Introduction
I rarely write about Free to Play titles. I estimate that less than 1% of my already published articles, feature that type of gameplay and distribution formula. Why? Well most of them are not even worth my time, to be honest. The ones which do however, are here to stay installed on my system and played as often as I’m in the mood for bite-sized sessions that would never strain me in any capacity. Viridi was the first F2P game that truly caught my attention but now it is time to address World of Guns: Gun Disassembly. It is the Steam debut of Noble Empire Corp and their only project to date. Ever since the game’s release in 2014, World of Guns nearly tripled in size and scope, so it now features interactive models of various vehicles and even skeletons alongside a truly comprehensive collection of virtual firearms. The latter is experiencing an ongoing expansion, naturally. At the time of this writing, there are 182 weapon models for players to interact with.
Story
I hope you didn’t expect a narrative thread to an interactive encyclopedia. Don’t worry, I’ve got a story for you. It’s not only based on true events, sadly it’s our own grim reality in regards to firearms. I consider it my duty as a serious writer to keep a safe distance from most, if not all divisive topics that might paint me in one way or another. You defend gun owners and you’re suddenly judged as being a right-wing gun toting/loving nutjob who disregards human life. You try to emphasize on a far stricter gun control and all of a sudden, you’re a left-wing parasite which wants no more weapons in civilian hands. Except those already owned by the well armed thugs which didn’t care about laws or legally procured guns in the first place. Gun control and firearm-related massacres are real issues though, not just controversies that fuel ceaseless online arguments. You know what’s perhaps just as toxic as fake news?
The lack of any news at all. Censorship is the cancer of freedom. And that’s exactly what’s slowly but surely happening right now on YouTube in regard to clips that promoted gun tutorials, disassembly or even testing firearms in controlled environments. Yes, filmed firing ranges are getting the axe as well. Will that stop school shootings or “regular” massacres from happening on a weekly basis in some parts of the world? You know the answer already. It’s like claiming fast food should be banned because you’re blaming triple cheeseburgers for getting you fat. That being said, I don’t think there should even exist “civilian versions” of assault rifles. But before you blame only the deranged individual which killed his colleagues at the work place or high school, perhaps we should also take a closer look at what were the causes of such tragic events.
Social stigma, bullying and failure to notice the signs of one’s “breaking point”. Of course it’s much easier to shift all the blame on the weapons themselves and 90% of the legal gun owners which were never involved or suspected of any crime. Removing all guns from the equation, won’t stop the homicides. It may decrease the body count, but humans will always find creative ways of harming themselves and everything around them. Violence is in our nature, sadly. Nothing will change that. The point to my opinion which may read out as a rant to some of you, is that World of Guns does not encourage irresponsible use of firearms and neither did the YouTube channels that are getting closed or forced to censor themselves, simply because they featured cleaning and disassembly videos concerning guns.
Graphics
An early adopter of Unity Engine, I can safely say that World of Guns grew alongside the development of that graphics engine. The weapon textures are fairly crisp apart from a few models. The individual gun parts have received the much needed attention, since no puzzle neglects its pieces after all. Performance was solid and without a single glitch or crash yet the main problem in my playthroughs, stems from the poor resolution scaling. To make matters worse, if I want the text to appear in a more manageable font, I have to change the screen resolution from within the desktop settings. In-game, there’s no resolution selection and I found that quite odd and disappointing. On my native resolution of 4K, I need a magnifying glass in order to read most of the text within World of Guns. A solution needs to implemented and I’m certain that an enhanced graphics option screen, can’t be THAT hard to be introduced within a title that has constantly improved in the four years since its release.
I never tested, assembled or taken apart a single weapon that wasn’t properly simulated in this title. Believe me, I’m not a fan of gun disassembly since yesterday. Before YouTube had “new intentions”, my curiosity in this regard was perfectly sated by countless videos found on the platform. Back to our game, the visuals offer as much fidelity as one would expect and you can choose between several static backgrounds, since repetition mustn’t involve the same environment as well. I’d like to emphasize on the option of turning on/off, the “Mirrored Floor” which can render those reflections as an unnecessarily complication during the assembly phase. Further gun customization is offered as chromatic DLCs in the form of the Paint modules. Titular paint jobs and various stickers, reminded me of multiplayer shooters. Not a huge fan of those, but the options are welcome nonetheless. Acquired tastes, I know.
Audio
The sounds within World of Guns, are limited to a set of 10 instrumentals for its soundtrack and a handful of shooting/buzzing/clicking audio assets that get fairly repetitive far sooner than they should. No voice acting at all, since we don’t have a story that might expect this feature. I guess that listening to your own favorite songs while tirelessly working on a new weapon, is the ideal scenario in the end.
Gameplay
Today I read that the Remington Arms Company (founded in 1816) has just filed for bankruptcy. The end of an era, indeed. Some of their iconic guns are also featured in World of Guns, obviously. Other household names such as Colt, Beretta, Heckler & Koch, Browning, Smith & Wesson, SIG Sauer or Ruger, are also professionally showcased through their best-known products. They’re not selling yogurt, so I’m sure you already guessed what is their line of business. More obscure brands are also having their share of the spotlight. A fan favorite (if you’ve enjoyed enough Sci-Fi movies or games) is the Pancor Jackhammer which never went into mass-production, but found its “fame” thanks to this bullpup automatic shotgun’s movie props, enhanced by its futuristic look. You’ll recognize most of the featured weapons, since new gun models are added by popular demand and suggestions. The dev team listens, obviously.
Apart from the aforementioned 182 guns, there are currently 15 premium models which contain: cars, motorcycles, skeletons and a WW2 airplane (Vought F4U Corsair) along with two Cold War-era armored troop carriers (Humvee & BMP-3). A premium model for the Soviet T-72 tank is currently in its testing phase. World of Guns is breaking new grounds which each passing year, I’m sure you’ll agree. The F2P formula resurfaces in the form of daily activities and logging in bonuses. Experience points are rather easy to come by through natural progression, but much harder to accumulate in sufficient number to promptly unlock weapons at will. That’s where credits come into play. These are even harder to automatically acquire and they rely on either spending real money for credit packs or by participating in special events such as weekly Championships. Close to 90 weapons can be unlocked just through experience points, so be persistent and you won’t have to spend a lot of money in World of Guns from the get go.
Verdict
The best gear and the premium models are locked behind credit barriers. Skill will have the final word since assembly/disassembly will only get you so far. The Game and Super Game modes are defacto time trials in which your attention and reflexes are put to the test. You have to tear down or reassemble a weapon as fast as you can and this relies on your swiftness, clicking precision and the presumption that you’ve fiddled with that model so much, that each piece has been memorized already. Daily Quizzes also test your previous gun knowledge. Guessing the small parts and where they fit, can be very challenging if you’ll need to differentiate between two modern firearms. Hundreds of parts, each of them.
As my closing argument, I wish to convey the satisfaction of assembling a puzzle that has been your focus for the past half an hour. Eventually, you won’t need in-game assists in the form of those green arrows. It’ll come naturally and perhaps you may appreciate the beauty and workmanship that went into the real life correspondents of World of Guns’ models. The artillery pieces are my current point of interest. The main page from which the weapons are selected, contains a lot of trivia which consolidates the game’s secondary role as an encyclopedia. Very few flaws and constant support, will ensure that World of Guns continues to improve long past this review of mine. I will do my best to update it as well, as the situation shall demand it.
All the screenshots you see above, have been taken by me in-game through the Steam Overlay.