GoNNER

What a throwback. Gonner was one of the first games I wrote about on this blog, back when I was still writing about not just every game I played, but every game I found (that I thought had potential) on Steam. Well, due to Steam's more-than-liberal policy of what to allow on itself, that didn't last long. But at least I have a look-back at what I thought about Gonner all the way back then.

"A procedurally generated platformer. It's got plenty of action, and from the looks of it, it's quite hectic. So, looks interesting, hopefully not too repetitive."
That's all I wrote, and I wasn't wrong. Gonner isn't a particularly complicated game. Run, jump, shoot, maybe get a new gun sometime. Levels are short, and you're rewarded for going through them quickly, racking up a kill combo. But, damn, it's kind of unfun to play, even if I liked speedrun-like action games.

Despite different guns, what's the deal with only being able to shoot forwards. Most enemies fly or scale walls, so combining waiting for them to get down, so they don't hit you on the head and make you lose (hitting them on the head damages them, not you, at least), with the fast pace of the game kind of isn't fun. Also you have multiple lives, but you lose "pieces" of yourself if you get hit once, not just a life, and have to pick them back up to continue shooting. Finally, everything else aside, it is quite repetitive. You're just chasing higher-and-higher scores and some arbitrary end level, but the road there is mostly the same.
Oh, and the artstyle is a bit too wobbly for something that should be a high-speed precision-based game. It really doesn't define the hitboxes very well.

Overall, old game, some people said it was better before some large update they made, but I doubt I would have enjoyed it either way. The levels are too short, your actions are too limited (please let me aim if you're giving me a ranged weapon), and it's kind of just the same thing over and over again. Wouldn't recommend.