Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsarama
Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsarama
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Battlefield 6
  • Golden Joystick Awards 2025
  • New Games for 2025
Don't miss these
Playing Ghost of Yotei and riding through an autumnal forest with red leaves
Action RPGs Ghost of Yotei review: "One of the first PS5 games to feel truly boundary-pushing, this hyper violent samurai revenge quest truly hooked me"
a woman with a jetpack and pink bodysuit flies in the air and shoots enemies below with a beam of energy
Roguelike Games Terminull Brigade is the high-octane sci-fi shooter you need to play right now
They key art for Kill the Brickman, showing a screaming red bullet blasting through a horde of brickmen and stone as they gasp
Roguelike Games This Balatro-like take on Breakout trades a paddle for a revolver, and I've had a lot of fun combo'ing bullet configurations even if I wish this was more on target
A top-down view of a crowd of people circled around a dead body on an ornate tiled floor
Third Person Shooters Square Enix's new murder-mystery shooter Killer Inn can't decide if it wants to be Clue or Counter-Strike, but it taught me that sniping is way easier than lying
Pizza Bandit
Games Channel the wrath of Ramsay in Pizza Bandit as you kill things for money to open a restaurant
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout After 50 hours in Oblivion Remastered, I'm replaying Fallout: New Vegas and rekindling my nuka-copium dreams of Fallout 5 returning to the series' RPG roots
Claptrap from Borderlands 4 raising his arms in front of a banner that says "Welcom Recurits"
Borderlands Borderlands 4 review: "Undeniably an excellent looter shooter, but one that requires a bit of tunnel vision to fully enjoy"
Vice: Magic City Mayhem listing image with characters in comic panels
Action Games I picture Rockstar and Nintendo lawyers locking eyes as one bold dev creates slick Zelda meets GTA action game Vice: Magic City Mayhem – "You ain't gettin nowhere without yo s***. Take this"
Strange energy spilling from the roof of a dilapidated mansion in Project Spectrum
FPS Games Remember Evolve? The studio behind Delta Force certainly does, because it's making an Escape From Tarkov-style shooter where one player is a very hungry monster
One spaceship pursues another in Jump Space above a rocky planet, while firing lasers
Action Games With 1 million wishlists, Jump Space is the next breakout co-op success, and it's hitting every wild space fantasy you could ever have
Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 2 modder discovers the strongest weapon in the Wild West: 4-year-old Jack Marston, who packs a surprising punch as a thrown weapon
The best Steam games to play in 2024 - Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3 looking pensive with his hand on his chin
FPS Games The 25 best Steam games for 2025
Guntouchables
Roguelike Games These indie devs gave their co-op roguelite away for free for 24 hours – 2 million people claimed it, and now it's relaunched at $5 with the backing of the Deep Rock Galactic studio
Megabonk
Roguelike Games "I can't pry myself from the computer": New roguelike hailed as "a mix of Vampire Survivors and Risk of Rain 2," and I'm starting to see why it has 4,000 "Very Positive" Steam reviews after just one week
Schedule I
Open World Games Schedule 1 update adds a shotgun and rival cartel to Steam's viral drug-dealing simulator following a player vote, and I'm sure that doesn't have any harrowing implications
  1. Games
  2. Action

Secret Poncho tosses you into a frantic Wild West shootout

Features
By Hollander Cooper published 13 June 2013

This town ain't big enough for the both of us

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Feeling lucky, punk?

Feeling lucky, punk?

As we tumbled towards our enemies--a slob with a chaingun and a slender man with a whip--we wondered, "what are we fighting for?"

Nah, not really, we just whipped out our dual revolvers and kept shooting, blasting our foes and forcing them to hide behind cover, which we then rendered useless with the toss of a stick of dynamite. That's just the way of the west in Secret Ponchos, a top-down shooter with a focus on player-versus-player combat. Our time with the game was brief, but long enough to give us a good idea of the basic gameplay, which feels more akin to a third-person shooter than any other top-down game we've played.

Players will battle across five maps in a number of different game modes, choosing between a number of different interesting characters. Each has a weapon with two functions (like our revolver, which could be altered to shoot powerful close-range shots and fast long-range blasts) as well as a secondary item (like our dynamite), adding plenty of variety to the brawls. Visually it was nice, but didn't really feel like it needed the power of the PlayStation 4 to function--something the developers plan to address by adding cloth physics and ambient lighting inclusion for the next-gen version. There's also talk of adding new modes and characters post-launch, including a capture-point map with AI-controlled opponents, turning Secret Ponchos into League of Legends. Will it win the west? We don't know, but we're gunning to find out when it releases early next year.

Check out the following slides for additional images and more information.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
There's a cover system and it works fairly well.

There's a cover system and it works fairly well.

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Old west style shoot-outs are too infrequent in modern gaming, if you ask us.

Old west style shoot-outs are too infrequent in modern gaming, if you ask us.

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
One of the first images released for the game shows off a bunch of fun characters.

One of the first images released for the game shows off a bunch of fun characters.

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
This is the character we played as--he was super fun.

This is the character we played as--he was super fun.

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
...and here's what he looks like in-game.

...and here's what he looks like in-game.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
This is "The Killer" and he, apparently, kills people.

