Decent - no more, no less

Hotline Miami left quite a mark on the indie scene when it came out and so it's no surprise that it spawned a number of imitators. 12 Is Better Than 6 is one of them and arguably one of the better ones. It's remarkable how closely the core gameplay loop resembles Hotline Miami even if its setting and art style are wildly different. It's still top-down but everything is in black and white, almost like it was drawn on paper. It's a bit of an acquired taste in that regard and one can certainly argue whether that is simply minimalistic or merely lazy.

Set in the second half of the 19th century on America's untamed frontier; a classic western setting. You play as The Mexican, an infamous gunslinger who starts the game escaping from the law. That's what you do most of the time: shoot loads of bad guys. Combat is fast and deadly. Both you and your enemies die with a single bullet. Given that you are also hopelessly outnumbered on every map, this makes a careful approach and smart positioning a necessity. You have a small arsenal of classic western firearms at your disposal: a six-shooter, a shotgun, a rifle and dynamite. Additionally a bow and a knife for silent kills. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of variety when it comes to enemies or maps, and it does tend to get repetitive after a while.

That's not the only downside, however. The dialogue is amateurish at best and the story is a mess. Plot threads and characters are picked up and dropped at seemingly random. When it doesn't drown in western clichés, including magical Native Americans, many times you will wonder what exactly the point of the last mission was.
Don't pick this game up expecting an enthralling narrative. Judging by the credits, the game was developed somewhere in eastern Europe. I don't know whether it's poorly translated or outright written by somebody whose grip on the English language is lacking but it has to be one of the two.

Recommended to fans of Hotline Miami and similar games. Everyone else should think twice.

Overall, 12 is Better Than 6 it's a fun game to play.
It's a western's top-down 2D shooter, full of shorts levels on which you can combine both stealth & loud gameplay and it requires some strategy as well.


- Great art style.
- Very detailed graphics.
- Very detailed environment which also react to both your shoots & movement (you can walk over a bucket, which will spill water, that may attract the attention of nearby enemy or some who patrols the area, for example)
- Unique combat system: you must prepare your gun before each shot, so aim and shoot becomes ready, aim, fire. You gotta reload, move and hide fast aswell to not get overruned by many enemies.
- Short levels but with intense gunplay.
- Great soundtrack, some awesome songs like this:
https://soundcloud.com/john_rise/furia-de-hielo-feat-exaige
- Difficulty (only one on game) it's appropriate, AI is challenging. One mistake & you are dead my friend.
- Good history, its a western, What do you expect?
- Few but enough weapons variety, again What other kind of weapons do you intend on Wild West?
- Fun & nice upgrades, special mention for homing tnt rats!
- Duration of the game is suitable.
- You are a vato loco killing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.


- Tutorial sucks, some game mechanics are not well explained.
- Game does not have the option to save, you only can continue current gameplay, or start from any act/episode that you already unlocked but without your progress (weapons, money, hats).
Dear Developers, this is essential, at least have just one slot, just in case... I mean its good idea to have a backup. And in my case, as I'll explain later I would need that back up so as not have to waste a few hours.
- Few, but some bugs: got stuck a couple of times & also on my first playthrough I wasnt able to progress on history: By 2nd act I was able to complete only side-missions (which are a bit repetive btw). After finish more than 6 side missions I figured something was wrong and guess what? Continue current gameplay does not fix problem, it would have been very easy to recover my progress through back up....


- Finally, after get my gameplay got bugged, I decided to restart over again since start, insomuch as there is an achivement, Lord of hats, that requires you to find hats along the levels. Wrong choice: after find last hat achievement doesnt pop-up...
I had to load a chapter in which there was a hat and pick it up and die over and over again until it pop-up.
So I really felt like I wasted some time with this game, restarting whole gameplay for something that doesn't work the way it's supposed to. So there are definitely some problems with saving player progress although I can understand that surely my case was not the most common.





