Space Gun (video Game) - Reception

Reception

Space Gun was well received by the video game press. In issue 34 of Zero, Amaya Lopex gave the original arcade version of the game four out of five stars. Jonnie Cook of Sinclair User described the arcade release as enjoyable to those that already liked the genre, but stated he preferred other games. Killer List of Videogames called the cabinet design "quite unique". In March 1992, Gary Whitta of Advanced Computer Entertainment magazine stated that the sections that scroll into the screen are a lot easier to play than the horizontally scrolling sections. The screen can quickly fill up with enemies, which can lead to confusion as to what the player is shooting at, especially when human hostages run across the screen as they can be inadvertently killed. Neil West of Amiga Format commented that the title has a high difficulty level and that power-ups are a necessity to continue playing. The "not perfect" rapid fire weapon (which needs recharging after prolonged use) contributes to the game's difficulty, as stated by Brian Sharp of Games-X magazine.

Several publications compared the game's plot to that of the 1979 film Alien. Simon Forrester of Your Sinclair jokingly referred to Space Gun as the "unofficial game" of the film. Zero magazine gave particular praise to the sections where humans mutate into aliens as they run towards the player. Your Sinclair reviewer Jon Pillar and Chris Buffa of GameDaily said that Space Gun contains graphic violence, citing the visual effect of entrails and blood splashed against the screen. Steve Merritt of CU Amiga described the sound effects, specifically alien squeals and the pumping heartbeat, as "simple, but effective".

On release for home platforms, the game received mixed reviews in the press, ranging from 69% in Amiga Format to 84% in CU Amiga magazine. A preview from Amiga Power described Space Gun as deriving from an "inexplicably popular coin-op, best described as Line of Fire set in space." Several reviews have stated that Space Gun is an Operation Wolf clone, while it has also been compared unfavorably to Operation Thunderbolt. Sega Power magazine reviewed the Master System version, giving the game a score of 70% if the player is using a Light Phaser, but only 50% if a control pad is being used. Paul Presley of The One for Amiga Games also found that using input devices other that the guns mounted to the arcade machine "just isn't the same". Prior to the release for the Xbox and PS2 as part of Taito Legends the game was regarded by Gamedaily as being in the "top five" of the games in the collection, and on release the same website described it as "thoroughly enjoyable".