In the mid-1960s, the “dollar trilogy” Sergio Leone opened the world of spaghetti westerne, which is why the poncho, salons and shots from the hip grew to the mythology of the Wild West, and the mythology. The fashion for cowboys inevitably reached the video game: Gun , Red Dead Redemption , series Call of Juarez..

But they were all "after". "Before" was Desperados. The series was abandoned back in 2007, and no one was waiting for the continuation. And it will be! And they are not engaged in them, but the authors Shadow Tactics! Next year, the Cooper’s gang will again show the cruel thugs who is fast here and who is dead.

Recall how it all began.

Dead or Alive

John Cooper is a bustle hunter, and therefore, learning about the award for capture of the cruel bandit El Diablo, he is immediately taken to work. But climbing a target alone is stupid, so that the cowboy decides to call on business old friends. True, first you need to find them. It turns out that one is about to hang it, the other is threatened by reprisal for shylerism, and the third, having received on the head from his owner-owner, is lying in a disconnection in some barn.

All the troubles of Cooper's comrades fell on them because of their own ingenuity. Sam, for example, holds for a bosom of a snake that rushes to anyone who touches it. Sanchez is glad to lull the vigilance of the enemy with tequila, and the dock – to distract the sentinels to home -made scarecrow. Hacking, throwing knives and shooting (from unique weapons, by the way), they are also not alien to them-at the disposal of each character five or six skills at the disposal.

Due to the similarity with Commandos, the Spellbound studio was more than once accused of plagiarism

Something similar in military tactics Commandos About the detachment of saboteurs who during the Second World War were packed from Norway to North Africa. From it Spellbound Entertainment And the archetypes of the characters and the main gameplay solutions pulled away, “finishing” the sagging mechanics.

Take, for example, the "field of view" of the enemy. The color of the cone (green, yellow, red or purple instead of static green in Commandos) shows the degree of suspicion of the NPC, and the player receives a couple of extra seconds to activate the right skill. At such moments, Macro, another innovation, turned out to be very useful: having recorded a certain sequence of actions for the character, it could be launched at any time. Trifle, but the player is pleasant.

MII's manual monkey is the name of Leone, in honor of the "completely unknown" director

The new AI added other chips to the game: the steps ceased to be silent, with the onset of the night, the shooters had a fine for accuracy, and civilian, if you behaved suspiciously, immediately raised the alarm. It was necessary to select items after their use (for example, the scarecrow of the Doc), and the enemy, before throwing under the bush in a disconnection, will be tied – otherwise it would be and run away!

A variety of locations, coupled with different goals and sets of characters, forced to come up with new tactics every time. Of course, there https://mystake-gb-casino.co.uk/ were enough bugs in the game, and at times with their help it was possible to fly half the level. But thanks to the unusual and well -thought -out gameplay, it was interesting to catch these bugs; After all, this means to outwit both developers and El Diablo himself!..

No, well, true, who did not suit a mass murder, putting the snake around the corner in a narrow corridor?..

And yet the original can admire endlessly ..

Bright, although the pixel picture invariably pleased. Each rotten board was drawn to the last Zazubinka. But on a good visual design, the developers did not stop. Heroes, in addition to unique skills, had characters, the past, a great sense of humor and a wonderful habits. It was easy to get into any adventure with these guys.

For this, they fell in love with the original Desperados. You look at it today and you seem to immediately note strange game solutions (recall the gas ball with gas that floats over enemies), and “towing” on the corpses of NPC. But all these little things for some reason are not striking, but only plow the desire to keep the game in the memory such as it was at the beginning of the zero.

In the fast

Five years later, hoping to repeat the success of the first part, Spellbound released Desperados 2: Cooper’s Revenge. Following fashion, they changed the isometry to 3D, adding at the same time a third -person view. But if from afar it looked good, then near the game was like a very lame fan mod. Only the scrolling wheel saved from visual horrors: I moved the camera, and I no longer want to cry.

In the sequel, Cooper is already painfully like Clint Eastwood!

The advanced AI of the original game retired. The enemies instantly stupid, ceased to notice the disappearance of the comrades and a couple of minutes later thoughtfully examined their corpses. And in the case of an attack, they walked under the bullets in a steam locomotive. However, as soon as the gang of a new villain, Gudman, grew to a small battalion, the enemies, albeit nearby, had already taken in number: their accuracy did not suffer at all. It became more nervous to get the game than interesting, and the victory often turned out to be the result of a successful combination … bugs.

