Gunpey

Q Entertainment has been on a tear over recent years with a whole slew of interesting, and different puzzle games. Two patterns are emerging from these puzzle games: one is the MTV style of videos that occur in the background, and two is the strategic innovation in the kind of puzzle games. Namco Bandai has partnered with Q Entertainment to publish this Playstation Portable game that received an E10+ (Everyone 10 years or older) by the ESRB with crude humor being the only descriptor. Gunpey has the player trying to move blocks together that draw lines from one edge of the playable area to the other. Block movement is performed by swapping two blocks that have lines in them.

The graphics in Gunpey are plain weird. There is some graphics that seem to be sexual in nature (editor: no surprise the ESRB missed that), and there is some crude humor that is cartoon styled violence. The playable area with the lines are pretty bland, but thankfully the behind graphics were blurred to avoid being much of a distraction.

How you react to the sounds in Gunpey really has a lot to do with your musical tastes. Q Entertainment likes to include a lot of techno style music. I generally like that style of music, but for some reason the music in Gunpey gave me a headache. There is also a heavier rap influence in this game than their previous games. There are also some lyrics that you may find offensive, since a lot of modern secular music is used.

If you can get into the action of Gunpey then expect a lot of replay. Namco Bandai made sure that a lot of different modes, and ways to play were included. More than one person can play this game via the wireless.

I really felt like the gameplay was lacking in Gunpey. Being able to move up and down only leaves a lot of strategy out. Moving blocks left and right as well would have improve this. The controls that are there work well. I had no fun with this game, which probably has a lot to do with the really bizarre presentation.

Gunpey teaches concentration, and matching skills. I really wish some of the bad content had been left out of the game. It really does detract from a game that could have been so much better. There is also a version of this game on the Nintendo DS with an ‘E’ for Everyone rating, and absolutely no descriptors. If FFG has time we will try and check it out for ya’ll.
- Paul