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Dead Man's Hand Screenshots and Info

Xbox

Wild West movies were one of the most popular genre of movies back in the hey day of Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin and the spaghetti westerns in the ‘70s. There was something extremely cool about the lone gunman with no name who could out-draw anyone, even managing to pull off shots that trained marksmen would fine difficult with today’s modern hand guns and rifles.

With the rise in popularity of first person shooting games it seemed inevitable that someone would come up with a Wild-West shooter to rival the legions of futuristic space-based shooting games already available on PC and Xbox. And thank goodness they have – Dead Man’s Hand is that game and it brings with it a classic mix of shooting action together with bucket loads of Wild-West atmosphere, and a solid graphic engine courtesy of the developers of Unreal 2.

The premise of the game is that you play the part of El TejonEl, a former leader of “The Nine” an infamous band of Outlaws. In an act of mutiny the band dumped you as their leader, and consequently beat you to near death and left you to rot in the desert. You recover but are held up in gaol and this is where your game begins. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but considering this game takes place in environments that look like they are 50+ degrees, you’ve no choice but to get on an blow your ex-comrades to hell. Each stage of the game takes place in different environments where the goal is to take out one member of ‘The Nine, as well as numerous bonus levels where you go after wanted criminals to collect the bounty on their heads.

Using the Unreal 2 engine, Dead Man’s Hand looks stunning on the Xbox. A mix of richly detailed textures and abundantly detailed environments make this game one of the best looking first person shooters on the Xbox. These range from the stereotypical one-horse town with its main street littered with saloons, general stores and cat-houses, to complex, arid, rocky mountains – all of which make fantastic arenas for classic wild-west shooting action. In fact, after playing a few levels of the game it becomes very obvious that a great deal of design work has gone into the structure and layout of the levels. Unlike Unreal, Dead Man’s Hand has lots of close quarters fighting action and this is further reinforced by the design of the levels. Players will cautiously find themselves using all manner of walls, tables, wagon wheels, rock structures and desolate buildings for cover whilst peeking or ducking out to shoot enemies. You certainly can run out in the open and try to take out enemies like Clint Eastwood, but considering the enemies use the same cover you do, and use it well, it won’t take long for you to fill up with lead and meet and early grave.

Still, to encourage replay value and mastering stages the developers have included a combo metre that fills when you take out an enemy or any of the many destructible objects in the game. With time it should be possible to keep that meter full by taking out enemies and objects with breezing through the stage. Although difficult, this is highly rewarding, especially considering the great physics engine used that has been carried over from Unreal 2. Shoot a player in the head and he’ll go flying backwards over the saloon bag like a rag doll; chuck a stick of dynamite at his feet and he’ll be launched spinning skyward. Shoot someone on their horse and they’ll limply fall off and then tumble and roll along the ground in a pile of dust while one leg is still held in the stirrup. You’ll be guaranteed to spend hours just watching the animations and blasting the hell out of almost every object and enemy in the game!

Like the upcoming Half Life 2, it’s possible to shoot out posts and overhead beams to take out enemies who are undercover, sending the roof crashing down on them and killing them instantly. You can also trigger events, like shooting a stockpile or crates to loosen them and have then role down a ramp and over a few unsuspecting and unlucky enemies. Adding to this, there are often crates of explosives and other objects that sit in and around the levels – shoot them with timing and you can take out multiple enemies, or even an entire building filled with nasty gringo!

Enemy AI is quite cunning and ingenious. Enemies will follow you, hide, move to find a better vantage point, jump down from atop buildings to surprise you and also throw dynamite and Molotov cocktails to flush you out from hiding places. Your enemies of the Nine each have their own ‘Boss level” endings where you battle them and their henchmen. From Shootouts in saloons to running around in a maze-like field of massive rocks with a knife throwing Indian at your throat, it’s all great stuff. Thank goodness you have a wide variety of weapons at your disposal from colt 45 revolvers to Western Carbine and Lewis Revolving Rifles and the Martin Pump action shotgun. You also can engage in a knife fight, or choose to blow your opponents to kingdom come with a handy stick of dynamite!

Dead Man’s Hand is shaping up to easily be one of the best shooters on the Xbox console. It has smooth, detailed and atmospheric graphics, solid gameplay and a great range of powerful and gratifying weapons. Add Xbox Live support for Online play and LAN play, with numerous modes like deathmatch, team deathmatch, Bounty (everyone is after one person) and Posse (You and others defend yourselves from progressively sinister AI enemies, last one alive wins), and you certainly have one killer Xbox and PC title for early 2004. Look out for more hands on impressions of this game’s Xbox Live support closer to release of the game in March.

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