A 2D platformer is only as good as its movement feels. I firmly believe this, and only more so when it comes to the more hardcore among the genre. There’s simply no way that a game like Super Meat Boy would work if not for absolutely perfect controls, but because of them it’s simply magic. Shotgun Cop Man is another platformer with controls I’d gladly describe as perfect, although they’re also incredibly unconventional.
You play as the titular Shotgun Cop Man, who is a weird wedge of a protagonist. As a man of the law, Shotgun Cop Man has one goal: arresting the bad guys. The ultimate bad guy in need of incarceration is of course Satan, who you’ll have to chase through various platforming stages to finally arrest. Occasionally he’ll show up to swear at you a bit, but to say the story is minimal would be an understatement. This is exactly what I wanted, though, because the star of the show is the platforming.
Whereas Mario, Sonic, and countless other platforming heroes do a lot of jumping, Shotgun Cop Man doesn’t. Instead he uses guns to get around, by firing them in one direction to launch himself in the opposite. To say this feels sensational would be a ridiculous understatement. With two guns to use to get around, you’ll use your trusty shotgun to propel yourself through the air at maximum speed and cross those big gaps. Your pistol is less impressive but equally useful, allowing you to do a tiny hop or just sort of float in mid-air to avoid any obstacles in your path. By combining both of these you have so much control over your aerial motion, and can overcome pretty much anything.
You can’t just fly forever though, with only three shotgun shells loaded before you’ll need to plant your feet back on the ground. This leads to you having to carefully plan routes through dangerous spiked hallways, in order to make the most of your ammunition. This becomes even more of an issue when you add enemies into the mix, who need to be filled with lead too.
Each stage is littered with little demonic enemies who for the most part won’t really trouble you alone. Unfortunately there are usually about five of them shooting at you from every angle, all while death lasers and spikes join the party. You can only take two hits before dying (unless you collect your heart after the first one) so you’ll need to use all your gun movement skills to dodge and weave in order to survive. Using your guns to deal with threats will help too of course, which is where extra weapons come in.
Throughout the ten worlds of Shotgun Cop Man you gain access to other weapons, all of which replace your pistol until you take another hit. Some of these are simple like a rapid fire pistol or a sniper, but others are much more novel. There’s a gun with bullets that bounce off walls which can be used to hit enemies or switches from around corners, a gun that fires a huge spread of bullets that move comically slowly, and even a laser than chains between foes for maximum crowd clearing potential. This variety really keeps the combat fresh throughout the game, which especially helps in the more arena based levels.
The variety on offer throughout Shotgun Cop Man is simply top tier. Levels come in all shapes and sizes like boss fights and enclosed arenas, but even standard “get to the goal” stages are packed full of interesting elements. One world features boxes you need to push with bullets to clear a path, another is full of bubbles you can ride in which ensure you never run out of ammo for maximum flight. There’s no shortage of clever platforming ideas here, and it makes the game particularly hard to put down.
By far the toughest part of writing this review was coming up with any negative aspects of Shotgun Cop Man, because there are just so few of them. I did think the difficulty would amp up a bit more as I progressed, but it never quite makes it to that ultra-tough level I was hankering for. There are extra optional objectives to complete in each stage that provide a bit of extra challenge, like killing all the enemies or finishing within a time limit, but a lot of these are comically easy and there’s no reward for completing them anyway. This pretty much means that once you beat the final boss you’ve seen everything the game has to offer, which is a damn shame.
Shotgun Cop Man is a fantastic 2D platformer with sensational locomotion that had me gripped to the Switch from start to finish. With loads of variety, engaging combat, and a more than decent amount of challenge, this is a game that fans of jumping across pits have to experience.
