UFG Goes Hands On With Secret Ponchos!

What do you get when you combine anime-inspired visuals, a spaghetti western theme, and gameplay elements inspired by Team Fortress? You get Secret Ponchos, an Early Access PC title that’s worth checking out!

Secret Ponchos, developed by Switchblade Monkeys, is a top-down online shooter set in the Wild West. Outlaws from all over are fighting for notoriety and it’s up to gamers to decide who’s the baddest of the bad by dueling one another online. What results are fast paced PvP matches full of revolvers, dynamite and stylish sombreros. But before getting into gameplay though, I want to talk about how well Switchblade has incorporated the Spaghetti or Italian Western theme into all aspects of the game.

One of the first things that really stood out to me was the music. Similar to what you’d find in classic exploitative/cult western films, the soundtrack really sets the tone for the rest of the game by providing that “shootout at high noon” feel. It’s like an Italian orchestra, performing in a salon in Texas (think of Ennio Morricone’s music). Not only that, but the tunes are rather catchy. I’m not sure if the developers mixed in other genres of music as well but it sounds great. Waiting for matches to queue was met with head bobbing; something I didn’t expect to happen by way of classical sounding music.

The next thing I noticed was the visuals. SP looks like an anime in its use of hard lines, exaggerated features, and vivid colors. The character designs lend to the personalities of each outlaw, which is a good thing seeing as how they don’t speak at all. The Deserter, for instance was a soldier who was betrayed by a corrupt governing body. Out for revenge, his demeanor is conveyed via his design. His big jaw and chest can be seen at prideful features while the gruff hair and unshaven face insinuates a rough past. Of course, this is my assumption; he could just look that way because the developer thought he looked cool. As do all the characters. The UI is nice too; I dig how you’re character will be shown cleaning their weapons or playing cards when waiting for a match to start.

Beyond the great soundtrack and nice visuals is the gameplay. Again, it’s a twin stick shooter so a controller is a must (though I believe mouse and keyboard support is being worked in). Movement and aiming are  controlled by the left and right analogs, respectively, while primary/secondary fire is handled by the right trigger and bumper. Holding the left trigger will allow you to hide behind objects to avoid being shot, leaving the left bumper to control dashing or rolling maneuvers. Basically, the action is mapped to the controller quite well.

SP has multiple competitive modes to choose from but the only one available as of this writing was Domination, where two teams are put against each other in a tug-of-war like battle. Each time your team gets a kill, the slider at the top of the screen will move one point in your direction. Getting killed will cause it to sway back towards the other team’s side. Whichever team can get a lead of five points wins. The teams were kept at 2v2 and there were only three maps to play on. That said, I could get a feel of how the rest of the game worked based on these elements alone.

At the beginning of the match, both teams will spawn in opposite corners of the map. Each player will converge on the opposing team’s position indicated by floating skulls washed in that team’s color – the game is played from an overhead perspective in order to maximize the view of  the map. Fights would break out as soon as players got in range of one another. Early play was kind of chaotic with bullets flying everywhere and people diving behind cover. After a while though, I started to learn the how the mechanics worked together. My outlaw of choice was The Killer, an old man with a six-shooter and large hunting knife used to stun anyone who got too close. Hiding makes your character invisible as long as you don’t attack and if the object you’re using for cover is between you and your opponent. Using my knife, I’d pop up from behind cover and stab a bandit before switching to my pistol and blasting them a few times. If things got hairy, I’d use my gun’s the secondary attack – a rapid fire assault that usually allotted me some breathing room.

Each character has specific strengths and weaknesses that need to be taken into consideration when playing. The Deserter moves very slowly but can knock people down when he dashes into them. He also has a medic kit as his secondary weapon, making him the only character (as of right now) who can heal themselves. Kid Red, a duel wielding orphan can shoot really quickly but doesn’t do as much damage as other characters. For the most part the characters are balanced.  Although, The Phantom Poncho, a mysterious rogue with awesome looking Day-of-the-Dead face paint, seems a little over powered. With his fast firing sawed off shotgun and whip that can stun from long distances, he can easily kill most opponents before they can get off a single shot. Though he is beatable, he feels just a little too strong at the moment.

After playing a few matches and raising the bounty on your head (your game rank), you’ll unlock skill points for your outlaws. These points help distinguish you from other players who are using the same characters. For instance, you could increase The Killer’s rate of fire with his sixshooter or increase its damage or both. You can use a bunch of different outlaws and change their stats based on how you use them. It’s a decent system that could use some tweaking; it allows you to play against new and seasoned players by just picking different characters. And though, you can’t use your super high ranked outlaw against someone just starting out, a seasoned player will still easily run over newer ones. Besides balancing, one thing I didn’t like was how you changed which outlaw you were playing as. For some reason the game makes a copy of your character every time you end a match. After playing five matches with The Killer, I had five different versions of that particular outlaw. The same thing happened when I used The Deserter. It got confusing because my rank and stats would be the best on the most recent version of each clone. Meaning, I had to shift through each one before locating the proper outlaw to use for the upcoming match.

Outside of that confusing element and some balancing issues, the game was fun. And as such, being an Early Access title, I’m sure that these things will be addressed. Eventually the other modes will be unlocked and newer characters will be added. Speaking of which, it would be cool to have some female bandits to choose from. I’d also like more abilities for each character to really push the strategic aspect of each shootout. Their super brief back stories seemed like the beginning of something interesting – it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about them as the game progresses. All and all, I really liked what Switchblade Monkeys is doing. Secret Ponchos seems like it’s shaping up to be a fresh take on competitive multiplayer games. Here’s hoping it continues to be great!

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