Welcome to our review of Desperados III, a wild west based tactical game that has some quirks but plays well.
The Desperados‘ first adventure. Desperados III is a story-driven, hardcore tactical stealth game, set in a ruthless Wild West scenario.
In this long-awaited prequel to the beloved classic Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, John Cooper will join forces with the runaway bride Kate, the shady hitman Doc McCoy, the giant trapper Hector, and Isabelle, a mysterious lady from New Orleans. On Cooper’s quest for redemption, his adventures lead him and his gang from rural towns, over swamps and riverbanks, and finally to a dramatic showdown worthy of Wild West legends.
Play smart if you want to succeed. A good plan can make the difference between survival and finding yourself at the business end of a pistol.
Drifter, gunslinger, and natural leader Cooper can kill quietly with a knife, or take out multiple foes with his revolvers. Strongman Hector carries a giant bear trap and can slay the toughest opponents with his trusty ax. Cold-blooded bounty hunter McCoy likes to be methodical, using lures, knockout gas, poison syringes and a custom long-range pistol. Kate can fool almost any man with the right outfit and kills discreetly with her hidden gun. And then there is this mysterious woman from New Orleans, Isabelle…
Combine your team’s special skills to overcome each tough challenge in your own style.
I will be the first to admit I am currently tired of the genre of the tactical game, way too many games have been dumped upon us in the past few months and I had to do yet another one in a genre that I do not dislike really, but I have been reluctant to do yet one more. Enter Desperados 3, the wild west game that at first plays a little quirky. I found the controls to be quite annoying from the start and I reached back to the controller layout in the menu more than once.
The thing that really got me at first, the camera that was being used by more than one way. Through mouse controls, you could scroll the wheel to go in or out of the action, the numbers 4 and 6 are meant for turning the camera and then there is going outside the screen to reveal the next part of the current “puzzle”.
In a way, Desperados is a puzzle game and that might be why I did not dislike it. In a tactical setup, your job is to follow the storyline and take out the enemies but in a puzzle-like way. One of the first things you get to learn, throwing a coin to get someone’s attention, is used a lot and while it is easy, it is maybe your best tool at first. First check where you are, where you are looking; where they are looking, and strike.
Desperados actually has a fun approach to the genre and despite its very adult feeling, I will admit the game performed better than first experienced. I will be honest, I did get the review code rather early and did take a little time apart from the game so it could settle in. That pause was actually exactly what I needed to really click with the game because I did not get very impressed at first. Sure, Desperados looked great and it had some smart ways to get to the next mission.
The option to save instantly is possibly one of the best features a game has ever had, I clicked that button non-stop.
In conclusion, it finally clicked with me though it did take a while before I really started liking Desperados 3…