This is "The Killer" and he, apparently, kills people.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
CATEGORIES
PS4 Platforms PlayStation
Hollander Cooper
Hollander Cooper
Social Links Navigation

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade. 

See more Platform Features
Read more
a woman with a jetpack and pink bodysuit flies in the air and shoots enemies below with a beam of energy
Terminull Brigade is the high-octane sci-fi shooter you need to play right now
 
 
They key art for Kill the Brickman, showing a screaming red bullet blasting through a horde of brickmen and stone as they gasp
This Balatro-like take on Breakout trades a paddle for a revolver, and I've had a lot of fun combo'ing bullet configurations even if I wish this was more on target
 
 
A top-down view of a crowd of people circled around a dead body on an ornate tiled floor
Square Enix's new murder-mystery shooter Killer Inn can't decide if it wants to be Clue or Counter-Strike, but it taught me that sniping is way easier than lying
 
 
Pizza Bandit
Channel the wrath of Ramsay in Pizza Bandit as you kill things for money to open a restaurant
 
 
Fallout: New Vegas
After 50 hours in Oblivion Remastered, I'm replaying Fallout: New Vegas and rekindling my nuka-copium dreams of Fallout 5 returning to the series' RPG roots
 
 
Claptrap from Borderlands 4 raising his arms in front of a banner that says "Welcom Recurits"
Borderlands 4 review: "Undeniably an excellent looter shooter, but one that requires a bit of tunnel vision to fully enjoy"
 
 
Latest in Action
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot showing female protagonist Naoe
Former Assassin's Creed boss says he "did not make that choice" to leave Ubisoft after 20 years – the company "decided to transfer the leadership… to someone closer to its new organizational structure"
 
 
Rubinite trailer screenshot of a purple hand reaching for a red eye
I played the top-rated Soulslike in Steam Next Fest to see what the fuss is about – turns out it's not a Soulslike but a boss rush with amazing combat, and I see what the fuss is about
 
 
Team Ico pitched Shadow of the Colossus to Sony with placeholder music from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: "Later on, we found out that was actually the theme music"
 
 
The Last of Us Part 2
After Sony rejected a Horizon Zero Dawn collab, Tencent tried to pitch a new The Last of Us game instead: "I was confused"
 
 
Star Wars: Eclipse screenshots
Another studio known for single-player games takes the live service gamble: Heavy Rain dev is making a competitive multiplayer game even as "development of Star Wars: Eclipse continues"
 
 
Team Ninja, Smash Bros' Masahiro Sakurai, and "rival" Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada pay tribute to iconic Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki
 
 
Latest in Features
Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft Movie 2 release date, cast, plot, and everything else we know so far about the block-tastic sequel
 
 
Wind Waker
As The Legend of Zelda's 40th anniversary looms, I'm begging Nintendo to stop ignoring its greatest run of Zelda games and make this generation's Ocarina of Time
 
 
Indy the dog in Good Boy
Good Boy made me realize I've judged horror fans who fuss over furry on-screen stars too hard, and now I've found 9 more scary movie dogs that prove them right
 
 
A space ship landing on a beautiful tropical planet in No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky's biggest problem in 2025 is being too good, and now I'm trapped in a vicious cycle
 
 
Aaron Paul's character Robert Robertson in Dispatch, stood holding a dog in an elevator filled with strange superheroes
Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul has "always wanted" to be in a game, but The Boys-esque superhero comedy Dispatch was the first truly irresistible role: "Nothing really felt like the right fit"
 
 
Olden Era
I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic since I was 6, and after putting 10 hours into Olden Era's huge Steam demo, the strategy series has never felt better
 
 
  1. Ball x Pit
    1
    Ball x Pit review: "Vampire Survivors and Breakout collide in this brilliant roguelike ball basher that struggles with repetition"
  2. 2
    Pokemon Legends: Z-A review: "Fast fluid real-time fights and a world worth exploring make this finally feel like the anime come to life"
  3. 3
    Little Nightmares 3 review: "An overly safe, uneven, and half-baked follow-up where co-op is a hindrance instead of the evolution it should've been"
  4. 4
    With a new season on the way, is Blood Bowl's second edition still worth a look?
  5. 5
    Battlefield 6 review: "More refined than innovative, this FPS is on target with multiplayer even if its campaign is just a big shrug"
  1. Tron: Ares
    1
    Tron: Ares review: "Misses out by swapping the Grid for the real world"
  2. 2
    One Battle After Another review: "One of the best studio movies in years and an instant classic"
  3. 3
    The Conjuring: Last Rites review: "Not bold or memorable enough for the Warrens' final chapter"
  4. 4
    Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle review: "Roars past Mugen Train as Demon Slayer's best adventure yet"
  5. 5
    The Long Walk review: "One of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made"
  1. Splinter Cell Deathwatch
    1
    Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review: "A pale imitation of the long-dormant stealth franchise"
  2. 2
    Marvel Zombies review: "A fun expansion of the What If episode with delightful MCU Easter eggs and truly gross R-rated kills"
  3. 3
    Gen V season 2 review: "As strong as the first season, if not stronger"
  4. 4
    Wednesday season 2 part 2 review: "Ortega shines, but it's a zombie who steals the entire show"
  5. 5
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...