Gordon Freeman! You are grounded!
Written: Dec 12 '00 (Updated Dec 12 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: weapon mods are kewl
Cons: graphics; game play
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| skyth's Full Review: Gunman Chronicles for Windows |
Every once in a while, I receive a game that makes me write an epitome of all game reviews. It makes me want to spend the extra hours trying to figure out the intricate details displayed by the profound graphics engine, and the philosophical ideologies represented by the story line. Based on the Half-life engine, and released as an add-on to the previous game, Gunman Chronicles is NOT such a game.
Brief History
Gunman Chronicles was supposed to be a cool downloadable add-on for Half-Life. A bunch of programmers started writing it amongst themselves. They pretty much shared ideas and code through the internet, and started putting it all together. I believe they just wanted to make a game that is the same as Half-Life, but with a more original setting. In this case, the setting would be to place Cowboys in space and give them ultra-tech weapons. Its a good idea, really. And it really would have been a 5 star add-on if it had been released as downloadable software. However, seeing the opportunity to shell out a few more bucks by using good ole Mr. Freeman, they decided to release Gunman as retail software. And it is because of this fact that we pit this add-on against other advanced First Person Shooters (FPS), and it is the reason why this game is an utter failure.
Graphics and Sound 5/10
When Half-Life came out, we weren't truly satisfied by the eye candy. Nevertheless, the game play was so innovative that it was chosen Game of the Year, and set a new trend in terms of FPS games. Gunman graphics are comparable with its predecessor, which is not much of a praise. Half-Life came out 3 years ago for crying out loud. Even games of yesteryear look ugly compared to some new games out there. First of all, all Gunman in the galaxy seem to be wearing the same clothes. The creatures look like slight variations of the aliens we saw in the original game. Admitably, some open areas like the West are a good innovation to the original endless corridors. But that is not enough to warrant paying 30$ for this game.
The sounds are quite repetitive and annoying as hell, especially the environmental effects. After a while I just turn the darn speakers off while playing the level called, 'The Rust'. I didn't want to hear that dang robotic sound anymore. Not much to hope for in this department either.
Game Play 5/10
Perhaps we could ignore the lack of innovative graphics if we had some game play to talk about. Sure, running around and shooting stuff with extra cool weapons is fun to do...for about 15 minutes. After that it does get a tid bit boring. And believe me, they have added a few buttons to press and a few gaps to jump through, but all those do is to add insult to the injury. The little things that made Half-Life original have also been carried over. Like the exploding items, or the ground breaking. When we first played Half-Life, these little things made us jump in our seats. But it has so been done before.
When Sierra released news of Gunman Chronicles, there was a promise of drivable vehicles. There is one tank, and there is one tank. That is about it. Pretty much, when you are using all of the one tank, your character becomes the tank. There are no indicators for fuel, location, etc. You drive the tank from A to B, shoot some stuff, and you are out of fuel. Then you must get out and refuel or do something other in order to keep going. Oh yeah, the tank is indestructible. Pathetic.
I suppose one really innovative aspect of Gunman are the modifiable guns. No that they give you much options, and this is something to kill for in Counter Strike. You can change things such as Fire Rate and Style. Its a nice new add on, but hardly enough to make the game worth buying.
Final Verdict 5/10
I wanted to like Gunman, really. And I probably would have liked it if it had been a free download. But no, you have to pay the full retail price to get it, and that is just ridiculous. This game can't even compare to other FPS games of today, so don't waste your money on it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
skyth
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Member: sky lar
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Skyth misses old Epinions -- where men were men and the sheep scared.
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