It’s the cartoon spaghetti-western third-person shooter you never knew you needed, until now. Secret Ponchos.
“Secret Ponchos takes place in a dramatic Wild West setting, full of tension, stylization and attitude reflective of a graphic-novel. In a town crawling with bandits, murderers and bounty hunters you are an outlaw with a bounty on your head and everyone is gunning for you. In order to survive you must be the best and to gain notoriety you must defeat your opponents–claiming their achievements as your own. How many you kill and the rewards you collect define your legacy.” – secretponchos.com.
The first thing that strikes you about the game is the art style. Put shortly it’s awesome, and Switchblade Monkeys have definitely got this right as it fits the setting and makes Secret Ponchos very nice to look at.
But how does it play? The answer is quite good, actually. You play as an outlaw of your choosing, each with their own style, which you can customise to some extent as you then set off to the saloon/desert for an 8 player scrap to see who truly is the best in the West.
You have control of your outlaw from an overhead view and can rotate 360 degrees as you traverse the map. Gameplay is hectic, fast paced and requires quick reactions if you’re going to win gun fights. Personally I prefer ‘Phantom Poncho’ who makes use of his bullwhip to knock players down and his phantom dash, which coupled with the shotgun can be a deadly combo.
Available games modes are:
- A single player tutorial
- Domination – 2vs2, 4vs4
- Deathmatch – 1vs1, 2vs2, 4vs4
- Free for all – 8 Player
The only real let down with the game is that it has no ‘story mode’ and there is potential for one, but you’ll probably be too occupied with gunning players down in the PVP arenas to really care. The ultimate aim is to become a legend, one that strikes fear in your opponents whenever you pop up in the lobby.
Secret Ponchos is out now on PS4 and delivers a fun yet competitive experience just in time for the holidays, and it’s free for PlayStation Plus users. PC Users can get into the Early Access via Steam.
