✌ Johnny Rocket

I went in wanting something like a lo-fi Metal Slug with sketchbook visuals, and for the first thirty seconds that promise holds up. The hand-drawn, black-and-white cartoon aesthetic is genuinely good - it looks like someone's exercise-book doodles came alive, and the animations are fluid enough that you briefly believe you're in for something charming. Then you start shooting, and the whole thing falls apart. The move set is as thin as it gets: run, jump, double jump, shoot forward, and headbutt obstacles or enemies. That headbutt is the game's "signature move" and you will use it maybe four times across the entire run. There is no crouch, no directional aiming, and no dodge. Enemy AI is a single behavior loop - stand still and fire the moment you're in their line of sight. Since their shots are instant and you can only fire in one direction, a huge proportion of the damage you take is simply unavoidable. Checkpoints are generously placed (presumably because the developers knew how cheap the hits are), but generous checkpointing is a band-aid over a design problem, not a solution. A hardcore mode exists - it's one-hit kill - and reviewers across the board called it unplayable given the hit-detection issues. Hard agree. The three levels do try to mix things up. Soldiers with pistols give way to machine-gun nests, attack animals, aircraft, and UFOs. One section in level two drops Johnny into a small plane for a horizontal shooter segment, and that bit actually works - it's the one moment the game's energy matches its concept. Boss fights each have a pattern to read, and once you've read it they're over quickly. Total runtime is somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes depending on how much you die. A comic cutscene unlocks after each boss, and the toilet humor that runs through the whole thing is either going to land for you or it won't - I'd put it squarely in "won't" territory for most. On PC the control mapping is functional and full controller support is present, so at least sitting down with a pad works. Steam Leaderboards are listed as a feature, which suggests some form of competitive angle, but with under 40 Steam reviews total and a mostly negative rating at 39% positive, there is no active community to speak of. The online PvP tag on the store page is a mystery - in practice this plays as a solo side-scroller. There is nothing here for anyone looking for a competitive shooter experience. The art direction is the only thing that genuinely deserves praise. Everything else - combat feel, enemy design depth, level variety, content length - sits below the bar for even a budget indie release. This existed first as an internet cartoon and that origin shows: it's a concept that translates better as a short clip than as a game you spend money on.

Fred · Scout Team

Shooters

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