Gunhouse
Nintendo Switch

Developer: Necrosoft Games
Publisher: Other Ocean Interactive
Category: Puzzle, Strategy
Release Date: 01.15.2018

“Oh great, another Tower Defense game,” you may be saying to yourself. Well stop it! Stop that right now! This isn’t just another Tower Defense game. No, Gunhouse is quirky and lovable and puts you front and center in defending your home turf. Gunhouse is part Tower Defense and part Block Puzzle but combines both of these styles of games in to one quirky experience.

I have traveled all over the world, and something that is a favorite of mine is watching out for great and unique graffiti art wherever I go…so naturally I was drawn to the brightly colored graffiti style that Gunhouse brings to the table. To add to the quirky visuals, the soundtrack is simply incredible. From Jazz to Funk, they switch it up enough to keep it fun and interesting and…most importantly…to really get you in to the game.

Gunhouse Nintendo Switch — Dragon v Penguin, who will win?

While the game may look chaotic and eclectic, the basis of the game is pretty to-the-point. Use unique and crazy guns to protect your tower (and a group of orphans) from all sorts of fun and squishy enemies. Each enemy is…well you will have to check it out. Squishy animals, mechanical hats and more! Some may throw popsicles at your tower to try and bring you down.

No matter how you choose to play, the stages are separated in to different waves throughout a day: dawn, noon, dusk, and night. At the beginning of each day, the locale will change along with the quirky enemies you will be defeating to protect your orphans and your tower.

Gunhouse Gameplay

While fairly straight-forward, Gunhouse provides a challenging and really fun game play. A quick tutorial on Day 1 will teach you the basics of how to play the game: slide same-style blocks together in sets of at least 4 to create larger blocks. Those blocks can either be slid to the left to equip as guns or to the right to equip as specials. You have to do this quickly, though, as the door to your arsenal will close every 18 seconds.

From the beginning, you are automatically give 3 guns from their hilarious arsenal of guns.

Guns:

Dragon Gun (given at the beginning of the game)
Penguing Gun (give at the beginning of the game)
Skull Gun (given at the beginning of the game)
Vegetable Gun
Lightning Gun
Flame Gun
Fork Gun
Beachball Gun
Boomerang Gun
Sine Wave Gun

Each tile represents one of these guns. For an extra power bonus, match and equip the same type of gun that is featured in the small window at the top of your tower. Equipping it as a gun will do just that…make it a gun. Some can shoot in any direction while others can only shoot straight, so position them to your best advantage. Equipping them as a special in the right hand containers will give an extra boost of screen-wide destruction. In addition, the bigger the block you equip, the bigger the destructive power.

As you destroy enemies, some will give you back some health while others will drop money…and you want this money! At the end of each wave, you can go to the store and either buy new guns, new upgrades for existing guns, more hearts, or shield (once you have bought enough guns). It is all risk v reward. Do you upgrade the guns you all ready have, or do you buy that vegetable gun that will create a carrot wall that will topple down on your enemies and then upgrade that gun after the next wave? You have to think carefully about what you will do and spend your precious money on.

While the game may seem a bit repetitive, seeing your enemies get covered with exploding grinning skulls or seeing that giant carrot topple over on to your enemies provides loads of entertainment to offset the repetitive nature of the game. For me, this is an instant classic and probably one of my favorites in this genre.