Bun n’ Gun Preview: One Fun Bun

Developed by FirenGames Bun n’ Gun is a retro-inspired 3D Platformer where you play a bunny bounty hunter. No, not a bounty hunter that hunts bunnies. But a bunny who is a bounty hunter. Your job is to take down the villainous Bats that are causing a rumpus in the local area and arrest them to put their misdeeds to rest. Run, shoot, bounce and, erm, Bun your way to victory as you try and save the day. Or don’t and just spend your time mucking about with the costume feature. Who am I to judge?

A preview build was released as part of SAGE 2023. And this is what this preview is based upon. As such the final release might differ from this one. But even with that said I feel that the game as it currently stands offers a neat gaming experience. With a solid gameplay loop. A sweet artstyle that is heavily inspired by Sega platformers of the past (And not the first of its kind I have covered on KeenGamer). And a fantastic soundtrack it has a lot going for it. But is it any good? Find out below!

Bun n’ Gun is coming soon. A demo can be downloaded from Itch.io.

Story – Once Upon a Time in a Vest

After a mean bat under the command of some other mean hooded bats comes to kidnap the flying squirrel Bev, Bun the Bunny Rabbit and the local law bringer set out to put an end to their wicked schemes. That is about the long and short of things as they stand regarding the story in the preview build of Bun n’ Gun. And honestly, I can’t complain. This is a preview build after all. And so many other games I’ve previewed over the years don’t even give so much as a short splash screen for context on what you’re doing. Sure, that is understandable as they want to sell you on the gameplay. And I am a big believer in “Gameplay is King”. But what we get is cute for what it is.

Bun n’ Gun’s story is cute for what it is.

When the characters speak you get a cute little babbling noise from them. Almost like in Animal Crossing, and Banjo Kazooie. Which is a neat little reference that adds personality to the short cutscenes. The in-game text is easy enough to read. With the UI being easy to understand and with everything being clear. I have no complaints about the story or writing here. There isn’t much. But like many things in this preview build of Bun n’ Gun it holds promise. And look forward to seeing more of it.

Gameplay – Fastest Bun in the West

Bun n’ Gun is a 3D platformer where you must lead Bun across the game’s levels and capture all the bats that are currently hiding there. As well as picking up whatever bonuses you can find to boost your score and your end rating. It feels like a mix between Sonic and Ape Escape. With you racing around a large and fairly open environment whilst hunting down the bats on the level. And using your gun to slow them down to capture them. Once you catch ‘em all the level ends and you get a grade depending on how well or not that you did.

In Bun n’ Gun your gun slows down the bats to help you catch them.

If you’re struggling to catch the Bats you can collect poker chips. These will help increase your max speed. It helps you not only catch those mean old Bats but help you make it through some of the speed-intensive platforming sequences in the game. And if you take damage you drop some, Sonic style. It is a simple but effective loop that offers a decent slice of potential. In addition to this in this preview build, there is also a boss fight which is fun enough given how early all of this is into development. It makes for a decent challenge to round things off even though I do feel that your weapon is a tad underpowered. And as such you can spend a long time plugging shots into it before it goes down.

Foxy!

The map in the main game is massive. And almost borders on feeling like an open-world one. Granted you are playing as a fairly wee bunny rabbit which does make things look bigger. But even still the level is huge! And likely this will be the case in the final product. At present the level in the demo build grants you a decent collection of trails and challenges to deal with. Plenty of platforming. Sloped walls you can race up. Basically, everything that you have come to expect from a 3D Sonic game, but in a more free-form experience. And with less risk of flying off the map because the cameraman got beguiled by a sandwich.

I think it wants me to go this way.

There is a tutorial level which helps you get a grasp of everything that you need to know. With everything being explained clearly and gradually. And whilst I can’t say that I ever felt overwhelmed by the controls in Bun n’ Gun during my playthrough for this preview. It was nice to get eased into them. The controls are decently intuitive for a game like this. And it was good to learn the quirks of this title. Especially in regards to how the gun works with catching Bats. It is all decent stuff so far. But I’d be lying if I said it was a smooth experience.

Slippy

I will be blunt dear reader, the build that I played feels as though it needs a little more time in the oven. Whilst the core concept is decent there are a few sticky problems that will need to be overcome. Firstly I feel the controls are a tad too slippy for my liking. Being a game inspired by Sonic speed is the key. However, there are times you’ll be going so fast that it is very easy to lose control and overshoot your target. To be fair this can be mitigated by getting to know the levels better and playing with the momentum rather than against it.

Bev is useful, bit a bit to tiny to see on a map like this.

You are equipped with enough moves to keep you in the game, so long as you don’t get too reckless. And the bats you need to capture aren’t in areas that require too much platforming. However, as your top speed increases it can get harder to control the player character when they reach their full speed. As you can find yourself overshooting your target more often than not. Additionally, I feel the indicator for where the bats are needs improving. At the moment Bev points in the direction of the nearest Bat. And gives a decent enough indicator if they are above or below you. However, it can be hard to see them given they blend in too much with the scenery and are so small. 

Peppy

With that said, I do feel that Bun n’ Gun holds a lot of promise. And if handled well it could be one of the better platformers of its year of release. Yes, it is early days, but the core is strong enough that fans of these kinds of games should have a lot to enjoy. Any platformer where I can race along and bounce from platform to platform to a kicking soundtrack always does me a power of good. Even if it still needs tightening up a little. But this might be one of those “your mileage may vary” things. If you are more familiar with the playstyle of 3D Sonic games you likely could nail this in your sleep.

When you capture a bat you get a fun little bio for them.

Though in fairness having played another 3D platformer recently did make my most recent play-throughs of Bun n’ Gun for this preview far easier. It requires a very different approach than most of the platformers I play. And with a little refining and a few things being made clearer, I can see my feelings overall on this one improving with time. Either way, I do look forward to seeing how this one goes. There is a lot to love about it and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy playing it.

Graphics & Audio – Bun N Bass

I must say that I love Bun n’ Gun’s soundtrack, and it was honestly one of the standout things in this preview build. It is a Drum N Bass kind of music that evokes the feel of tracks from that genre in the late 1990’s early 2000’s. I don’t want to over-hype things, but blimey, I really do dig this sound. And it helps to add to this almost period-setting feeling that the whole game has. Sure, it does feel odd that a game that is largely cowboy-themed has a soundtrack which sounds like mid-afternoon on BBC Radio 1 around 2002. But the music is so well produced that I’m perfectly fine with that. Quite frankly it is some of the best music I’ve heard in a game all year.

Bun n’ Gun has a great soundtrack. Something I can’t show in an image.

Visually Bun n’ Gun’s art style and graphics feel like they are more than tipping their cap to the 32-Bit era of gaming. Specifically the Sega Saturn. Which makes sense given the soundtrack and gameplay. It helps make Bun n’ Gun feel more like a blast from the past than other similar titles. However as decent as the design work is, I do feel that certain aspects need to be clearer. Aside from the fact that it is hard to find the bats you need to catch to begin with. However, said bats are so small and the game so zoomed out that there are times it is hard to see them at all. Still, like with most things this can easily be improved with time.

Bun n’ Gun was previewed on PC.