Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive PC CD-ROM
Published by Sold Out Software
Developed by Spellbound
Release Date: Out Now
Price: £4.99
Commandos Behind Enemy Lines was a very popular game and it was no surprise when other developers created games that were based upon the same formula. One of the best Commandos influenced games was Desperadoes: Wanted Dead or Alive. The Wild West theme aside, what we have here is a game whose mechanics are identical in every way to Commandos. The one exception though is that this game, at times, is more difficult.
You'll play as John Cooper and throughout the game you'll be accompanied by up to 5 desperadoes. Each of these characters has their own special abilities that you'll need to make the most of in order to succeed. Like Commandos the game is 2D and viewed from an elevated angle. The graphics maybe 2D but they do look good and have aged very nicely. The game has 25 levels (6 of which are tutorial levels) and the levels are quite large but they are all well designed and have a real Wild West flavour to them. You can zoom in on the action but it's not something you'll want to do that often as the graphics become pixelated and quite ugly when you zoom in.
Desperados is a bit of a mixed bag for deaf gamers. The cutscenes aren't subtitled and the comments that your characters make when you give them orders are not subtitled either. All important dialogue between characters is shown in text, as are the tutorial messages, so it's quite possible to enjoy the game. However it would have made the game more appealing to deaf gamers had the cutscenes, which carry the game's story, been subtitled.
Overall Game Rating: 4.0/5
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A great Commandos clone that deserved to sell a lot better than it did the first time around. If you were a fan of the Commandos series then this is a fiver well spent.