Writings of Mass Deduction

I can’t believe I’m reviewing this. I mean that literally, I am actually in a state of disbelief. “Tune Her Out” surprised the heck out of me. The goal of the game is the exact opposite of the title. And it’s actually two games in one. Confused? Read on.

The surprisingly challenging title from the much maligned Silver Dollar Games has you playing a competent dual-stick shooter, while also having to *not* tune out the woman speaking to you. She will engage you in (at times cheesy, at times genuinely amusing) conversation while you try to play, but she will periodically challenge you to repeat what topic she was just talking about. If you’re successful, you’ll get an ammo reload and that, in fact, is the only way to get more of the precious screen-clearing smartbombs.

It’s interesting, and actually challenging, with genuine gameplay. Far from a game that rewards you ignoring your girlfriend, as you may have believed it was about based on the title and box art, it actually *rewards* people who can listen to their virtual girlfriend while simultaneously playing the twin-stick shooter. I hate to say it (after I was punked by one of their previous games), but they have something worth at least trying out here.

Previous releases from them worth buying include “Office Affairs”, “Head Shot Z”, “Blow” which is one of the best in the indie games channel (though even Silver Dollar says they simply “got lucky” with it), “Mirror” which is great, “RAID”, “Fatal Seduction”, and “One Finger Death Punch” (which is absolutely amazing).

Here’s what the publisher (Silver Dollar Games Inc._01) has to say about the game:

“Because nothing’s more important than getting the high score.”