’s right. I’m not sure where Feudal Japan fits into the U.S. Gold Rush era, but there you go.
The journey to the finish line is tough and brutal, and Gun.Smoke is likely to put as many calluses on your thumbs as the numbers of enjoyable hours it brings. If you can look past the rather unsavory third level, it’s a fun and rewarding experience.
Final rating: (***) out of (****)
