In Squirrel with a Gun, you play as the most unlikely and hateful squirrel around, armed with a gun and driven by an unstoppable quest for golden acorns. This sandbox game mixes chaos, heists, and platforms, all in a crazy universe where our little rodent plays gangster. Armed to the teeth (or rather, to the claws), he wanders around in search of treasure while sowing panic, confronting Matrix-style Agents (you know, Mr. Smith), and even bosses in armored armor. Get ready to find out how far an armed squirrel can go in this crazy world!
From the start, the concept is amusing: imagine an improbable mix between Goat Simulator and a supercharged squirrel who dreams of being John Wick. Here we find the madness of sandbox games, with an open world to explore where the areas are gradually unlocked. You'll need to collect golden acorns to upgrade your arsenal and get bonuses (or stylish new outfits). Need a radio-controlled car? Twelve gold acorns and four hundred classic acorns, no less! The system encourages exploration, but beware: the bosses await you in HP bag mode.
The gameplay shows great inventiveness. The squirrel can propel itself using the recoil of its weapons, resulting in jumps worthy of the best action films. Weapons serve as a makeshift jet-pack: Uzi, rifle, or even grenade launcher allow you to traverse environments in style, although the finicky camera often complicates the task. Fortunately, there is an option to display a shadow to better evaluate your jumps – a detail that saves the platforming phases from a lot of frustration.
Some platform challenges require a bit of reflex and thought to know where to go, but repetitiveness quickly rears its ugly head. If the basic concept is hilarious, the mechanics end up going in circles. We spend a lot of time collecting acorns and facing enemies that look similar, while the settings remain desperately empty and the NPCs, a little too rigid and identical too. On the boss side, the confrontations quickly become simple tests of endurance where the strategy is limited to emptying your magazines in the hope of not being sent to the mat.
Visually, it's quite simple and limited, with repetitive settings and little interaction outside of confrontations. Collision bugs and crashes unfortunately spoil the experience a bit, and Quick Resume tends to crash, often forcing you to restart from the previous save. The soundtrack, for its part, is there to do the job, without being memorable, even if the James Bond-style credits make you smile.
Despite original ideas, the whole thing remains a little rough around the edges. Yes, we have fun walking around, blowing up tanks, and flying while propelling the squirrel in all directions, but repetitiveness lurks. To complete the adventure, allow around 7 to 8 hours, time to exhaust the few surprises that the game has in stock.
Squirrel with a Gun is a brilliant concept on paper – crazy, funny and refreshing. However, behind this crazy idea, the game ends up being redundant and lacking in polish. Fun to discover, but not sure if you'll get to the end of it!
