Reviewed: September 23, 2001
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Atari

Developer
Spellbound

Released: July 24, 2001
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

9
10
8
9
9.3

System Requirements

Desperados takes everything (and I mean "everything") that makes westerns fun and somehow manages to incorporate it into this team-based strategy game. Every western cliché and plot device is paid tribute to in one of the most stylish games I have played this year.

The game opens with the first of many spectacular movies sequences. This one naturally starts with the traditional train robbery with bandits riding up alongside the moving train and then hopping from boxcar to boxcar until they reach the money. The intense action is heightened with some excellent use of Matrix-freeze frames, pans, and other superb effects that must be seen to be appreciated. The opening movie introduces your main character and establishes the upcoming quest.

Everything about this game has obviously been fine tuned to perfection. The level design is cleverly scripted to both ease you into the action and act as tutorial for the diverse group of characters that will become your gang of bounty hunters. Typical of most "gang" movies, you start with your main character and then go out and recruit the rest of your team. Ultimately, you can have up to six members in your posse, as you take place in an amazing adventure that spans 25 exciting missions.

Each member of your team has unique skills that you will need to learn when, where, and how to use to work in tandem with the rest of your team. The game takes place in real-time keeping you on the edge of your seat as you try to strategize then execute some very complex missions. As each character joins your gang, you will be able to learn their unique abilities with a brief tutorial level that lets you experiment with your new character.

The skill sets are quite diverse, and you will have to make some informed decisions on whom to send on what part of each mission. Cooper is a master of the knife and can silently dispatch enemies, while Doc has the ability to heal members of your gang and toss sleeping gas. Sam is your demolitions expert and can toss sticks of dynamite or blow-up powder kegs. You also have some female members of your gang that have their own female tricks. Kate can distract an enemy with a flash of her garter and Mia can blind an opponent with her mirror.

The story is linear, yet the missions allow you to approach the task at hand from many possible directions. Each level is small by RTS standards (usually 4-6 screens when panning), but the level of detail is mind-boggling. There are dozens of buildings; many with multiple entrances and levels. You can decide if you want to sneak around town or go in with guns blazing. Most missions are designed to be solved slowly and methodically by going around and incapacitating as many "bad guys" as you can.

Some guards are on patrol routes while others are stationed at locations around the farm. You can click on each of them to get a graphical indication of their range and direction of vision and their current "alert status". Then it's just a matter of planning your route across the various screens, sneaking up on the guards and silently knifing them then stashing the bodies in barns, shanties, or even the outhouse.

The AI is excellent. Guards will notice unconscious guards and sometimes even guards that are missing from their post. You can often trick guards into an ambush by making loud noises or using your musical watch to lure them into a trap. Some guards are tricky and will go get other gunmen before pursuing. This is a frequent occurrence in the town mission later in the game where if one person notices something "wrong" they will run to the town square and fire their gun to summon a bunch of deputies then fan out and search the town.

When you get additional teammates the game becomes more strategic and challenging. One of the earlier missions has you trying to rescue Doc who is in the town square about to be hanged. Your mission objectives are clearly laid out and while some solutions are obvious, many of these missions will require you to experiment, fail, and retry. The game allows you unlimited saves and even offers a handy Quicksave feature that you will probably find yourself tapping after two or three kills.

In this case of this rescue mission you must use Sam's snake handling ability to spook the priest's horse then tie up the priest to delay the execution. Now Cooper and Sam must infiltrate the town. John has to use his knife to silently eliminate guards posted all around the town including balconies and rooftops. Additionally, he must also locate three horses and saddle them if necessary. Any additional horses, he must cut the saddle straps to hinder pursuit. Meanwhile, Sam needs to find a keg of gunpowder and make his way to Doc's medicine wagon and blow it up to create a diversion. When the town goes to investigate the fireworks Sam and John can move in and free Doc and get out of town.

Think it sounds easy? Well, there are at least a dozen ways to approach just this one mission, and when I finally did ride out of town I had spent almost three hours and over a dozen failed attempts. Everything is dynamic so you never know what to expect. A bad guy may attack you one time then run for help the next time you play. Take too long to stash a body and the townsfolk will alert the authorities.

You can eliminate a lot of the difficulty in this game by simply going through each mission killing every bad guy in the level. While it is a valid way to play it probably isn't the authentic "western" way to play, and you will lose out on much of the strategy that comes from using each character's custom skills.

The game is in real-time and the characters under your control have no AI. This means that if you aren't controlling them then they aren't moving. This can potentially spell disaster since all it takes is one dead teammate to end the mission. You will definitely want to know where your guys (and gals) are at all times and keep them hidden when they are not in use. The mini-map makes this easy and also shows the location of enemies, horses, and other mission-critical items.

You also have the ability to group two or more of your group and move them together or link attacks. There is nothing more devastating than having all six of your group armed, and then having them shoot at a single target. There is also a nice feature on the interface that lets you chain commands to create custom macros. This helps to automate some of your characters' actions.

Another potential hazard to your enjoyment is the lack of an automatic reload. You will need to manually reload your weapon each time it runs out of ammo and this is a time-consuming process that requires several precise clicks of the mouse. At least you can duck while reloading to make yourself a smaller target. There is also a cool "roll out and shoot from behind a building" move you can do to get the drop on the bad guys. All of the major commands also have hotkey assignments, so you are not forced to abandon your character while you hunt-and-click for the desired command.

Just know in advance that Desperados is a difficult game that is designed around repetition as you play and replay the levels trying to figure out the best approach to accomplish your goals. As long as you save often you shouldn't have to replay huge sections of the game and it will never become frustrating since each time you replay it is slightly different.

The game can be played at low, medium, or high resolution (640x480 up to 1024x768) and looks amazing at any of them. The 2D nature of the game allows it to be played on an average system at the highest settings. The characters are tiny yet uniquely distinguishable, and there are over 28 types of NPC's of varying intelligence.

The interface is seamlessly integrated into the game. Each character is represented by a portrait at the bottom of the screen. When that character is chosen their picture and a menu of their available commands appear at the top-left corner. An authentic looking map can also be displayed in the lower-right corner as needed. A small menu bar appears along the bottom that features western themed graphical icons for all of the common commands shared for each character. The entire interface is designed to give you the biggest picture of the level without overlapping it with menus and stats.

The movies are amazing and there is usually a new one after every two or three missions. The quality of the presentation is even represented in small details like the load screen that slowly gets brighter as the level loads, or the Indy Jones-style animated map complete with galloping horse in the corner. The game just oozes with style.

More important than the sounds you hear are the sounds you make. Noise plays a critical strategic factor in the game. Your boots are louder on sidewalks than on the dirt and you make more noise running than walking (or crawling). Firing a gun can summon an army while throwing a knife will usually go unnoticed.

The dialog ranges from good to horrible. The voice actor for John Cooper is definitely trying to impersonate Clint Eastwood and sometimes he manages to pull it off, but most of the time it just sounds like he is some raspy phone stalker from a horror flick. The rest of the characters are generally over-the-top. Sam and Doc really got on my nerves with their constant bickering, but I think that was the point. I probably wouldn't have minded as much if the dialog were delivered better.

But in the end, there simply isn't that much dialog to negatively impact the overall enjoyment of this game. You will ultimately hear more dialog from the NPC characters as they react to your presence in their once-quiet little town.

If you like RTS games or love a good western adventure you can't go wrong with Desperados. The story will grab you from the opening movie, and the challenging gameplay will keep you locked in until the very last mission. Saddle up and sign on for the adventure of a lifetime.