Game Review - by James Allen
There once was a time in which the only thing that stood in your way of a high score was a multitude of things to shoot. Fear not, my friend, because Art Is Dead follows this tried and true tradition of blasting away with your hand-eye coordination skills. Featuring background plucked from art masterpieces, Art Is Dead hopes to add a fresh new angle to the classic arcade shooter. Will Art Is Dead keep both of its ears intact?

Features:
Art Is Dead features single and two player (with light guns) shooting adventures. Although there are numerous paintings/levels to engage in battle, that's all there really is in the game. Yippee!

Sound FX:
The sound, like the features, is also very basic, but thorough at the same time. Most of the sounds are bullet sounds, and those of drowning monkeys. The addition of humorous sound effects brings a little variance to the picture (and there are a LOT of different bullet sounds), but there's nothing much else to note here of the 299 sounds.

Gameplay:
Everyone will be able to ease right into the game, as aiming the mouse and pulling the trigger are the only skills needed here. The difficulty in the levels stems from the sheer number of targets that are sometime present. The goal of each painting (there are usually several levels in each) is to shoot a certain object while avoiding other objects. The "briefing" at the beginning of each level explains which are to be plugged full of holes and which are not. There is a time limit, although this is an arbitrary addition to the game, since all of the targets come at specific times, and the last swarm of enemies is the only one in which time can play any sort of role. Sometimes, the levels focus on accuracy, and you are provided with a finite amount of ammunition. You can access more paintings by obtaining certain overall scores, and you can always go back, retry a certain stage, and strive for that perfect score.

Graphics:
The graphics is probably the most innovative feature, using famous paintings for backdrops, and objects related to these works of art as targets. For example, you need to shoot disks hidden behind rotating naked men, or people crossing Monet's bridge. The inventive integration of related targets in each painting makes for a fresh backdrop to this seemingly unoriginal idea.

Overall:
Art Is Dead is about as simple as it gets, folks. A gallery-style shooter with innovative levels incorporating works of art. A straightforward as this may sound, the developers did do a good job mixing up the levels, so it seems like there is some difference in each painting other than the pretty pictures. If you're in the mood for some quick reflex action, and lots of clicking, Art Is Dead is a fascinating take on the traditional target shooter.