WestBang

Westbang, by Rake in Grass was, well, a bit boring for my taste. The game is basically like a day in the life of Wyatt Earp, but not nearly as cool. Westbang will really only appeal to you if you have fantasies of living in 1860’s Texas and love playing Wac-A-Mole, because that’s what this game is.

A normal game goes like this….you are in front of 3 doors, and you shoot the bandits and not the customers. BAM that’s the game. No really that’s it. It’s really as simple as it sounds. Yes, there some showdowns with some big bandits (no they are not boss battles), but otherwise it’s Wac a Mole in Texas.

There isn’t much more to say about the in-game play Westbang. The graphics are all 2D cell shaded western, the drawings are not bad, nor is the music and sound. The time based attack (i.e. don’t shoot one of the bandits until he draws on you) is interesting, but nothing spectacular. The game has 3 “modes” but they are really three levels of difficulty. There is money in the game, but there is no real way to use it. Apparently one can buy lives, but I have yet to find a “store” to buy more lives.

Here's my major gripe about the gameplay... there is no save or continue in anything but the beginner's mode. So if you die, that's it. It becomes a real chore just to get back to a certain level, and considering the fact that the scenery doesn't change too often, the game becomes rather stale. There is really only so much Wac-a-mole a guy can stand before he goes crazy.

Controls, well it’s a tap game. If the tapping doesn't work, it might be your iPhone.

The one saving grace of the game, in my opinion, has to be the narrated cutscenes. Stylistically, these cutscenes are unmatched by just about any other game out there. Their mix of great sound, nice, cell-shaded graphics, and a slight bit of comedy make for cutscene gold. Because of the cutscenes, I really wanted to love Westbang, but the repetition of playing western wac-a-mole just made me die inside.

Overall, I would not suggest buying this game unless you REALLY enjoy the game wac-a-mole. Good news for those of you on the fence, there's a lite version available.