The genre Gunpoint is apart of is from one I don't see very often, if at all: the film noir/murder mystery genre. You play as Richard Conway, a private investigator who just bought a pair of pants that allow him to jump to credible heights. To test it, he jumps through is apartment window and lands in the offices of Malenie Rook, a firearms producer. He is called by Selena Delgado, an employee of the company who saw him dive through the window. Through a series of complicated events, Selena is murdered by someone that looks like Richard, and because Richard was there at the time of the murder, the police suspect a trench coat wearing man who was caught on camera. It's up to you to find the culprit, who wanted her dead, and what happens to the people involved.
The pants make you take no fall damage, as well as let you leap like a frog.
Choice is a big part of Gunpoint. The dialogue trees before and after every mission feel like you impact their responses, even if they don't sometimes. You can choose what enhancements to put on your spy suit, how to proceed in each level, and how lethal you want to be. This makes it feel more like your story, and puts you more in the perspective of Richard Conway. Since you're not a member of the police force, whenever you go on missions people are suspicious of what you do. A choice you will constantly have to make is whether to kill or not to kill. It makes no overall difference besides your grade for the mission and your end blog. Your clients might prefer if you don't kill anyone, or not care if you kill the whole building.
The tools you work with are your greatest advantage in your stealthy moves. Not only do your pants allow you to fall far and jump high, but they also allow you to stick to any wall you want to. This has obvious applications in stealth. This is combined very well with the feature that allows you to see where the guards can see by moving your mouse there. The jump can also be used to tackle guards and knock them out so they don't bother you any more. Also assisting in your missions is the jacker. With a spin of the mouse wheel, you switch into a vision shows you all of the electrical wiring in the building, and then lets you order them to your hearts content. For example, you could rewire a motion sensor that normally sets off an alarm to open a door. In order to purchase all of the power-ups, you need to complete each mission with a perfect score, which is incredibly annoying as you can't replay missions to get a better score.
The different colors in jack mode mean that you can only link those types together.
If a story goes for a murder mystery angle, it has to do it right. Luckily, Gunpoint tells the story well. As said earlier, your dialogue choices change how characters think of you. While helping the chief of police find the killer, you could come clean and say you have been deleted the security tapes so that the police look for the real killer, erase the evidence you have, or just hand it over to him. The choice system is reminiscent of Skyward Sword, how you can say different things at important times, but the outcome is (mostly) the same.
The level design has it's ups and downs. It's great in the way that it's constantly challenging you, forcing you to think on your feet, and it's involving. You can't just go up to a floor that has a guard on it without some sort of plan, as he will take you out. There is a great rhythm, with you trying to find the jacks so that you can fully power up your jack. On the downside, the level design is quite forgettable. The only level I remember is the last one, and that's because I spent around half an hour, trying to figure out what exactly I should do. Most of the levels go quickly and blend together because they are all office spaces, with desks and cubicles. I get that it's corporate espionage, but there should be other areas you master.
Two more things: It feels weird, after playing through most of the game barely able to fight the guards, only to have a gun shoved on you in the last missions. Granted it is quite helpful getting people to stay put and move them where you want them to move, but it puts a run and gun atmosphere that I don't much care for. The soundtrack isn't also that great, it sounds like it's looping a 30 second clip for most of the levels. Either that or it's a jamming saxophone, which I'm okay with.
The stealth is great in Gunpoint, and the puzzles with the jacker are surprisingly difficult, with you figuring out which electrical device will help you to your objective. With an intriguing story and characters that feel real, it's an interesting ride. Gunpoint gets an 8/10.
See you tomorrow.