Game #880: Trap Gunner

 I guess you could say that... it's a trap.

 Back in the day I used to purchase videogame magazines. It was in an issue of either Xpert Gamer or Gamepro that featured a guide for Trap Gunner, and it had a section that featured all the playable characters, and man, the Ninja looked so cool! Everyone looked cool!. I spent years wishing I could play the game until I forgot about it. And now, years later, I finally got to play it. It was OK.

 Alright, so here's the thing with Trap Gunner, just like games like Twisted Metal, it's supposed to be played against other people, and playing by yourself just isn't very fun because matches can go on for a long time, and it's not like you can have a trash-talking back and forth with the AI.

 Regardless, what is Trap Gunner? It's a one-on-one versus game. You play as either of six characters, 9 if you unlock the bonus characters, and must shoot down your enemy, using traps to deal big damage or your pea shooter to help you. The game seems more complicated than it really is, but it features a serviceable, fully voiced video tutorial to put you up to speed.

 Each character has many elements that set them apart from the others. Their starting trap set is different, they have different projectiles that deal different amounts of damage, have different sized clips as well as speeds. Even their walking speed can be different. My favorite trap was the Mine, because it's very simple to use, so the Ninja I liked so much back then was a perfect fit, since he starts with 3 mines. On the other hand, keep in mind that your basic, infinite projectile weapon turns into a melee attack when an enemy is close to you, a melee attack with different speed and properties than your main gun.

 Your basic gun deals pathetic amounts of damage, so it's best used as a keepaway tool... or to make an enemy botch their attempts at disarming a trap. There are many traps: Mines, bombs that can't explode on their own, detonators(Detonated with the X button and can trigger mines and bombs in its vicinity), gas traps, force-push traps and pitfall traps, and the beauty of it is that you can combine traps. For example, surround a mine with bombs to deal massive damage. Or use a force-push trap to push an enemy into a mine. It's not like there are a million different combinations, but you can have some fun.

 The game is played in split-screen, even against the CPU, so you can see their part of the screen to aid yourself. Holding down the Triangle button slows you down to a crawl, but allows you to see enemy traps... and disarm them. Disarming a trap involves simple button inputs, and if you get it right you get a bit of health back and the enemy loses the trap, since they normally restock after an enemy sets them off. However, if you fail the inputs, or if you get attacked when you are doing the disarming, the trap will trigger.

 To keep you on the move, the game will regularly spawn traps or power ups on designated spots on the map, and you can tell that something has spawned because the spot will blink on the mini-map. It can also lead into strategizing, since you might want to set up traps for the enemy to trigger when trying to get more traps or trap stocks. Eventually, The Unit will spawn, an enemy tracking, plasma-sphere that deals a ton of damage, and it usually turns into a scramble to get The Unit before the enemy does. And if they do, trying to knock them down so that it breaks.

 I'm glad to have finally played the game, even if it wasn't everything younger me expected. That said, call it a hunch, but I've a feeling this game can be quite fun when played with somebody else.

 6.0