On the balance the things I didn't like are minor compared to what the game has to offer.
About price, I personally bought it with a huge discount but I don't think full price is inadequate, although since implementation of prices per region on steam, that only counts for my region ofc.
Recommended!!

FUN GAME. I was a little worn out from my CS:GO regime and decided to switch things up. This game literally came out today so I thought hey why not.

PROS: deceptively challenging. It looks easy, however I definitely got frustrated at a few spots. Cool soundtrack, it is a bit repetitive after awhile but still enjoyable. Story line is.. weird? But in a good way. Multiple guns as well as reload mechanics make for some tricky engagements. Fun game. Also found a bug and they patched it within a couple hours.

CONS: Short :/ I read mid-high skill levels would be 4-6 hours and I beat it in 2. Perhaps I'm a badass? Granted I didn't kick over every single stone.. But I shot every guy that I saw and read the subtitles.

Summary: Was it worth $9? Yeah. Will I play it again? Probably not. I was hoping to have a HARD difficulty unlocked once I beat it on medium but that was not the case. I like to think some indie guys made this game and this supports them in making more awesome games, and for all the money I waste on big titles it was a nice change of pace. They're right.. 12 is better than 6.

12 is better than 6 is a somewhat difficult and challenging, but not impossible top-down-shooter. You play as a mexican slave who goes on revenge mode after escaping.

The fact that its a black and white graphic game with red blood increase its dramatical and violent feeling. i think It was definetly a good idea to create this graphic combo as it created a very enjoyable atmosphere for the game.

You need run through 4 acts, divided to a lot of minor maps where you need to fulfill various goals, mostly killing all enemies. Not all maps provide hostile environment. There are cities, where you can purchase new perks, sign up for quests, assign for special treasure missions, refill ammunition or change weapons. Yes, change as you able to carry only 1 type of weapon at the same time +your knife. The deicision is yours: You can go loud using guns and throwing dynamites in the face of your opponents or you start killing enemies with your bow or knife. I must say going loud is very hard, eliminating at least half of the enemies in stealth makes game a lot easier however this require some patience.

As your Average Achievement Hunter ill write a few things about achievements aswell. The game has 46 achievements.
Some awarded for story, most of them awarded for killing X enemies with various weapons. These can be completed easily, reloading special maps etc. However there are 2 achievements and those require special focus. You need unlock all perks and acquire all hats need to be done in one single playthrough. If you missed one then you should load that map and finish game again from that point.
Achievements difficulty: 6/10
Time to complete: 8-11hours

If you are looking for an interesting top-down shooter with some fresh mechanics, something with a pen-and-paper art aesthetic, or you just have a soft spot for a good, old-fashioned western, 12 Is Better Than 6 is a good title to consider. It’s mix of face reaction with stealth setup can turn the tides from calculating to chaotic at any moment, keeping you on your toes.

Pretty fun game, very simple yet challenging. You literally die in one hit.
The story and dialogue was kind of mediocre tho and just felt like a waste of time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UguNn3SV9UE&list=PLIb_a695uFXBT9TRvvad9N6nIhvCU86C4&index=2
When first looking into this game, I thought it looked like a compelling overhead shooter. There were some rough patches as I adapted to the controls of the game, but it started to grow on me after getting used to the need for manual reloading. When looking at how few people beat the first chapter, I attributed it to the game not telegraphing its length very well, as I was starting to wonder when it'd ever end myself. Now that I've beaten the game, I wonder if people simply got frustrated by the difficulty, and gave up.


The game reminds me of Hotline Miami, though much tamer visually and in open, outdoorsy areas. With HM coming out a few years before this one, I imagine it was inspired by HM. As you explore stages, your actions will alert nearby enemies, who will be drawn by gunshots or other noises you make. Technically, it's usually not necessary to kill everyone, as your objective often is to make it to the other end of the stage. In order to make your way over there though, you'll usually be safest killing every foe you come across, as there isn't enough leeway to sneak your way through. Additionally, there's no indicator for how many enemies there are, so you never know if you've cleared the stage or if there's another one just off-screen.

