Cowboy 3030 Review (PC)

If I had to withdraw my trusty bingo card from the back pocket of “weird” and questionable concepts, I can’t say that I’d find lasso-sporting space cowboys and extraterrestrial beings on it. Immediately, that’s one point for Soy Boy Games’ Cowboy 3030; it wasn’t something I was planning on exploring this year, and yet, from out of the darkness it came, and it sure as heck made itself known as one of the strangest, albeit oddly engaging rogue-like third-person shooters to ever grace the genre — whatever genre that is. But I’m getting way ahead of myself on this one, so allow me to rewind the clock (or fast-forward it to a slightly more accurate period, given the futuristic theme that the game attempts to establish, at least) and set the scene.

Cowboy 3030 centers its narrative around the dusky dunes of Hololasso County—a futuristic Western-inspired town that’s since fallen from grace and arrived at the epicenter of an alien invasion. As a “qualified” bounty hunter with a thirst for wall-to-wall violence and an undying desire to wreak havoc on those who have brought turmoil to the lives of the sci-fi archipelago, you just strap on your most powerful weapon holsters and embrace the chaos, one bullet at a time. This is, in short, the basic setup for the latest third-person shooter, and it’s an absolute blast, to say the least. The question is, is it worth stacking above its competitors, or is it something that you should sideline — at least until it has fallen in price? Let’s talk about it.

The Future Is Western

Cowboy 3030 rolls out the red carpet for a semi-traditional rogue-like blueprint, and so, naturally, it features a collection of “deep dives” into a network of Western biomes, all of which accommodate their own share of pick-me-ups, perks, and variations of loot. In each of these daring dives, you take on the role of one of three heroes, all of whom come strapped to the core with a unique spectrum of abilities, weapons, and tactics, and carve through waves of robotic and alien-like foes in an attempt to reverse the tide and garner better perks for future runs. In a nutshell, this is, at least for the most part, the beating heart of the battle: the infinite descents into a souped-up frontier that’s absolutely bursting at the seams with high-octane energy and bullets stacked upon bullets. The question is, does it work?

Sure enough, if I was to host an introductory lesson on rogue-like gaming, then I’d wager that the genre, as a whole, is a little repetitive in terms of progression — and it is, given the fact that most of these “dips” into the network are often comprised of similar enemies, maps, and characters. Having said all that, where a typical rogue-like often fails in originality, it seemingly makes up for in countless other avenues—mounds of obtainable loot, being the most alluring factor of the entire gimmick. To that end, Cowboy 3030 does indeed have it — the loot and added incentives to carve deeper into its world, that is. And r isn’t just the loot that makes it all the more appealing, but the fact that its combat, too, is genuinely unique and invigorating—so much, that it requires you to plan ahead and formulate impenetrable strategies.

Lassoing the Lackeys

In a typical scenario, you’ll encounter various color-coded bullet streams—red and blue, mostly—each of them being made up of things like bullets, lasers, and projectiles. In most combat scenarios, you don’t resort to carrying out the same button-mashing process; on the contrary, you learn to adapt to each of the attacks, and then react accordingly. As one of the three heroes, you’ll find that, in order to make an actual dent in certain parts of the journey, you’ll need to utilize the necessary tools and abilities that flesh out one of the three corresponding arsenals. In other words, you won’t be able to romp through the world whilst running on dumb luck and bullet hacking alone; it isn’t that sort of gig, and so, if you’re after a replica of, say, Dynasty Warriors, then you might be in for a bit of a shock.

Of course, the gameplay itself is relatively—and I have to emphasize the word relatively here—simple to grasp, as it’s more or less the case of deploying your weapons to eradicate several waves of enemies, and unlocking different types of loot to conjure a slightly more powerful starting build. After that, it’s mainly the case of making gradual steps towards building a near-perfect system, and transmitting that into the field for the sake of achieving your goals. Aside from that, there’s also the case of having to unlock various nodes on a honeycomb-like skill tree, and carving deeper into the world to confront a roster of bosses and what have you. Suffice it to say that, from a top-down perspective, it’s all rather A-to-B, which means you have little to fret about as far as “convoluted” narratives travel.

Cowboys in Arms

In addition to the game featuring a pretty solid single-player mode, Cowboy 3030 also benefits from a nifty multiplayer add-on, too—a mode that allows you and a troupe of up to four friends the chance to embark on another adventure set within the same scene. Again, this isn’t anything particularly new, but given the fact that the gameplay is so darn inviting and weirdly fun even as something of a lone ranger, it certainly makes an otherwise enjoyable product all the more appealing to a wider demographic. Sadly, though, I wasn’t able to enjoy any of these particular fruits, as I spent the bulk of my time scraping the barrel clean and unraveling the nodes from the bread and butter solo campaign. And honestly — that alone was more than enough to keep me satisfied.

From a graphical standpoint, Cowboy 3030 is, well — it’s mediocre at best, and nothing to write home about, per se. Thankfully, though, where it lacks in visual complexity, it makes up for in its fluid controls and dynamic gameplay. Sure enough, I did encounter the occasional jitter in the animation every so often, but I wouldn’t say that such a thing spoiled an otherwise good and mostly consistent experience. In fact, it didn’t take all that long for me to lose myself to the grind of it all—a process that, while not always perfect, was a stupid amount of fun to embark upon nonetheless.

The bottom line here is simple: if you enjoy fairly minimalistic gameplay and simple incentives that stretch far beyond the likes of rare loot and perks, then you’ll probably enjoy a lot of what Cowboy 3030 has to offer. Moreover, if you have some unfinished business with a friend of yours, then say hello to your next means of escape.

Verdict

I honestly believe that there’s a good set of bones here, and so, while I can’t quite shy away from certain downfalls of the journey—a slightly complicated skill tree and the odd jitter in the animation itself, for example—I am able to sing its praises and call it for what it is: a genuinely sturdy and enjoyable rogue-like rodeo. It’s early days, too, and so, it’s fair to say that, even with the one or two issues that are currently making their rounds in the bloodstream, they’re still unlikely to affect the overall outcome of the finalized version. Thankfully, the folks over at Soy Boy Games also seem pretty serious about maintaining the structural stability of the IP, too — which speaks volumes for their love for the product, truly.

To cut a long story short — yes, I do think that you’ll find some way to benefit from the content that orbits the outer layers of Cowboy 3030, if not from its wealth of accruable loot, then from its fluid combat and progression trees, both of which share a hearty incentive for players to take advantage of. Could it do with a little extra meat on the bones? Perhaps. But, for a game that has only just broken free of its shackles, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and say that, as far as Early Access indies travel, Cowboy 3030 is clearly off to a strong start, and currently has all of the trappings required to make a diamond out of a lump of coal, so to speak.