All these deficiencies killed the spirit of the original at once, turning it into a short -noise with clumsy control. What is there: even open the door, holding a revolver in his hand, it was impossible! As well as give the order to another character without switching to a tactical regime. The isometric camera correctly corrected the situation, but the problems of the three -dimensional engine did not solve: the figures often stuck in the textures and did not "fall" into their own scripts

Desperados gathered together all the stereotypes about cowboys, even the Indian here is the name of the "hawk eye"

Having decided on a fashionable experiment, the developers almost sunk a series. Almost-because they still put a couple of scenes in the spirit of the original. But from this it became even more sad. Pulled to turn off the game and start the first part. It seemed that Desperados could not be saved ..

Back to the roots

A year later, the developers tried to correct errors, releasing a continuation called HELLDORADO. Initially, they planned an improved version of the first part, but the game changed so much that they decided to give a new name to it.

Helldorado conceived as an improved version of "revenge Cooper". But the game has changed so much that it was given a new name

A curved third -person appearance did not go away, but the bugs happened less often, and the opponents wiser – sometimes even too much. In spirit, the game was very close to the original: the same skills, scenery and monotonous location stripping. By the way, as before, it can be accelerated by fast teams. They are quite effective, but the animation of Kitszen seemed wooden ..

For the rest, with a new interface, it became much easier to manage the cuper gang. Preserving old talents, the heroes learned to unite them in the combo. Sam and the hawk eye easily make a rocket, tied a dynamic checker to an Indian arrow. Sanchez and Kate are playing a whole performance: the Mexican throws the girl on the shoulder, staging the abduction, and thereby pays attention to Zevak.

In Russia, the game remains the same name, "" " Desperado 3: Fight in the Prairies "

According to the covenants of Shadow Tactics

Helldorado did not always find a place for all its little mechanics, but they became a good back for a new game. About which we heard only in this August when the German studio Mimimi Productions announced Desperados III. While she seems to be a copy of Shadow Tactics. Even dungeons at the angles of the view of the same! Fans of both games will lament the irony: after all, Shadow Tactics also once imitated just the first desperados in everything. Uroboros bit his tail.

Thanks to the “social zones”, getting to the enemy base has become easier

Compared to predecessors, gameplay here is much more realistic. “Social locations” appeared on the levels, where you can relax and overturn the beer mug without fear of caught a bullet between the eye. But the forbidden zones indicated by the red line are also here. If you cross the border, first you will receive a warning, and then they will open fire on the hero.

By the way, about murders. They can now be carefully planned thanks to gossip: they open a lot of useful information. Suppose a local villain loves to boast of his skill on Rodeo. So why not take advantage of the situation and adjust the accident?

Hector is a hunter, he masterfully arranges bear traps and tolerates two bodies

You can deal with the enemy by the old fashioned way, the main thing is to know exactly how the weapon works. Say, the Cooper can plant three bullets at a time, and his new partner, a powerful hector, – to say the bandits with buckshot. You can call the patrol, as before, you can whistle or throw a coin. There will be five partners, and Kate and Doc flashed from old acquaintances in the trailer – their abilities are not yet issued. As in Helldorado, players will be able to make a combo, but this time much more often.

It’s quiet to kill all enemies or to do without bloodshed, too, no one bothers, but the developers warn that at high levels it will be very difficult. But it’s a sin not to try, because, as before, quick conservation works at any time! However, it will have to persist for often, the locations are huge. There were already three bosses in the gameplay roller on one map: the hostess of the Wild Marge, local Zhulik Scott Jarvis and the owner of the new Macbein railway.

Will it be possible to program the character for several actions ahead until it is known

The plot is only known that it is divided into three acts. The first stage will take place in the forests and canyons of Colorado, the second among the swamps of Louisiana, and the final will transfer the heroes to New Mexico.

So far, everything we have seen is convincing and colorful. Bright combo, inconspicuous murders in the style of agent 47 and favorite characters from the game of twelve years ago – this is a dream! And in a competent performance, there is no doubt. Mimimi has already established themselves Shadow Tactics, which has successfully adapted old mechanics to modern realities.

And here is the twenty minutes of gameplay

After a large break, John Cooper sits confidently in the saddle again. And since the authors of Shadow Tactics took up the revival of the legendary series, then you can not worry about the fate of your beloved gang – at least for now all the signs of this. The game will be released in 2019 simultaneously on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.