For the most part, the challenge seemed appropriate and enjoyable, yet there were times when the difficulty would spike and the game became unpleasant to play. You die from a single blow, so you can't make any mistakes, and some stages seemed designed to take advantage of this. The worst one I encountered was a train level, due to tight corridors and having to shoot at enemies on horse-back. Confounding this is the lock-on mechanic, as you sometimes target the wrong enemy. Another problem is that you lack control over your munitions, because as soon as you leave your base, you no longer have direct control over what weapons you use. You scavenge ammo from enemies, and if you run out of bullets for the weapon you prefer, you're forced to switch to what they have instead.

Throughout the game, there are five upgrades for you to purchase, but I was never that impressed with what I got. For instance, making your TNT lock-on to enemies. Sounds good on paper, but if you aren't close enough when you lob it, it won't seek an enemy and simply stay stationary. Same with the final upgrade, getting to dual-wield pistols. Despite being the basis for the game's name, by the time you get it it's irrelevant, as you're so used to relying on only one.


The game revolves around a Mexican gang leader with amnesia, around the late 1800's near the Texas/Mexico border. He profoundly hates white people and is racist to the bone. Though it could come off badly, especially by modern standards, it's in touch with how life would have been at the time, and I think this is the right way to make a racist character. Not by making them relatable, but simply having the circumstances normalize it. Unfortunately, there's not enough background to show what his reasons are for feeling this way, but he's hardly unique in his antiquated racist views.

As you regain your memories and develop a desire for revenge on those who betrayed you, the story wound up going a direction I wasn't fond of. Despite starting off somewhat sympathetic, the protagonist isn't even an anti-hero, but more like a villain. No amount of blood shed or success ever satisfies him, and instead of cutting his losses and learning from previous mistakes, he only craves more death. When you finish the game, you don't even get a satisfying climax, it just fizzles out suddenly, which was rather disappointing with how much dialogue and story there is.


In this game, your character and the enemies are shown as different hats due to the overhead view. The game relying mostly on black (blue-gray?) and white visuals is old hat by now, but the contrast of red blood as you kill enemies is a simple yet striking effect. Many items have a simple design, yet it's done well enough that you can easily understand what everything is intended to be. Wooden obstacles have texture lines, which is a nice touch to convey the make-up of different items.


The music is fitting for the setting, centered around upbeat guitar riffs and drum music. It's not quite the same as spaghetti western music, but it does have that kind of flair to it.


🌟 Each chapter is broken down into smaller areas, all of which serve as their own checkpoint. You're able to save and quit at whim and come back to the same place. Though some stages are a bit large, they don't tend to go on too long before you get another checkpoint.
🌟 There is a learning curve on the gameplay, but as you learn to handle the firearms, it is rather enjoyable to get into shootouts with a handful of enemies scattered around.


❌ No matter how far in the game you get or how well stocked your base is, you aren't able to stockpile ammunition. This limitation can lead to tough fights, outnumbered by enemies who will rush you, and you run out of bullets. You'll either have to zip around and attack with a melee weapon, or swap weapons. This mechanic is very annoying in the middle of a fight, as you need to hold the button down to do so. I believe you can always manage to fight your way out of this situation, but you could get severely screwed over in the wrong place.
❌ Enemies are inconsistent with how capable they are. Sometimes, they'll annihilate you in the blink of an eye. Other times, they'll inexplicably miss you repeatedly. It makes trying the same area feel more luck-based than skill-based.
❌ Even though you can attack enemies with a melee weapon, at times it may take multiple swipes in order to kill them. It annoys me that a sneak attack isn't a guaranteed one-shot.


🔍 The weapons you use have to be reloaded and recocked before they can be fired again. Pistols and the bow have to be reloaded after each shot, the shotgun can fire two bullets before being reloaded, and the rifle holds six rounds. The shotgun packs the most punch, and the rifle has the fastest shooting ability since you can fire so often before reloading.


