Half a century ago, the world stared “Django”, “face to face” and “dollar trilogy” to the holes. What child did not imagine himself a Texas hawk? But the time of seasoned cowboys passed, and Clint Eastwood gave way to man in black ( "World of the Wild West" ) and Frank Gryffin ( "Godless" ).
So with games exactly the same. Now few people remember how the hero Blood pierced the zombie with a fork, and a duel with a Mexican in Wild Gunman It seemed the most difficult test in life. And now on the lips of all players, journalists and bloggers Red Dead Redemption 2.
But this does not mean that you can take and forget about the very first cowboys in the game industry.
Old Wild West
For the first time the difficult life of the inhabitants of the frontier (of course, not counting the arcade shooter Sheriff 1979) showed in The Oregon Trail (1981). When England lost to the Americans Oregon, many farmers went to new lands, hoping to find the best life there. But not everyone reached the goal: as in real history, the path was full of dangers and demanded complicated decisions – later it looked at it The Banner Saga and many other projects. The player thought how best to distribute the diet, in which place to cross the river and which animals to hunt. It was also impossible to drive buffalo and vnagoye from the problems either – they broke from a careless wheel drive.
The children's training project grew up very quickly to an excellent simulator of an American immigrant, who was in great popularity in the States and received many awards. The last one-just recently, in 2016: Time magazine put The Oregon Trail in 9th place in the list of fifty best games of all times.
The Oregon Trail was an educational game, and it was often launched in the lessons in American schools
And each owner of Dendy probably had a cartridge with an arcade dile Wild Gunman (1984), compatible with light pistols. There were three modes in the game: the player was supposed to lower the trigger earlier than the enemy in the duel, the complicated regime added another enemy, and in the arcadian it was necessary to deal with ten bandits – they gave one and a half bullets for each for each.
The timer in Wild Gunman counted the time before the opponent shot
The action of the vertical scroll-player Gun. Smoke (1984) also unfolded in the Wild West. Classics of the genre of site crockrolls – simple, but fascinating. Bonuses were hidden in the barrels, the earned glasses could be lowered on useful lotions, and the horse of the protagonist gave an additional life, closing the owner from the enemy bullet.
The developers added a point to the name, so as not to violate the copyright of the series Gunsmoke
Sunset Riders (1991)-A great example of Run’N’Gun Platformer in the Wild West. The game begins with the fact that the four cowboys in bright costumes opens up the most dangerous criminals. This is exactly the case when the “bad” came out much brighter than the “good”: the pimine brothers, the dark horseman, the local scrudge, distraught from his wealth, and a couple of other no less colorful characters-the most magnificent disgusting eight that the game westerns saw. Moreover, each has its own short story and its own crown trick. Of course, the more difficult it is to catch the villain, the higher the reward for his head.
In 1990 American Laser Games Issued Mad Dog McCree , FMV quester with plastic guns instead of gamepads. A gang of a frantic dog holds a provincial town in fear. The daughter of the mayor is abducted, where he himself – no one knows, and the sheriff is locked in his own site. The city needs a hero who will restore order.
They become an nameless bustle hunter, whose gun we guide. The whole game (and this is only twenty minutes) he shoots the bandits jumping into the frame, almost like in the arcade mode of Wild Gunman. But with one difference: all heroes are played by real actors, and scenes are recorded on the video (hence the FMV prefix). The player's task is to fade from the laser pistol in time. For gamers of the 90s, the game was nothing more than a realistic interactive movie-which is not Heavy Rain?
A couple of years ago, the developers decided to repeat success and released several reprints. It just turned out the other way around: the HD resolution revealed the low quality of the recording, and to give fifteen bucks for ridiculous characters and the complete lack of reigree is not commeolfo. Better a frantic dog will be remembered as it appeared before the players in the 90s.
A year later, Al Lowe, the creator of the famous seducer Larry Luffer, gave the world Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist -The hilarious story of the pharmacist-school Freddy Farkas. Freddy used to be a cowboy and loved to sip whiskey and shoot with two hands. Exactly until the local villain nicknamed Baby Kenny shot his ear: the uvechye forced Freddie to move away and choose a more peaceful occupation. So he became a pharmacist. But soon the inhabitants of Corshold began to leave the city, and a certain mysterious collector began to buy up their empty houses. The sheriff does not want to take on this, and therefore Freddy decides on his own investigation.
