12 Is Better Than 6

Nintendo Switch

Reviewed By: Tyler Higgs

Developed By: Ink Stain Games

Published By: HYPETRAIN DIGITAL

Category: Action, Adventure

Release Date: March 5, 2019

Have you been looking to take a little trip back to the good old wild west? It’s a favorite age of time for many and also makes for a fantastic setting for video games. We’ve seen plenty of genres enter the dangerous world of cowboys, and now the twin stick shooter genre steps in with 12 Is Better Than 6.

We start our journey as an escaped slave who has no recollection of whom he once was. What he does know is that he must make his way out of Mexico to the United States. Let’s just say it’s not going to be very easy.

12 Is Better Than 6 is broken into 4 acts that span multiple levels. Each level plays out pretty similar, make it from Point A to Point B, and then the next section starts. How you go about doing this can be a guns a blazing approach or a more silent assassin approach.

Unlike many in the genre 12 Is Better Than 6 let’s players try to take a stealth approach to some sections if they wish. It’s nice to have the ability to stealth your way through, but it just doesn’t feel like that’s the way the game is intended to be played.

12 Is Better Than 6 creates a unique style to its twin stick gameplay. Gone are the days where we could hold down a button and release a barrage of hundreds of bullets. Instead is a new system that adds a bit more realism to the game.

Every time you want to fire off your gun, you have to click the left shoulder button to cock it then you can shoot. Once you have aimed at an enemy it will lock on to them. If your gun runs out of bullets you also have to make sure you reload  by pressing Y.

Honestly, it’s nice that the developers wanted to add some realism to this cowboy adventure. That being said what isn’t nice is how frustrating these unique controls can be. When you’re getting swarmed by enemies it’s really annoying to have to worrying about cocking your gun each time. It’s even worse because without a certain upgrade you will die immediately from one shot, and have to restart the level. It caused a lot of deaths that really felt like they could have been avoided with a better control system in place.

If you’re trying to take a stealth approach to 12 Is Better Than 6 you’ll be spending a lot of time sneaking up behind enemies with your knife. It feels great to sneak up behind someone, and get the kill, but being stealthy isn’t easy. You have to always be behind an enemy to kill them in one stab. There’s plenty of alert enemie that will pretty much always see you, and you won’t have a choice but to have a shootout.

I appreciate what the game was going for with the stealth option, but it just didn’t feel necessary. I think 12 Is Better Than 6, would have been better if it stuck to being a stealth game or a full on gunslinging action title. Overall the stealth option is just not well implemented.

When you’re not doing the main story, you have time to check out towns that have sidequests and upgrades you can buy. Sidequests give extra cash that will allow you to buy upgrades. They’re missions that act the same as the main storied levels, but beating them gives cash. Upgrades are very useful to buy. Especially the chestplate that will give you a chance of bullets being deflected.

One of the best aspects of 12 Is Better Than 6 is its art style. The game boast beautiful hand drawn environments, and characters that really blend well with the gameplay. It’s really interesting to see this approach taken with this type genre of game. I really enjoyed the detail that this art style brought to the world.

Unfortunately not all is well on the technical side of 12 Is Better Than 6. Frame rate issues were pretty regular, especially when a lot of enemies were onscreen firing. The slowdowns caused a few death, that could have been avoided if they weren’t there. Frame rate issues definitely hurt my experience with the game.

I enjoyed my time with 12 Is Better Than 6 to a degree, but I couldn’t help feel like it could have been done better. The developers crafted a unique twin stick shooter, that just felt like it deviated too much from the genres traditional formula. If the controls were more fluid, and the combat didn’t waver between a stealth and full action gameplay, the experience would have been more enjoyable. 12 Is Better Than 6 is a great idea with a beautiful hand drawn style that fell short quite a bit in execution.

3/5

Buy 12 Is Better Than 6

$9.99

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