12 Is Better Than 6

12 is Better Than 6 is a dynamic 2D shooter with stealth elements. The game was developed by a small Russian studio Ink Stains Games. Interestingly, the name derives from the saying "better to be judged by 12 men than carried by 6". It refers to the number of jury members in American courts and the six people who carry the coffin at the funeral.

Story

Hot summer of 1873. The prisoner is thinking about the route he will have to follow to get from his hometown of Mexico to faraway Texas. The road leads through Austin, San Antonio, Albuquerque, and Houston. Rundown saloons, breathtaking cities, expensive cabarets, Indian lands, caravans... All that awaits him everywhere is scoffing, unfriendly faces, suspicions, bounty hunters and swarms of hot lead. However, he does not intend to remain indebted to anyone, and his hand is extremely fast. One thing is sure: they will not take him alive.

Mechanics

Mechanics resembles the formula of the Hotline Miami series, but they have been translated into the Wild West setting in an interesting way. Aiming is done with the mouse and should not cause more problems for experienced players. The real fun starts when we shoot, because before we fire each of the six bullets in our revolver, we have to first cock the gun with another button while remembering about the limited number of bullets and the fact the manual reload only goes one bullet at a time. Other elements of the arsenal also have their own secrets, which must be remembered, as the bow must first be drawn, the double-barrel shotgun will massacre people at short range, but only two at once, and the Gatling gun needs time to before it starts firing.

Surprisingly many people want to get their hands on our Mexican protagonist. In the subsequent levels prepared by the devs, we visit quite diverse locations, where we deal with Indians, cowboys, miners, bandits and other scum of the earth. Each challenge can be approached in several ways. Of course, kicking down doors with all guns blazing and throwing dynamite, is one of them. However, if the chances are not very in our favor (which happens extremely often), it is also worthwhile to take a quiet walk around the building in search of another entrance, and even to hide behind the door of the privy to catch an unexpecting gringo with his pants down, literally. The game gives the hero full freedom to deal with enemies, but be careful - one shot often results in death and forces us to repeat the level.

Technical aspects

The characteristic visuals of the title, slightly reminiscent of paintings in a school notebook, were hand-written by the artists of the studio and then digitalized. The game uses an extremely limited palette of colors, which is an interesting artistic measure. The blue edges close the white planes of the objects, and the cherry on the cake is red blood, which wildly gushes from killed enemies. Noteworthy is also the music, which does not spare the players the sounds of the electric guitar. The arrangements combine slightly distorted rock backgrounds with more "western" classical guitar parts, creating a unique mix of genres.

Other

The game was developed in a rather transparent way. Initially, a Kickstarter project was set up to raise only 13 pounds more than the minimum target of 15,000 pounds. As many as three pre-alpha versions of the title were available to testing, which allowed for adjusting of all aspects of the game to the preferences of the founders. The project also visited Steam Greenlight, where it gained the approval of the community within just 4 days, while at the same time securing its place on Valve's store.

Last updated on March 25, 2020