Gunhound EX Reviews

If you like 90's mecha anime and difficult Japanese arcade sidescrolling action games, this might be the game for you. If you don't like BOTH of those things, you'll probably find pretty much nothing to enjoy in this game. This game's weaknesses are easier to describe than its strengths. Its graphics are dated, having been made for the PSP years ago. It's a very transparently low-budget game (with remarkable ugly menus). It's an extremely barebones port with almost no PC-specific features or enhancements. It's singleplayer-only with limited replay value (achieve high scores to unlock extra weapons). It's also short, at about 3 hours from start to finish. Lastly, the controls can be a pain, literally. The game's more difficult fights can require you to juggle between pressing, holding, and possibly double-tapping upwards of 6 different buttons on a controller as you dodge enemy projectiles, fire multiple weapons, jump, dash, and block. Sometimes you even have to do this in zero-gravity where you hold a button to toggle your directional controls between lateral motion (movement) and angular rotation (aiming). I typically couldn't play for more than about an hour at a time before stopping because my hands were aching so much from the finger acrobatics. In spite of all of that, I found the game had old-fashioned charm and was quite satisfying to overcome as a challenge. Like any good Japanese action game, you can feel your mastery of the game steadily increase as you play it. Persistence, pattern recognition, and plenty of patience are required to succeed. I approached this obscure little game with no, or maybe even negative, expectations, so I am surprised and satisfied at having ultimately enjoyed it modestly.

Decent side-scrolling action game where you play as a mech pilot against a horde of helicopters, tanks and enemy mechs. You can customize your mech with a variety of different close and long range weapons. The gameplay is very similar to the SNES classic "Metal Warriors". As for the negatives, you are limited to the Gunhound mech, unlike other games where you can choose from different types. The controls are quite challenging to master (especially for the zero gravity areas). The game is also quite short, which can be irritating to some after they finally get used to the controls. Overall, I recommend the game for those who are looking for a fun, retro-style mech game.

I love this game. It has a lot of flaws. It's short as hell, the tutorial is long, the translation is bunk, it's not compatible with steam overlay (or alt-tab, much of the time) and you absolutely need a controller to enjoy it. The graphics are pretty so-so and the story isn't that compelling. But once you get past all of that, you're left with an awesome arcade-style game with great-feeling controls, punchy music and good replayability. Unlockable weapons and one credit play are actually rewarding in a game that feels like this one. It's pretty fast but feels weighty and even if it could use some more levels it has a good spread of what the levels entail. The bosses are generally fun as hell. The game plays like nothing else on steam- but again, consider how many hours of play you expect for your money and whether you have a controller, first.

This game is very good, but [b]TAKES TIME[/b] to learn and master the controls. You won't just start the game and shoot everything in sight. This is [b]NOT[/b] Contra. First you got to do the Simulator Missions, which is the Tutorial. That will teach you everything you need to know to control your mecha, and you'll need, as it has alot of functions. Then you can start the game, and if you manage to finish the game once, you'll probably have enough points for one or two new weapons, and then the game start to become really fun. Every boss has a patern, and you need to observe, and [b]LEARN[/b]. Again, this is not Contra. [b]And by the way, it works with Xbox 360 controller just fine, you just need to go to Options and remap the buttons, because it does recognize the controller, just isn't mapped yet. I'm using Xbox 360 controller and it works just perfect. I found the solution browsing by a few topics on Discussions.[/b] The game sure needs a little bit more of improvement, to make it runs perfectly, but I highly recommend it. Great sidescroller with lots of action.

Might be a fun game. Hard to tell given how badly the port was done. Absolutely refuses to work with my wired Xbox360 controller. No excuse for that nonsense in this day and age. Not even worth the 5 bucks they're asking for under the summer sale.

