Gynoug (Switch)

Powah Dunk | November 16, 2021 | Review | No Comments

Gynoug or Wings of Wor, as it is known in the states, was a title I adored as a child. One of my introductions to the genre I jumped at the chance to revisit the winged warrior, did the nostalgia hit just right? Dive in.

If you didn’t guess from the name and heck how could you! Gynoug is a shoot em up/Shmup/STG from the Mega Drive/Genesis when you play as an angel who passed the message of God by shooting down the armies of demons.

Gynoug is a horizontal shooter set across six stages that are quite long and usually have multiple boss battles and some basic set pieces which weren’t as commonplace at the time.

You can speed your angel up by finding feathers and power up your shots and magic spells with collectables. Spells come in the form of scrolls and replace screen clearing bombs with stronger projectiles, shields and even lighting depending on the scroll collected.

Gynoug was always a little different, it’s box art displaying an angel pointing to the darkened heavens with demons clamouring for him, it just hit differently at that time and especially when you turned the game on!.

Fortunately Gynoug still hits differently with its over the top and often grotesque enemy and boss designs which wouldn’t go amiss in titles like Doom or a Clive Barker release. The bosses here are some of the most disturbing in the genre but are also an utter thrill to fight.

In terms of extras it’s much like the recent Gleylancer release in terms of quality of life improvements, you have the rewind and save state functions, unlockable cheats and a plethora of visual options including wallpapers to get rid of horrid borders, putting it higher than the recent Cotton releases.

Gynoug is a cheap game clocking in at 6 quid, a great example of how a port should be handled, it’s newbie friendly and still a brilliantly quality title, there is a reason this game was my Shmup of choice until Deathsmiles released on XBox 360. Highly recommended for fans of the genre and those looking for a curiosity.