Ink Stains Games are the latest developers to hop on the Kickstarter train in hopes of riding it out so that their game, 12 Is Better Than 6, can see the light of day.
12 is Better Than 6
Developer: Ink Stains Games
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with an alpha build to preview
12 Is Better Than 6 is a western shooter that plays things hard and fast with hectic shootouts that can end in an instant for you if you don’t play things smart. The game plays from a top-down perspective similar to Hotline Miami but that’s as far as the comparisons go. The shooting here goes for a more realistic feel with guns that actually need to be cocked before firing (more on that in a bit) and a bit more of an adventure game/RPG vibe with a world to explore, items to buy, and side-quests to discover.
The thing that’s going to make or break your enjoyment of the game is its unique control scheme. You fire with the left mouse button but you have to cock your gun with the right button. This means when firing your revolver you have to get into this rhythm of firing, cocking, firing, cocking, etc. It’s definitely interesting but after playing through the demo multiple times it still felt a bit awkward. This mechanic gets noticeably frustrating when enemies fire off at you with extreme speed and accuracy and you’re sitting there still trying to gel with the controls. Shootouts are incredibly fast so having to keep track of where all these enemies are (and flanking positions since they definitely take advantage of those), good cover, weapon locations for when your gun runs out of bullets, and then having to juggle the left click/right click rhythm can be a bit much at the beginning of the game.
It’s definitely a nifty gimmick and I’m sure once you get the hang of it it’ll feel great, but there were times I just wished there was an option to play without it. If shooting’s not your thing you can definitely sneak through most of the levels. One run through the demo I tried to sneak as much as possible and it’s definitely a viable strategy if not a bit too easy to pull off. I’d get shockingly close to enemies who wouldn’t notice me as I walked right past them but that could just be because the game is currently in pre-alpha.
The thing that probably surprised me most about the demo was the amount of story the game has. You play as a slave who recently escaped and is seeking revenge against those who enslaved him. Along the way you’ll meet a cast of typical western characters who have a surprising amount of things to say in what I was expecting to just be a simple action game. You’ll also be able to interact with NPC’s and travel between locations on a map and I assume the final game will have more varied events that happen in-between locations other than random cowboys looking to kill you. The game also features a nice hand drawn look which is nice to look at and all, but it sometimes makes seeing what direction you and enemies are looking at and some things in the environment aren’t always clear about whether or not they’re viable cover.
12 Is Better Than 6 is a solid action game that holds a lot of promise if the developers can actually deliver on their vision. I’ve seen too many Kickstarter games fail horribly so I’m always wary about them and while I’d recommend simply keeping your eye on it, if what you’ve read sounds like your cup of tea then by all means toss a buck towards it. If you’re interested in taking a closer look at the game you can hop on over to its Kickstarter page and even download the pre-alpha demo to try it out yourself.
