Shotgun Cop Man Switch Review

Shotgun Cop Man is the kind of stripped-back silliness I adore.

The latest from DeadToast, the guys behind the equally bonkers My Friend Pedro, Shotgun Cop Man sees you descend to the depths of hell on a mission to arrest Satan, as the titular hero. The kind of hard-boiled no no-nonsense, shoot-first ask ask-questions-later kind of guy played by the likes of Vin Diesel or Jason Statham in the inevitable film adaptation. In other words, he barely says anything and looks like a thumb in a suit.

To do this you need to blast your way through more than 150 stages across the nine layers of hell using your trusty shotgun and pistol not only to vanquish the hordes of demon scum but as a means of propulsion.

You see, every time Cop Man fires his trusty shotgun, the kickback sends Cop Man sailing through the air. Another well-timed blast will then change his trajectory while also dispatching any unfortunate demons underneath him. Then, once he lands or grabs some more ammo midflight, he reloads and can continue to blast himself around the environment.

Meanwhile, his pistol will keep him hovering in position once skyward, while gunning down fools, or as a means to bunny hop away from the barrage of bullets being launched in Cop Man’s general direction.

It seems simple enough, jump with the shotgun, hover with the pistol, try to get to the end of the level as quickly as possible, without getting hit, and killing all the baddies on the way.

Simple, right? Well it is to begin with, the early stages give you ample room to get used to the controls as you careen through the air and murder all the comically square demons along the way.

But like all good platformers, each new area introduces new obstacles and ways to traverse the environment. This starts with grates you can shoot through and spike pits, then switches, moving blocks, grapple points, destructible walls, laser traps, pipes, destructible walls, and many more

The demons you face also become more complex and angry from walking, to flying, to teleporting, to being helped by screaming skulls, angry buzzsaws, and sneaky mages.

By the end of the game, Cop Man is juggling a lot, but it still feels manageable for the most part. Some levels did make me groan since death seemed to come all too easily and the stakes were ramped up considerably, out of absolutely nowhere, but save for not getting a tick next to take no damage and do all the things at the end, it doesn’t affect your progress at all.

Moreover, there’s always a sense of forward momentum. Whenever you die, you’re never pushed that far back, and you’re instantly returned to the action (though you can say goodbye to your no-damage run. One stray bullet can, and often does, do this too.)

This feeling is compounded whenever you find one of the many special weapons strewn throughout the stages, from machine guns and grenade launchers to flamethrowers and incredibly powerful lasers. Each one feels unique, and some levels are even constructed around using specific weapons like a clever stage that sees you ricocheting bullets off walls to hit switches or another that is simply an excuse to flambé a lot of demons.

Each of the nine worlds is capped off with a fun boss battle that has you fighting infernal machines, powerful wizards and a demon with a huge arse that fires lasers. Each requires some clever use of the shotgun to overcome, though the lack of checkpoints on all but the final fight against a disappointed Satan can be a touch irksome at times. Especially if you’re only a couple of shots away from success and it all goes terribly wrong.

Though there’s not much in the way of story, what there is sets a suitably comic and slightly juvenile tone. It feels like a kid playing with their action figures and having them say swears when mum is out of the room. Every new area opens with Shotgun Cop Man reading Satan his rights or telling him he won’t get away with this, before the Prince of Darkness tells him to F off and gives him the finger while being carried away by a pair of flying demons. It’s simple, funny, and never fails to put a smile on my face.

Though the focus really is on the action, and the platforming, and the uh… action platforming, and that is expertly constructed throughout.

The presentation is also basic. Each stage is mostly monotone, with red delineating anything dangerous (including the hordes of demons), and most of the things you can interact with or collect highlighted yellow. It’s a simple system, one that works incredibly well with the amount of ideas and new gameplay concepts hurled at you, at an ever-increasing pace. Yet it all works, really well.

Final Thoughts

Shotgun Cop Man may be a little juvenile at times (in the best possible way). But the underlying run, gun, and jump action is as inventive as it is fun. Although you can breeze through the game in a few adrenaline-fueled hours, like the best platformers, those looking for a real challenge will certainly find one trying to get through every stage unscathed and under par.