The game environments are rich and colorful and each location is alive with
townsfolk, animals, running water, and the like. Character animations are fluid
and give the game a more life-like look and feel. While the game features a
fairly interactive environment and a 3/4 quarters, top-down perspective, the
game's graphics are strictly 2D - this really becomes evident when viewing the
blocky graphics that result when using the zoom feature. While it would make
things a lot easier for the player if he/she had control of the game's camera
when trying to sneak around, the game does provide a 'radar' map to track
enemies and the ability to view the outlines of people hidden from view behind
buildings.
The game's sounds do not quite match up to the quality of its graphics, being
pretty much standard voiceovers and acknowledgements. Environmental sounds are
fairly standard and basic. Not bad, but not great either. A rousing and high
quality score would go a long way in enhancing the gamer's experience when
playing Desperados - especially since Westerns have given us so many
recognizable themes such as those from The Magnificent Seven and The
Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
Desperados is at once very enjoyable and frustrating. The interesting
storyline and intriguing missions are hampered by a high degree of difficulty.
Some of the missions are swarming with enemies and require you to make your way
through them in the proper sequence and with the proper timing - in short,
expect some missions to be save/restore fests.
It can also sometimes be difficult to coordinate the actions of your team. If
an enemy stumbles upon one of your characters and you happen to be doing
something else elsewhere on the map, then you are in trouble. Your teammates
will do nothing to defend themselves or even just duck out of the way of gunfire
unless you directly order them to do so. For a game that pays so much attention
to the details of line of sight and sound, this is kind of a strange oversight.
All in all, the game does have enough going for it that if you can put up
with a little frustration, and the feeling that some missions must be completed
in the exact manner that the designers intended them to be, then you'll probably
find yourself enjoying it.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 73%.
Might be a little tough for some players, but those who enjoyed Commandos or
have an interest in the Wild West will probably enjoy the game. Without a
multiplayer option or scenario editor, though, replay value is limited.
System Requirements: 266 MHz Pentium II CPU; 64 MB RAM; 4 MB
Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM; 340 MB Hard Drive Space; Mouse.
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