To find out the truth, he studies the surroundings, asks his neighbors and collects everything that lies badly. In between, he releases jokes (El Low himself considers the game the funniest of all that he has ever created) and prepares medicines for his patients-in a word, leisure as in a good quest. It is not surprising that Freddy instantly won the hearts of gamers around the world. And now the game would certainly not have prevented Remaster!
Freddy became a pharmacist by chance. When Al Lowe wanted to make a former cowboy farmer (English. “Farmer”), knowledge of the language failed him. He gave designers something like “Farmer -ist”, which sounds like “Pharmacist”
By the way, the famous ballad about Freddy is performed by El Lowe himself, its creator
And here is the quest 3 Skulls of the Toltecs About the cowboy-lobe of Fenimore Phillmore turned out to be much more secondary. Once the main character found a golden skull, which turned out to be one of the three keys to the legendary Toltec Treasure. Upon learning of this, the adventurer immediately hit the road.
The case took place according to the laws of classic quests in the spirit Monkey Island – with complex riddles, plot turns and colorful characters. Only the jokes were weaker, the tasks, on the contrary, were a little more complicated, and the hero himself is slower. And although the game did not become a masterpiece, the adventure about the bad cowboy liked the fans of the genre, receiving two sequels and one remaster.
The reprint of the third game about Fenimor Fillmore was released twenty years later
I went out in 2000 Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive. Thinking of catching the most dangerous bandit in El Paso, John Cooper decides to collect a squad of friends. But his associates themselves are balanced on the verge of the law, and therefore each of them first needs to be found and rescued from another alteration. However, this is worth it: each of the heroes has a unique set of skills that will definitely not interfere in a battle with a bloodthirsty El Diablo.
The game was largely repeated by military tactics mechanics Commandos. The developers pulled the characters from the Spaniards, their main tricks and even green cones indicating the field of view of enemies. In both game, trying different combinations of characters' talents, we guessed the only correct way to pass the level.
Six years later, the sequel came out, but he did not repeat the success of the original. And all due to the transition to the three-dimensional engine. In the middle of the zero, he brought a lot of trouble: the characters did not obey their scripts, the enemies thoughtlessly fled directly into the ambush, and the third -person view annoyed the incredibly squinting control. There was no trace left from the painted charm of the original.
Changing the name to HELLDORADO , The third part tried to fix the wildest blunders. Indeed, the management has become more obedient, the interface – more understandable, and the heroes have joint abilities, with the help of which it was sometimes possible to arrange a whole performance. The view from a third person still has not gone anywhere, but, fortunately, he remained optional.
Well, just recently Mimimi Studios announced the third part. While it is very similar to the original, but with obvious borrowings from another project of developers, tactical strategy Shadow Tactics.
In Desperados, all the items used need to be selected, otherwise you can’t use them again
Having tied the dynamite to the arrow, Sam and the hawk eye in two scores make a rocket
IN Desperados III Old friends of Cooper will return to the game
Adventure shooter Gun (as well as a year before him Red Dead Revolver) can be safely called the early prototype Red Dead Redemption. Like any spaghetti westerne, the bloody story of Kolton White was full of bright characters, fierce shootings and horse races. Yes, and it was not tired of following history thanks to the excellent voice acting performed by Thomas Jane, Chris Christopherson and Ron Perlman.
It turned out really great, but very little: only you are imbued with the situation, and the plot is already cutting off the quest, imposing a new story. Sideways were also “disposable”, no branched secondary plots. But these disadvantages are striking only now, after the release Red Dead Redemption And Call of Juarez , – For his time, Gun was a real breakthrough.
Strange wild West
Westerns have a curious squeal: Weird Western (English. "Strange Western"). He weaves some fantastic chip into a traditional plot, or even completely turns the setting upside down.
Blood – Just such. Kaleb was an ordinary shirt-party until his lover pulled the poor fellow into the cult of Chernobog. But he is not a god at all, but Satan, who often kills his faithful followers. Caleba is executed for treason, but after twenty years he rebels from the dead and begins to avenge.
He does this inventively and extremely bloody, from time to time experimenting in random passers -by. Blood could boast of a huge arsenal of weapons (from a doll-wood to the gun of Tesla), incredibly evil, “biting” enemies and magnificent voice acting. And this is not to mention endless Easters, from a crawling hand from "Empterian dead" to the worthy Jackie from "Shine" Kubrick.
No doubt, Monolith Productions Created a real masterpiece. Unbearably sorry that the franchise was abandoned.
