Welcome to the world of Desperados. A place of loud mouthed drunks who’d rather shoot you as quick as glance at you, brothels where the ladies are as mean as they are beautiful, and cities run by the crooked. THQ Nordic along with developers Mimimi have done a superb job in bringing us their latest instalment for the Desperado series and it’s truly amazing. Most people I know would cringe at the thought of another top down shooter but the truth is Desperados III is great fun, looks amazing while being easy to learn, albeit giving the player a real, challenging experience.
“Desperados III is a story-driven, hardcore tactical stealth game, set in the ruthless Wild West scenario. Play smart of you want to succeed. A good plan can make the difference between survival and finding yourself at the business end of a pistol.”
Desperados III is a tactical stealth game and a prequel to the first game, Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, where we find the origin stories of the beloved characters we met in the beginning. The first character we meet is Cooper, the gun tooting drifter with a gift for stealth. Hector is the muscles of the group with his trusty bear trap Bianca by his side. Kate is the love interest with her powers of distraction and blending in, while McCoy relies on distance attacks like sniping. Then there’s Isabelle, the mysterious women from New Orleans with a few tricks up her sleeves.
Together you form a band to take on the bad guys and must rely on your powers of stealth to make it through the obstacle-like missions. Using certain characters at certain points during a mission is a must, as each have their own unique abilities and can make passing the mission much easier.
The way the world is presented looks amazing, bustling streets filled with common folk, horses being hitched to posts and cowboys having a shootouts in the middle of the road. Everywhere you looks has something going on which really brings the game to life.
Amongst all this guards are always patrolling the area. You have the ability to see the enemies view cone and allows you to hide from site in the closest bush or cupboards when being investigated. You also have the ability to enable showdown mode, a mode that stops time and lets you plan your next moves. Think of it this way; kid throws a ball, hit showdown mode, move ball, press play and kid gets ball in the face. Classic, that’s kind of how this works, so with that in mind you can use your abilities and take down two maybe three enemies at once provided careful planning. Multiple paths can be taken to give Desperados III a more open feel, and it’s up to you to decide how you want to continue.
The gameplay is excellent, easy mechanics make for easy gameplay which seems to just roll along. This mixed with a great design and well written story make for a wild western adventure which will keep you intrigued through the entire experience. Memorable characters and some pretty neat skills really bring this title to life and I suggest this title to anyone who likes to delve into the stealth action genre.
Conclusion
Desperados III is a great prequel to the Desperado series. With great visuals, gameplay and a challenging story line you can be sure you will have a blast with this title. Gameplay is solid, and with memorable characters you can place your cards and know you have a winner.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.Want to keep up to date with the latest Xt reviews, Xt opinions and Xt content? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
