Gringos (PD)

Title           Gringos (PD)
Game Type       Shoot-em-up
Company         Mario Speranda
Players         1-2
Compatibility   All Amigas
HD Installable  Yes
Submission      Kristian Hesketh (kristiangk@aol.com) Profiled Reviewer

Review
Gringos is a side-on, gunslinging, action shoot 'em up for up to two
players. The graphics are not terrific, but the action is smooth (50 fps)
and fast and incredible fun.

This is a freeware (it costs nothing) game and you can tell when to load
it up. The game has a simple little menu offering the bare minimal of
options. The graphics are poor, but I like the style; you can almost
imagine this game being played on a C64. The music is a nice little banjo
tune which is reasonably good.

The options finished with, the game begins. Two large sprites stare at
each other across the screen, before quickly darting for cover. The game
area consists of three main parts; the first area, where your character
can move, no-man's land, where occasionally a horse and carriage will
appear and your opponents movement area. Each of the areas is separated by
3 cacti which get destroyed in a very satisfactory manner once hit a few
times.

Each character has his movement restricted horizontally. You can't go past
the cacti, but you can go all the way up the screen vertically.

The controls are very easy to master. All directions and a fire button.
Press fire and a black pixel flies across the screen. Your wits and eyes
have to be sharp to avoid the hard ones, but with practice you can master
the art. If you fancy your chances, why not try a diagonal shot? You can
hide for a short while, but the cacti won't last for long. Bullets will
bounce off the top of the screen in a way guaranteed to shock unsuspecting
enemies :)

Your revolver can hold six bullets before it is empty and you must reload.
This is simply a matter of bashing the fire button six times. But, of
course, you cannot then fire and must look for cover. It very simple and
yet inspired.

To kill your opponent you must hit him in the torso. Hitting in the leg
will slow him down and hitting his hat will knock it off in an amusing
fashion. Blood is not spared, and a kill results in a nice recoil from the
victim :) Hitting the horse and carriage as it passes makes the horse bray
and speeds it on it's way.

The whole landscape regenerates after every kill, until ten kills are
eventually reached. Destroyed cacti take up root again to thwart you
attacks.

The game is far better as a 2 player game. The computer is a tiny bit
insane, but still a fair challenge due to it's unpredictability. Guessing
your opponents next move is great fun.

The brilliant thing is there is great scope for tactics. If you
continually blast through everything, there will be no cover for yourself.
You are in deep trouble when reloading with no cover. Sneaking around
taking pot shots is one way of doing it and hiding until your foe has just
emptied the last of his ammunition is another. Do you stand nearer or
futher from your enemy.

This is the best game of it's type in the 2 Player incarnation. Not very
original perhaps, but silky smooth and absolutely brilliant fun.
Overshadowed by classics such as Dogfight v1.1, but a great game in it's
own right. And it's free. Come on people, why haven't you got it?

N.B. The game runs at 50fps on an A500. Therefore I had to disable my
fastram to get a decent game speed out of it. You can turn it back on
afterwards :)

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