Gumshoe is a very strange game for the 80's. Based on the box art, I thought this was about a detective that is solving a murder case that is involving aliens. Look at that green mole creature thing on the ledge there! And that balloon is there for what? Obviously our hero is using it to float up to deal doom to that green baddie. But Gumshoe was nothing like that. Gumshoe was - Flappy bird, circa 1986.And it was done with a Light gun - sadly, 1986 lightgun tech was not great. Neither is this game, but it can grow on you - and anyone still playing flappy might find this amusing.

You play as the gumshoe Stevenson. That means detective, and he wears a brown trenchcoat and hat. He actually does no sleuthing or spying in this game. Already I am disappointed. All Stevenson does is walk forward. And you can shoot him, and he will jump. There are all these balloons in the game, and having him collect a baloon for some reason adds bullets to your ammo. You can run out of ammo, but to shoot the gumshoe doesn't take any bullets. He apparently likes to be be shot! While you are having him jump (read: a lot) and collect these 100's of balloons for ammo, random things are throwing or heaving themselves towards our on screen hero. Bottles, swordfish, the green mole man from the cover is actually some kind of armadillo monster. Its not explailned why a giant mutant armadillo man is there. But he is. Even some little chicken things that kind of look like flappy bird!


Graphics: 7
For early NES, this doesn't look bad at all. The character's clothes are recognizable, and the glowing diamond accentuates its importance to the storyline. The stages are different, but stage 3 seems pretty wasteful, the hero floats along a direct line in the water, there is no sinking into all the water at the bottom half of the screen.  One problem with these lightgun games is upon shooting, it often puts a white box or flicker over some of the hit-boxes. Thsi is fine if you hit the bird you were after. But it also might highlight your gumshoe. Its was a clunky technology in these times, and as irritating as flickering. On the plus side, I did like that shooting some birds out of the sky would turn them into cooked chicken.


Sound: 5
This is a difficult subject for me. As nostalgia tells me its terrible, but moderm technology shows me it wasn't really that bad. See, when you play on Vizzed, the tunes are alright, I even liked stage 2's music. But way back in the 80's, with the physical lightgun, you often heard the spring of the trigger clacking back, and it was a loud cacophony that often drowned out the music.  While it seems some music is agreeable, if heard out of context of the Nintendo zapper, one sound that has not improved is the high-pitched tinkling sound for when a rare diamond is on screen. This music really gets on my nerves.

In the end, I cannot say the music is bad overall, as I have gotten a chance to hear it. But trying to listen to it if you owned the physical game, over the KA-CHAAANG of the zapper gun, good luck. I gave it a 5, straight up the middle for my conflict.


Depth: 3
You can shoot only the targets and your gumshoe. You cannot hit anything else. Your gumshoe walks at a steady pace regardless if its safe. The screen auto-scrolls, and has no true depth beyond performing your limited functions. There is no reloading, or special weapons or power ups to collect - this was super old school gun gaming. Light gun games would take little awhile to evolve from this primitive state.


Story: 6
I will give it credit. There actually is a story. Your gumshoe is trying to find these special diamonds to rescue his kidnapped daughter, who is being held by a mobster. Yikes! This sounds pretty serious for a NES game. You even get to read the ransom note at the beginning of the game.  I pictured facing off with this mobster and not only preventing further kidnappings, but rescuing the poor daughter.
What we get is some of the oddest pacing ever. He goes from a mountainous area (with falling boulders) to city rooftops, to underwater. All the diamonds are in plain sight, just lying out in the open. A tone plays when they appear, so you know they are on the screen, but the also glow, so its pretty hard to miss. He stops his little jogs to answer phone booths (in stark contrast to today's cellphones ubiquity), which always give pointed directions to go to another area for more diamond collecting.
I felt really sorry for the gumshoe. Here his poor kid is captured, and he is just trotting along, no hurry. He doesn't even move out the way of danger unless you tell him to jump. All those balloons he grabs, and yet if he falls into a hole he won't use them to escape. Come on Nintendo, you made Balloon Fight the same year as this!   Oh, Gumshoe. What a depressing character is Stevenson.



Difficulty: 8
Despite pits, bottles, rocks, cars, and all sorts of hazards to shoot or jump over, you also have to contend with skull markers. I'm not sure what their reason for existing is - but its a small square block with a skull on it. Touch it, and hey you're dead. You cannot shoot these away, you must avoid touching them. Did i mention some of the balloons skirt dangerously close to these markers? Yeah, thats a thing.
Remember what I said about imagining the end game being a shoot out with the evil mobster? Yeah, I never found out. This game is pretty hard, but coupled with the unreliable lightgun, it was really tough. Everyone I knew used to cheat at these games and just put the lightgun right against the screen.  I have played it now on Vizzed, and its a lot easier to play with your mouse, but the whole principle is boring to me. But I was not a flappy bird fan. All the thing that can kill our hero require a bit of memorization or fast reflexes, and sometimes you get stuck between hitting skull blocks or getting hit by an enemy, it was tough to enjoy and  continue. And there are no continues in this game. You have to pass the areas in the lives you have, or else. Poor kidnapped Jennifer!


Addictiveness: 4
I found this such a weird game, and not very fun. Why is he a gumshoe hero?  The only link he has to the story is the big mobster guy. And why did Big Don send gumshoe to get diamonds left right out in the open? Why collect balloons? Even playing on Vizzed and getting rid of the physical light gun noise, I couldn't get inot this game.


Final Score: 5.5
Using a light gun to control a man who collects balloons so you can keep shooting him. Hm. Even by Nintendo game logic, its weird. There are a lot of questions I cannot answer about this game. But I can say, I didnt enjoy the Gumshoe then, and I don't enjoy it now. If you enjoy keeping things aloft for stretched periods of time, you might be interested in this.

I loved your review of this game, but one question, why is it called Gumshoe? I thought you said it meant detective, but why does Gumshoe mean detective? Also, New Value: (beta)

bazboyd : in the 1800's the shoes were made out of gum rubber. so for some reason, police guys (and detectives) got called Gumshoes for wearing these. 


Thanks for reading.