Guerilla Bob (PC)

Guerilla Bob is a comedic dual-stick shooter.

Release Date: Apr 15, 2011

Guerilla Bob was once a decorated soldier. But following his disgrace due to the lies of former childhood friend John Gore, a heart that once beat out of pride now thumps only for revenge. Gore is going down. You're going to help Bob do it. 

A new twin-stick shooter for the iPhone, Guerrilla Bob is loaded with shades of classics like Robotron, but benefits enormously from one of the genre's cleanest controls schemes. Using two fat virtual sticks that are sensitive enough to line up precise shots, you rip through seven stages of maddening little enemies, such as machinegun troopers, bomb-throwers, and gas tank-carrying kamikaze soldiers. The twin-stick controls let you smoothly circle targets large and small while filling the screen with bullets, rockets, and flames. From time to time, you encounter larger targets such as tents that generate enemies until you destroy them with repeat fire or boss soldiers. 

As Guerrilla Bob, you'll plow through similar-looking towns way too often, though, which is one of the few disappointments. Greater mission variety would have been an enormous boost for Guerrilla Bob, because when you do finally reach an area with some twist on the general run-and-gun mechanic, such as the river rafting episode, the game really comes alive. 

I do wish Guerrilla Bob was a little more tactical about weapon and power-up deployment, too. There is no surprise and strategy for picking up new weapons or boosts, such as speed and damage multipliers. They are just… there. A system where you had to risk a tough foe to get a sweet weapon or save up in-game currency to splurge on a damage booster before a boss battle would add a lot to Guerrilla Bob. 

However, there is no question about Guerrilla Bob's humor and superlative art. This is an exceedingly attractive little game that never takes itself seriously. The enemy designs are quite good, especially some of the bosses such as Sam Butchfeller, a chainsaw-wielding maniac. 

Guerrilla Bob includes a Survival Mode to play after hammering through the main game, where you plow through wave after wave of enemies. 

Guerrilla Bob is a fun twin-stick shooter. It offers some of the best controls in the genre. However, I wish developer Angry Mob Games had added more stages with greater variety and introduced some sort of system that made getting new weapons a real reward. As it stands, though, Guerrilla Bob is still a fun little shooter with lots of character. But Guerrilla Bob 2 could be so much more.