Billy Frontier Demo

Westerns may not be the kind of movies you watch for the plot and character development, but they do hold their fair share of value, or at least they did about fifty years ago when every other Hollywood blockbuster featured Clint Eastwood and a revolver on the cover. Hence, although the genre may not be that popular nowadays, cowboys are still a reliable source of action and fun in video games, thanks to the numerous titles that chose to portray the Wild West from a wide array of different angles.

Billy Frontier allows you to test your trigger reflex and take part in a variety of shooting mini-games, all of which are designed in order to be as fun and entertaining as possible. Although the basic idea behind every one of them is to shoot the bad guys as quickly as possible and avoid getting killed yourself in the meantime, there are a few variations on the theme as well. Thus, beside good old saloon shootouts, there are also duels, stampedes and target practices, which are basically training rounds designed to tune your skills.

Naturally, the western theme implies the existence of the famous six shooters, which are a cowboy's best and most reliable friends out there. However, the low amount of bullets these can carry also means that you have to carefully plan your bursts, otherwise you risk running out and having to reload in the most inappropriate moments. While this is not exactly revolutionary, it does add to the gameplay and it makes you think a bit more.

As you might have guessed, the guys you are supposed to shoot at are criminals most of the time, although no clear evidence is presented by the game to sustain this fact. In fact, there is absolutely no story or narrative at all, which means that each mission is basically just a long line of enemies appearing from nowhere that must be shot, without asking any questions along the way.

Naturally, this is not at all a bad thing, especially since the game is clearly meant to be played in short bursts whenever you run out of things to do and you want a quick dose of fun and adrenaline. Because the levels get increasingly more challenging and the enemies you have to beat are constantly getting better and better, it is always fun to spend a few minutes perfecting your sharpshooter skills.

All things considered, Billy Frontier is about as average is video games can get, since it does not impress through anything, yet it can certainly captivate your attention for a while, for whatever reasons. Moreover, the multitude of levels and game modes allow you to change the experience once in a while, thus giving the title sturdy replayability.