Though I think the game hits its stride and is rather fun in the first couple of chapters, by the end I was frustrated with it. I think the game would have worked out better if it had ended a chapter or two earlier, before it got so tedious and the story plunged off a cliff. In the last battle, things go south, and you're lethally wounded. You don't know whether you were intentionally betrayed or it was a fluke, but you perish before exacting revenge on the one who usurped your former role as gang leader. Since you were basically a bad guy, getting your comeuppance could have worked story-wise, but this is such a lame way for him to go out. I could understand if this was the bad ending, but for this to be my reward for playing through to the end was very dispiriting. Why did I bother doing all of this, when he would have been no worse off having died at the very beginning? If I had known what to expect at the end, I don't think I would have been so disappointed, as despite my frustration, I did like the gameplay and wanted to finish it. So I give this game a cautious recommendation.

12 is Better Than 6 is a top-down western shooter from Ink Stain Games. Taking place in 1873, 12 is Better Than 6 is a story about a Mexican gunslinger who has no recollection of what’s happened to him. As you travel across the Wild West you’ll find people who can help you, people who want to kill you and people who are just begging to be killed.


12iBT6’s appearance is a rather unique one, to my knowledge at least, and it looks great. Predominantly blackish-blue and white with a splash of red for blood, 12iBT6’s hand drawn art style is bright and pretty good to look at. When things get a tad frantic on screen it can be a little bit difficult to look at but it fits the game as a whole very well. All of the models in the game look great, they all manage to look high quality while retaining the hand drawn appearance. The UI is very simple and stays out of your way for the most part, no complaints here.


12iBT6’s gameplay is effectively your standard top-down shooter’s gameplay with one major difference, your weapons have to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ before you can fire off a shot. While this can be difficult to get used to, once you’ve gotten the hang of this mechanic it’s not only a lot of fun but it also gives the game’s combat a sense of realism in a game that leans towards the arcade end of the spectrum for the most part.

The missions you find yourself doing in order to get your memories back will take you to several different locations in the Wild West including Houston and Albuquerque. These missions generally involve you moving through different areas killing a load of enemies from one of the game’s factions. While these missions are quite fun early on, they can become repetitive later on though there are a few variations on the formula which I found helped me to push on through to the end. The combat itself is quite challenging, mainly due to the shooting mechanics but also because, as stated on the store page, the AI don’t think twice and they rarely miss. One shot kills in 12iBT6, making combat even more challenging.

As you fight your way past these enemies you’ll find yourself making use of several different weapons including revolvers, rifles and sticks of dynamite. While there are only a handful of different weapons in the game they’re different enough to each other to keep things interesting while you’re using them, though the revolver is the most common weapon. In some of the cities you’ll come across people who will sell you upgrades if you wish to purchase them with the money you find throughout the game. These upgrades are incredibly helpful, for example one of them doubles the amount of ammo you can carry for any given weapon, incredibly helpful in later missions.

As well as the game’s main missions there are some side missions in the game with more on the way according to the developers in the Steam forums. Currently, the side missions take two forms. Firstly, you get little side missions while you’re travelling from one location to another where you’ll stumble across a group of bandits and you’ll have to kill them all to carry on with your journey. The other kind of side missions can be found in cities where people will ask you to kill a group of bandits somewhere around the city in return for some money.

• The game’s soundtrack is great and gives the game a real western feel.
  
• I noticed quite a few spelling mistakes in some of the in-game text.
  
• The game’s pretty short. It took me 3.7 hours to beat the game but I had to replay some sections several times before I could get past them so it can probably be beaten in around 2 hours.
  
• As of writing this review the game does not have controller support nor does it have re-bindable keys or AZERTY keyboard support. I did try using Controller Companion for this game but due to the way aiming is done with the mouse, using a controller is far more difficult than using a keyboard and mouse.
  
• While the story is nothing amazing it’s interesting enough to make you want to see it to the end.
  
