The American Dream review

Reviewed on: PS VR

Into gun culture? The American Dream is a satire of American gun worship, developed by indie studio Samurai Punk. The player is dropped into the most bizarre shooting galleries, set in the 1950s; the game takes the player on rides created by gun makers, showing how amazing guns are and how they can be used in everyday tasks.

The game takes place in rooms following the life of an American patriot, starting from when he was a baby; moving on to childhood, adolescence, working life, marriage and the birth of his children, showing how having guns present in a person’s life, at the most diverse stages, can add up and make everyday things much more fun.

Everything you do in the game involves either firing your gun or using the weapon to hit something in the scenery, and you can shoot without worrying about ammo: as soon as your gun runs empty, you press a button on the pistol, everything goes into slow motion and a clip of ammo is tossed into the air for you to catch. This reload mechanic is quite fun at the start of the game, but as the player progresses it becomes tiring to repeat the task over and over, losing some practicality over time and becoming less exciting.

Cooking burgers, with a quick shot to flip them, or changing a baby’s diapers with a precise shot to undo them. How about fishing with a rifle instead of a rod? Those are some of the unusual activities the game offers, but they quickly become repetitive tasks in an on-rails shooter.

The narrative is a stroll through the everyday life of an American patriot in love with guns, using guns in all the most mundane activities, in a playful way, feeding this gun culture in a humorous manner, in a well-built satire, earning a narrative score of 8.0.

The gameplay uses the mechanics of on-rails shooters, which, despite presenting unusual tasks, brings an air of novelty, including in the way the player carries out the activities and reloads the weapon. Because there is less weapon variety than desired, because of the limitations of the gameplay inherent to this type of game, and because of the sometimes faulty accuracy of the weapons, the game earns a gameplay score of 7.5.

As for visuals, sound and other technical aspects, the game does its job well, with a visual look of its own that is well implemented, quality sounds, and a narration by commentator Michael Dobson in a political tone, a humorous social critique, earning a technical score of 7.5.

The game deserves a look, and in VR the immersion is well implemented, even with the gameplay restrictions that come with being an on-rails shooter. However, after a few hours it becomes repetitive and offers little incentive for the player to come back, but it is still an unusual and fun experience.

Final score 7.6.