Gun Strike 2 review: fun with bullets and bobble-heads

If you ever were on the hunt for an adorable, in-depth, and superbly good first-person shooter on mobile, then you’ve lucked out, because Gun Strike 2, from Taiwan’s Paladin Entertainment, is just that.

This mobile first-person shooter is a 3D single-player game, has no stamina system, and has enough going on to keep you occupied until your phone’s battery gives out. In Gun Strike 2, players pick a character (with specific skills or not) then proceed to take aim at enemy heads with their finger-guided crosshairs. An on-screen button serves as trigger. Boom, headshot!

The sequel to Paladin Entertainment’s first game, Gun Strike, Gun Strike 2 has 60 levels in which you can take potshots at bobble-headed enemies, with 20 more on the way.

Each level has a total of three stars for you to accumulate. Simply completing a level earns you one star, while completing a level admirably, with speed and skill, gets you more stars. Subsequent level tiers don’t just require you to complete all prior levels; there is a specific number of stars you have to get. Unlike many other games, repeating Gun Strike 2’s levels does not feel like a chore, and this fact is supported by really catchy and exciting background music and sound effects.

(For a really good action RPG on your mobile, check this out.)

Contrary to its cute, bobble-headed avatars and enemies, Gun Strike 2 is not an easy game. While there are simple levels where you only have to clear a set number of enemies, there are others where you need to take aim on a moving battlefield, kill cute little critters within a limited time, or save a specific number of hostages, who don’t have enough sense to not stand on the battlefield and wave their thanks.

The stages where you have to kill animals, while reminiscent of the arcade shooter Big Game Hunter, are not easy and make me feel just the tiniest bit guilty for shooting ducks and deer in the head.

Fortunately, the game’s difficulty does ease up, since you can upgrade your avatar and equipment as the game progresses. While the stock standard avatar and gun is decent enough for the first few levels (especially with upgrades) you will find enemies in later stages wearing them out.

This is where Gun Strike 2 makes me happy. Most in-app purchases can be made with the game’s virtual currency. The only time you ever need to pick up premium currency is if you want avatars that are super cute (panda, bear, undead gunner!) or super powerful (John Rambo lookalike, with eight seconds of invincibility every 50 seconds). Otherwise, you can have great fun with the game with its standard range of guns and avatars.