Up in the hills live many a shotgun wielding grandma, perhaps you even know one. Most people would see such rednecks as a nuisance, or perhaps a joke. Today that changes! Today Granny is saving your ass from an alien probe. In Shotgun Granny you are in control of Granny, and she’s dressed for the occasion with her robe, hair curlers, and shotty.
The Graphics in Shotgun Granny are very simple and cartoony, which makes for a rather fun 2D gaming experience. The game plays very smooth, and the one nitpick I have about it is that if you leave the game it does not save your progress, so if you get a call while you’re about to beat your high score you must choose between talking to your grandma or making her shoot those 6 UFO’s all clustered together for a tidy 1000 bonus points. Oh well, I guess Grandma can wait, I talked to her last month…
I absolutely LOVE the sound in this game. There is the hillbilly banjo plucking around in the background and as you play you will constantly hear granny telling the invaders to “get offa her land,” or muttering little redneck nothings like “heaven’s to betsy.”
The gameplay is pretty simple, simply tap or swipe to move granny around, and tap the sky to shoot. There are three ways to lose: get hit too many times by alien missiles, get abducted by the tractor beam ships, or run out of ammo. You fire ten shots per tap, and each ship you destroy drops about six rounds. This, along with score bonus’ make you aim for more then one at a time. There are a few powerups you can grab as you play, there are short speed boosts, a orange sphere which will destroy all the ships on-screen, and granny’s pills which will restore her health.
I’ve been addicted to this game for the past week or so now, the integration with OpenFeint has me focussed on figuring out what the “secret” achievements are. I haven’t gotten my score up to the 50,000 mark, but I will!
Presentation & Graphics
Smooth fluid cartoon graphics, and the load screen is hilarious!
Sound
Granny is always calling out something to the aliens, or muttering something under her breath. There is hillbilly music playing in the background and humming as the UFO’s fly around
Gameplay
simple controls, however if you tap just a little high, you’ll shoot a bunch of rounds which won’t help anything.
Gamelife
This is a game which will keep you casually entertained for hours on end, and OpenFeint gives you reason to keep playing
Game Rating
Shotgun Granny is a very fun game, it will make you smile and keep you happy for a long time. If you are like me, and like simple games it will keep you quite entertained for a long time. If you want to stay safe, call grandma and make sure she’s got her shotty loaded. At under a dollar it’s a must buy.
