Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Enter the Gungeon. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.

Stop me if you've heard this one before; Enter the Gungeon is a tough as nails, rogue-like top down shooter...that also has a gun the fires sharks at your enemies. While Dodge Roll's first major effort looks like something you've played a million times before on paper, it takes the foundation set forth by games like the Binding of Issac and Nuclear Throne and adds just enough to make an identity all it's own. Tough but rewarding, Enter the Gungeon will likely have you up late at night trying to push your way through the hordes of enemies or to just find one more gun. There's a ton of content here and that makes this a must play for any fan of the genre.

The game revolves around a ragtag group of strangers as they enter the dungeon...wait, sorry Gungeon to take on a giant bullet that has a gun that can erase time. Guns and bullets are really the featured attraction here; you'll fire them, you'll fire at them (most of your enemies are humanoid bullets awkwardly shooting...bullets at you) and most of the game's art revolves at least in some way around bullets and guns. Don't take these cartoonish enemies lightly though as even in the game's earliest stages they can literally fill the entire screen with bullets. Each character comes equipped with a dodge mechanic that allows them become invulnerable while they're on the move and can tip over tables as a cover system but as you may have expected, it's the guns that truly steal the show.

Your expected arsenal is here and you'll get access to everything from pistols to shotguns, automatic riffles and flamethrowers but they prove to be a boring lot once you find the game's more original creations. The previously mentioned shark gun is a personal favorite of mine but there are so many standouts here like the package shooter which ends each round in a mysterious package (including a glitter bomb), ice guns and ones that use projectiles like boomerangs that create quite an explosive finish when used right. All of this together creates a unique formula that's easy to pick up but incredibly hard to master. Even after spending more than two weeks with the game, I'll still enter rooms and feel completely overwhelmed without the right firepower. Still though, that doesn't mean that you can't be successful as a good sense of timing and luck can get you out of even the toughest situations.

Still though, the creativity of some of the more unique guns can make finding the more normal ones a bit disappointing. Since the ammo and weapon drops are completely randomized there were a number of times that I would come across a chest or a merchant only to find a riffle or pistol in it and feel disappointed. Did I take it? Of course, there are bullets to shoot, but the game takes a noticeable dip when the truly fun weapons aren't readily available.

The rouge-like randomness that's so popular in games right now does a lot to help give Enter the Gungeon it's own identity as each playthrough is different, and that's not just as far as the layouts but nearly every bit of the game. Even the game's bosses, including bullet twins and a giant gattling gun toting bird  are pulled from a random pool and you're likely not going to have the same gun in your hands even if you do get up against the same boss twice in a row as weapon and ammo drops are also randomized so you'll always need to be thinking on your feet to be successful, and man is it rewarding when you are. Somehow Enter the Gungeon made me feel like more of a bad ass than most AAA games.

Another complaint is that the selection of playable characters, four at the start with a few more to unlock don't differ enough from one another to warrant a choice literally mattering. The pilot is your standard character, the marine features additional armor that allows you to take one more hit before dying, the hunter reloads faster and the convict starts off with the best weapons and gear. Besides these small factors each of them feel and controls nearly exactly the same. They're initial load outs may be different but that's not that big of a deal when you're going to be using new weapons before long anyways.

Games that try to combine the elements of so many franchises like this rarely work, but thanks to an easy to grasp gameplay system and a ton of content that you'll have to work to find, Enter the Gungeon more than works, it works extremely well. It's equal parts Nuclear Throne and Binding of Isaac with a pinch of the Legend of Zelda thrown in to make it interesting. If you have even a passing interest in any of these gameplay mechanics or franchises you're going to want to Enter the Gungeon, you won't regret it.