Armored Hunter Gunhound EX has been compared to Metal Slug a lot but if you ever played Metal Warriors or Front Mission: Gun Hazard it controls exactly like that. It took me a bit to the more realistic feel of the Gunhound but once you get the hang of it it's enjoyable. There is 5 missions and to unlock all the weapons you have to basically grind points on the 5 missions that are available. The problem with the controls inherently are the fact they are very deliberate, if you try to play it like Mega Man or Metal Slug you will get shot down easily. It doesn't help that the game is kind of trial and error as there are many cases in the game where your hound won't be able to react fast enough to what happens because of it's very deliberate movement. You can purge your armor to increase your speed but it makes you brittle, that's the pay off. There is an odd popping noise in the sound as well, however the game has some good Japanese Voice acting which I think explains the price. That said the songs in the game are very damn good. I got it for 3 dollars on a sale and I got my money's worth however I can't recommend it at its 15 dollar normal price on Steam. Then there is all the little things. There is no graphic options for one, outside of 60FPS control really. Fullscreen is enabled by the old standby, Alt + Enter just in case you didn't know that. Then there is the fact that you have to mash through cutscenes that you can't skip. If you keep dying it gets really old. The game is not horrible, or bad or broken (at least not for me, I see people are having launch and controller issues on the forums.), but there is a combination of things that kind of hinder it. Get on sale in my opinion, at about 7 USD or less. As a mech fan it really does bug me to say that I don't like the complete package but that's the way it played out.

GOTY This is the most awesome shit to come out in ages. Mix Neo Geo, with SNES, with muh animu and Gundam, and you got this cock rocker of an experience. You feel like you're piloting a 16-32bit mech, with anime women yelling YOKAI and the like in your ear the entire time. Story is good too, Yuri is likable. The gameplay can be difficult to learn, and even then is challenging. You feel like a genius when you find out what removing armor does. It's great that it doesn't just show you that, as it feels like a good retro game, with high quality sprites and full Japanese voice acting. 10/10, best game on Steam.

Not sure what to call this Genre, Cybernator-like? Anyway Gunhound EX is one of the best representatives of the Mech platformers I've played so far. Maybe not the best PC port, but the game itself is pure gold. Tight atmosphere, challenging missions, good mech customization and pretty nice controls when you accustom yourself to constant switching of the weapon sybsystems. Gentle advice: dont configure attack buttons and jumping behind the same finger, you really need to be able to press both simultaneously to excel at this game.NOTE: Win10/Nvidia does seem to have compatibility issues, but got it running no problem disabling steam overlay and fullscreen optimizations from exe properties.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better example of the Steam userbase downrating a game because they're complete garbage at it. I've yet to complete it from beginning to end using one continue, but I've beaten the final boss using keybard controls and the only thing I had a bit of trouble with was locking on to a direction and using secondary fire at the same time; even that, though, becomes easy once you've practiced enough. Gunhound is a sidescroller with actual physics, and you're controlling a mech that's meant to feel heavy. That's it; that's what the "irredeemable horribleness" of the controls boils down to. As soon as you realize that you're not supposed to play this as if it were Mario or Megaman, it stops being an issue. Presentation's not amazing, but totally fine. The music's fitting enough and the graphics get the job done. Most of the mechs are made of smaller sprites put together and spun around in a Mode 7-esque way, which can be an issue and feel unnaturally robotic in games featuring organic characters but is totally fine in a mecha-piloting game. The silly anime story didn't amuse me as much as the one in Astebreed, but it's certainly easier to keep track of what's being said during gameplay given you can actually stop in your tracks in this game. Bonus points for a fairly likable female protagonist.

Very fun game, very similar to the old mech games from the SNES era such as Cybernator and Metal Warrior if you are fortunate to have played them. The ability to customize your mech with different weapons and even change the color scheme is also a nice feature to have even though I have not unlocked any new stuff they do give you a couple things to start with. I will say that the only negative I can think of at the moment would be that the zero gravity missions have a very wonky feel to them as I have a hard time aiming and not spinning but this is most likely due to me not having enough practice with the controls. So if you are a fan of old retro side scrolling mech games I think this game will fit the bill as I have not seen anything like this since the old SNES days.