Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Nintendo Switch
Genre: Action, Platformer, Indie

From the makers of weird-ass shooter My Friend Pedro comes yet another unique run-and-gun 2D title with a twist: you let your guns do the jumping.

In Shotgun Cop Man, made by DeadToast Entertainment, you play as the titular character as your job is to arrest Satan and journey through hell attempting to do so. Sure, he gets away just as soon as you are about to get the upper hand, but that means you’ll get to go through dozens of hellish stages full of platforming challenges and demons to blast. You have both your primary Shotgun and sidearm pistol to get you through the game’s treacherous mazes and platforming obstacles.

See, Shotgun Cop Man cannot jump; he needs to use his primary fire aimed downwards to the ground to launch himself in the air. At the same time, he can use his sidearm fire to float or at least short hop over oncoming projectiles. Physics and trajectory are the name of the game, and Shotgun Cop Man has you relying on skill, projection, and a little luck to make pitfall crossings and chasm-leaping viable while you’re mowing enemies down. You also only can get hurt twice before dying; if you get hit once, your soul gets ejected out and can only withstand one more hit before you die. That is, unless you return to your soul and collect it; think the Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island lives mechanic but without the crying baby.

Fire Fly

Trust me when I say the controls & feel take quite a while to get used to all of this, as I kept on dying a number of times because I didn’t get the launch right. But once you get the hang of it after half and hour or so, you’ll start appreciating the difficulty curve, level design, and challenge. You’ll get in the groove of transitioning through unstable platforms, navigating in mazes of buzzsaws and turret fire, and then thrust into arenas dealing with enemy waves. It really feels good and fun as that part of your brain that loves reflex-heavy 2D games twitches in excitement while you enrich yourself in the non-sequitor humour DeadToast loves dishing at you. Kudos to the level makers for keeping the pump action and jumping kineticism fresh with its various stages & hazards.

In fact, pad players will have a harder time aiming precisely and getting the jumps they want than keyboard and mouse players. This may sound like gamer elitist talk, but I had an easier time navigating through Shotgun Cop Man’s later stages with the keyboard and mouse combo than on my Xbox Series controller. That’s due to the former’s precise nature in contrast to the latter’s analog stick aiming that isn’t as accurate as you might make it out to be.

For a bargain price tag, you’re getting 5 hours of 2D platforming and shotgunning that remind you of the days of the Xbox 360 Arcade scene filled with treasures like Braid and Splosion Man. That’s the best compliment I can give to developer DeadToast Entertainment; they’ve brought back the innocent good times of indie gaming in the late 2000s with this bundle of buckshot joy. Shotgun Cop Man makes the fantasy of using your firearm recoil to fly all the more enjoyable and replayable, as these stages are meant to encourage you to get better scores & perfect playthroughs. Simply put, it’s a blast.

Final Score: 80/100