Shootout on Cash Island - Backlog Breakdown

Shootout on Cash Island

Premise

Shootout on Cash island is an indie platformer that ironically doesn't cost much cash. Bobby, our protagonist, aims his sights at the literal 'money tree' and must jump, shoot, and scurry his way out of what I assume is a level of poverty most people would find comfortable. Keep in mind, Bobby already inhabits an island full of loose cash. Actually, come to think of it, the availability of currency may be the cause of extreme inflation, so instead of looking for a money-tree, he should be looking for gold bullion, that's called diversifying your portfolio, kids.

Now you may be wondering why I bought a game with such a flawed premise, probably the same reason you did; it was less than a dollar on sale. There's a certain morbid curiosity I find in extremely cheap indie games, the same thrill that I feel digging through god-forsaken pits of monsters and lava to find Diamonds I don't need in Minecraft. Whether or not you share this intrigue of the indie, chances are you bought Shootout on Cash Island and don't know what to do with it. Leave it to your favorite caffeinated comrade to give a full financial report.

How does Shootout on  Cash Island run? 

Indie titles are hit and miss in more than one way. Crashes, freezes and other metaphors for Canadian driving conditions plague the indie landscape, nothing new. Luckily Shootout on Cash Island runs far better than most titles in it's price range. Throughout the entire campaign I didn't experience a single crash, freeze or slowdown. Cash Island is pretty 'Cash money' in that sense. 

Here's how it plays

Shootout on Cash Island is a platformer, no mystery there. What sets the game apart from it's counterparts is that it feature guns amongst other powerups. Here is the key definition of 'platformer'. While games like Contra or Metal Slug will keep a gun in your hands at all times, Cash Island keeps the gameplay Jump-centric, treating guns as a powerup that's needed to kill either henchmen or solve some puzzle. It would be wise to hang on to your 'gat' but guns limit your jump height and run speed, so I often dropped them to proceed through the game. Similarly, picking up a helmet or jumpsuit let me break bricks or jump-kill mobs, something that is impossible otherwise. I found myself solving puzzles more often than planning tough jumps.

How 'long and hard' is Shootout on Cash Island?

I couldn't find any clues online as to how long it takes to beat Cash Island. So it was up to me to do the investigative journalism and invest my own time into finding the answers. There were 23 levels to beat and hidden map pieces to collect. The entire ordeal took me 4.5 hours to finish, that's including a whole lot of deaths on some of the tougher levels, thankfully the levels are short enough that it makes up for the lack of checkpoints in the game. I didn't track down all the map pieces to unlock the 'good' ending. It would have taken far too long in my opinion, the 4.5 hours I spent on Cash Island was enough. 

My two cents

My assumption is that you've already bought the game and don't know what to do with it. That's kinda my angle here. The question isn't whether or not to buy it, but whether or not to play it. In my humble opinion; go ahead and give it a try, its a title crossed off the list in just 4.5 hours or less. After that you can go back to the triple-a blockbuster titles that time forgot, I know I will. Until then, keep on that backlog, Comrades!