Posted on: May 5, 2020

morolf

Games: 185 Reviews: 14

Frustrating design

I'm a big fan of the Commandos games (especially the first one and its expansion), so expected to enjoy Desperados, but found it a rather frustrating experience and quit in level 10. The game is punishingly difficult even in early levels and has some level design which I found rather questionable. Behaviour of guards is often hard to predict...e. g. you can throw poker cards on the ground, and most guards will be lured to look at the card. However some guards might also raise the alarm (just because they saw a card lying on the ground, not because they discovered one of your characters or a body!)...this happened to me in a level where triggering the alarm means instant failure. Similarly, some guards will raise an alarm when they notice comrades are missing from their usual place. Now this might be realistic (and even innovative as a feature), but since one has no real way of predicting the reactions of guards, this makes the game much more unpredictable and increases the trial and error factor significantly. Feels rather unfair imo. So be warned: Just because one liked the Commandos games, there's no guarantee one will also enjoy Desperados, despite the superficial similarities of the games.

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Posted on: October 28, 2019

BranjoHello

Verified owner

Games: 278 Reviews: 3

Tough love

Playing Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive feels like being in a relationship with a beautiful witty woman that keeps busting your balls every five minutes. She has many issues and everything must be just how she wants it but you indulge her crazy demands even though it hurts. Bottom line is you just can't help yourself. You're in love and you just gotta make love to her over and over again. You don't even understand why of how, but when you somehow manage to find yourselves in the middle, it's just perfect and so satisfying.

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Posted on: October 13, 2015

v3

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 1

Wild West at its best!

One of the titles that rightfully earned its place in gaming history, and not only in advertised category as it has specific quality that might appeal even to players typically not the fans of the genre. Speaking of which, Desperados is arguably the finest specimen of the isometric tactical strategy games and for many reasons. Voice acting is, with a few exceptions, excellent, lead by the defining coolness of John Cooper's husky tone. The visual component is impressive still, with the choice of several resolutions available (max. 1024x768). Designers have opted to present variety of locations throughout the game, all drawn in exquisite detail, which makes for no boring mission even aesthetics-wise. Cutscenes also deserve hats off and although some rough edges around 3D rendering according to modern standards are noticeable, it still features movie-grade directing and perfectly complements the rest of the story, developing interestingly in its own way. Various characters with numerous differing abilities are available for the player to guide, giving a lot of latitude when it comes to choosing desired path of achieving the mission objective. Especially nice touch are what may be termed training missions upon gaining a new member in your team, aimed at showcasing their specific talents, giving you the chance to practice them before going out in the open, all neatly interweaved with the story. During gameplay many parameters will have to be taken into consideration: NPCs' field of view, their hearing range (both varying depending on the terrain and atmospheric conditions), specific requirements of the mission, reactions based on events triggered by the player, to name a few. And with every new step taken further into the game, the player is rewarded with unfoldment of the classic Western tale. All this and more makes for a remarkable one-of-a-kind experience! NOTE: As of Wine 1.7.51 this game runs fine in Linux.

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Posted on: April 22, 2011

st4rdog

Verified owner

Games: 93 Reviews: 1

Top quality game

If you are a fan of Commandos, this game is a must buy. It has the upper hand on Commandos by allowing you to record a move, then activate it when an enemy is within range, which gets rid of any frantic clicking. There are plenty of levels to play, including night versions with adjusted goals and enemy positions. The environments themselves are artistically nice, and often quite large. Missions can take a while to complete, and will require a lot of trial and error, but this is a good thing, as long as you remember to save often.

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Posted on: July 8, 2015

TheBigLLS

Verified owner

Games: 565 Reviews: 17

Remarkably Polished, Full Featured Game

The Good: * Pretty Much everything. This game came in the time when games had high productions values and were shipped when they gave so much more to the player for their price. Beautiful locals and animations. 25 missions, when each has a short CGI clip. Each mission can take 20-45 min depending on how you tackle the mission and how much time you restart / Reload the game. Awesome and unforgettable cast of characters. Supreme level of interactivity between characters, environments and enemies. Multiple paths for finishing objectives and much, much more. You own it to yourself to play this game and you will be talking to yourself while playing stuff like: "Why we don't see more games like this or at least as polished as this one???"... Yea, this game makes today's games look like they were created by an amateurs who only care to make quick $$$ and run away. The Bad: * I can only nitpick here... But still, there is some 0.5 sec delay while entering buildings. This causes the animation to start and you will see the character enters the building but as soon as he will be in, you will die because at that moment someone shot you. The Ugly: * This kind of games do not exist any more... Lets hope that in the future we will see something akin or at least an HD remake of this game. It really deserves it.

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