Infairness,Iwaswarned.Backin 2017
Mimimi games resurrected real-time
tactics with Shadow Tactics: Blades of the
Shogun. Now they’re back with a sequel to
one of the two games that created the
genre in the first place. (The other being
Pyro Studios’ Commandos games).
I’ll forgive you for having no idea
what real-time tactics is, given how
small the genre is; think of it as a
real-time Invisible Inc. Despite the
western setting, the emphasis is
heavily on avoiding loud guns and sticking
to stealth, micro-managing your handful
of heroes past dozens of guards.
Technically you always have the option to
go loud, but this usually ends in disaster.
Occasionally you are forced to fight, but
even then you’ll usually have some help in
the form of (for example) a nearby barrel
of dynamite, to help even the odds.
Each character has their own unique
set of abilities, and levels will often remix
which ones are available to you, forcing
you to adapt and improvise.
Cooper, the protagonist, has an
immensely useful throwing knife and
distracting coin toss, plus two revolvers in
case things go bad. Two other charactersreturn from the original games:
professional killer/healer Doc McCoy, and
conwoman Kate O’Hara. Kate can
disguise herself and walk freely among
guards, distracting them with
conversation, while Doc packs a long
range scoped handgun and some clever
tricks with knockout gas.
The only odd one out of the group is
Isabelle, who uses a blowpipe that can
mind control enemies or ‘connect’ two
guards so that whatever happens to one
happens to another. It’s an oddly magical
set of abilities given the rest of the cowboy
setting, and although they are very fun to
use, I was a little bit uncomfortable with
the black lady being defined by possessing
quasi-voodoo powers.WEST WORLD
What shines here is the level design.
Desperados loves to show you a vast
journey, only to break it down into bite-size
chunks. Fool these three guards to get
through this gate here, trick this sniper
and avoid the guard dog here, until you
realise you’ve slowly but steadily covered
the whole thing. Often you’ll encounter a
group of guards all looking at each
other, a seemingly impossible task,
yet with enough trial and error you’ll
figure out the exact sequence that
lets Kate distract a guard just as
Cooper stabs another in the neck, while
the third is playing with Isabelle’s cat. Yes
you’ll be quicksaving a lot here, so much
so that a reminder will pop up on screen if
you go over a minute without hitting F5.
I only got a handful of levels to try out,
but each one had a clever concept with its
own interesting challenge. One level takes
place alongside a train stopped by
bandits, starting at the back and sneaking
your way along a seemingly endless line of
carriages to the front to finally deal with
the obstacle. Another takes place in a
small town occupied by a brutal railroad
company, letting the players freely wander
the open streets before ducking into a
guarded area to stage a series of
accidents against the company men,
spiking drinks and angering prize bulls, in
a decidedly Hitman-esque fashion. Don’t
be fooled by the whiskey-soaked exterior- Desperados is an intricate puzzle box
solved with knives and bullets.
Tom Hatfield
A
t times these days it seems like every
weird niche PC game I loved as a child
now has a modern remake or beloved
spiritual successor. But even so, I must
admit I never expected Desperados, the real-time
tactics cowboy game, to make a comeback nearly
two decades after the original release.Once upon a (real) time
in the West...DESPERADOS 3
THE EMPHASIS IS HEAVILY ON
AVOIDING LOUD GUNS AND
STICKING TO STEALTHRELEASE
2020DEVELOPER
Mimimi GamesPUBLISHER
THQ NordicLINK
desperadosgame.comNEED TO KNOWPLAYED
ITThe tutorial lets you play as adorable child
Cooper watching his dad do some murders.Desperados 3
PREVIEW
A special mode lets you queue
up abilities, such as ‘axe’.