• In some missions the checkpoints are few and far between, this can be rather frustrating if there are a lot of enemies and you get killed a few times.
  
• The game world is well designed and definitely has the Wild West feel.

Worth Purchasing

12 is Better Than 6 is a challenging, top-down Western shooter with some interesting shooting mechanics and a well-designed world. If you’re a fan of other top-down shooters such as Hotline Miami you’re going to enjoy this one, even if it is over a little too quickly.

Review Copy Provided.

No drama, Just Reviews.

El K.

"Neither yes or no"; Steam ratings need a "neutral" recommendation option.

A simple game much in the style of "Hotline Miami" except mostly with gunplay rather than melee+thrown items. The gameplay itself is basic and clean, but poor level design, a lack of progression, and a pointless money mechanic lead to a confusing experience overall.

Overall, its barely an OK game for $3 or less at best.


PROS:
-A few different guns that need to be operated correctly (♥♥♥♥ the bolt, re-load, etc).
--Weapons are: Knife, 6-shooter (pistol), double-barrel shotgun, and rifle.
-Gameplay is fast and clean. AI is tough but not cheap.

NEUTRAL:
-There is a story of some kind but I skipped past it. The story was told entirely through text and ruined the rapid pace of the action gameplay.

CONS:
-Environments are re-used almost verbatim.
-"Random" encounters are pointless and annoying. You will get interrupted between travels to get attacked by 1-3 enemies. (complete with load screen before/after the encounter)
-Money in the game serves no purpose. There are upgrades to buy but they only appear at certain points through the adventure and next to each vendor is a guy that offers you unlimited "mini missions" for bonus money so you can afford the upgrade. A pointless grind....just give the upgrades for free and ditch the money. NOTE: There is NO other purpose for the money (you do not buy bullets etc).
-Gun looting mechanic makes no sense. You can NOT take bullets out of dead enemies guns. This means it usually makes more sense to drop an empty gun and pick up a dead guys gun rather than to reload because if you reload and run out of bullets, you can not take the bullets out of the guns on the ground (??).
-The "12 is better than 6" upgrade which makes you dual wield pistols is BUGGED. You cannot reload the guns normally (your bullets just disappear, they DO get used up but no reload happens). Instead, you need to switch to your knife and switch back to your pistols to get them to auto-reload. This is especially embarassing considering this upgrade is literally named after the game.
-Dead enemies leave their hat behind. Since the game is 2D top-down view, it can be difficult to distinguish living enemies from dead ones in the middle of a fight.
-Similar problem to above, but sometimes its simply hard to SEE the enemies. The art style is a very simple black-and-white line drawing and the hats have almost no variation/distinction to them.

Adequately priced, good top-down-view cowboy shooter game, with the gameplay somewhat similar to the "Hotline Miami". And out of all other 'Hotline Miami"-wannabes, this one is the most original and fair, from the start to the end. With the graphics, gameplay, and all that. Now, it's not a complete clone. There is definitely another pace, with all the weapons you need to prime your shots every time... except for Gatling gun sections, and two revolvers simultaneously - the very late game perk. There is a distinctive visual style, all black-and-white, with the red bloodstains here and there...

The story is quite bland - you're some Mexican "Bandido", a wanted man, trying to remember and then settle his past life, by killing everyone who shoots at you... Which will be plenty.

Basically, that's all you need to know! You're either up for the 2d cowboy shooter challenge, or not.

But, speaking of the downsides... Yeah, some bugs I've witnessed. Some fps dropped occasionally, and the main code crush resulted in the closed app, somewhere in the middle of the 3rd chapter. And there are some minor code faults with the changing of controls. Restart is helping, though, and I can't say I had lost too much of the time with those bugs, so, I count them as minor.

So, I'm definitely positive about this game and recommend it to everyone! A discount might be a good thing, yeah, but generally, the game is worth its price. My mark is 8/10. The game's solid at what it does. Just draw your gun faster, and swing your knife harder... You can do it.