Blood at that time was a real maniac simulator, which is why the game was banned in several countries
I … live … Again!!!
ODDWORLD Stranger’s Wrath also erected cowboy scenery around the fantastic universe of the series. Nameless head hunter is not like any of the famous creatures. Either because of its " dissimilarity " , whether for other reasons he wants to do mysterious plastic surgery, on which he puts off all his money.
His work is simple: to track down a criminal, catch and deliver to a local sheriff to accomplish justice, alive or dead. Arsenal of the stranger is modest – one crossbow. Ensigning to him also need to be caught – the unit shoots with small forest creatures with various abilities. Spiders, for example, can entangle the enemy with a web, the proteins distract the enemy, and the electric fires, as expected, beat the current. What is the most convenient – two “charges”, and they can be combined by acting on the enemy all new effects.
You can shoot and execute acrobatic somersaults both from the third and from the first person. One turns the game into a platformer with tricks in the spirit of Crash Bandikut, and the other gives the experience of a full -fledged shooter.
… not counting a few monotonous voice acting – the voices of many characters are barely distinguishable from each other – the game came out excellent and so loved by the players that the developers ported the project on the PS3 and Vita, and more recently on tablets.
To restore health, the protagonist claps on his chest and knocks out stuck bullets
And here Red Steel 2 combined cowboys with samurai. The first part of the series was released in 2006 and was designed to demonstrate all the chips WII. Nevertheless, he had nowhere to fuel with whimsot, imagining himself, and the virtual fencing itself came out completely random.
In the sequel this was corrected, at the same time completely changing the world of the game. The new Red Steel was a rattling mixture of western and Japanese films about a ninja, slightly seasoned with technologies of the future. Samurai wear cowboy hats here, and bamboo grows mixed with cacti. Oddly enough, you believe in this universe – before that it came out harmonious.
The plot of the game talks about revenge. Miraculously avoiding death, the protagonist opens the pursuit of his tormentors, who had previously dealt with his combat comrades. And as soon as he finds a certain magical (and incredibly sharp) sword, a massacre begins. Contractions finally began to resemble real duels: now the power of the sink should be counted, and the direction of the blow should be adjusted, monitoring the movements of the enemy. And let the game repeats itself closer to the finale, the story remembered the sequel Red Steel as the very first hardcore action on Wii. And even in a cowboy setting!
In Red Steel 2, you can learn full -fledged combo
Vampire action Darkwatch: Curse of the West Grow up on the engine Halo. Jeriko Cross earns a living by robbing trains. But once he came across a safe, opening which he freed the soul of Lazar, the son of Satan. The demon immediately called a whole crowd of undead in Arizona, and at the same time turned his savior to the vampire. Only the guards of the dark patrol can fix everything, where the main character enters. With all these banners, zombies, skeletons and demons, the game looks Gothic, but still this is the same western, with revolvers and pursuit on horses-what else needs a real cowboy!
Hard West – The last noticeable game of the Weird Western genre. Here, a real devilry was added to the world of the Wild West. At first, this is a very familiar western, with salons and shootings. But with each episode – there are only eight of them – the game opens all new facets of the Universe full of cannibals, Satanists and evil spirits. It is amazing how, with such a good mystical world, the developers filled the game with completely trivial turns of the plot, which hardly leaves some emotions. But getting to know the game is worth it, at least like a curiosity.
Heritage
Series Call of Juarez – one of the most popular projects about the Wild West. The first part came out in 2006 and told the story of two characters: Billy, accused of killing his own father, and his Uncle Ray, a priest with a dark past. Billy acts secretly and with the help of a whip can climb into the most inaccessible hills. But Ray is not averse to “communing” enemies from two revolvers at once, having finally read a couple of lines from the Bible.
Due to the fact that the passage style is constantly changing, the game perfectly conveys the feeling of chase. There is not a second to rest. True, the disadvantages also arise from here: the quest's fixation on the scripts greatly affects the reigree. However, the story itself turned out to be so interesting that the game, like the old Western with Clint Eastwood, can be reviewed over and over again.
Broke Bound in Blood tells about the past of the Monk Ray. The game has again two characters and two completely different passages. In terms of dynamics, it was also not inferior to the original: in five minutes there was more events than in the entire dollar trilogy. But from the point of view, the mechanic and plot was secondary.
In the fourth (let's pretend that The Cartel never was, good?) parts, GUNSLINGER , Hunter of the https://sister-site.org/lord-of-the-spins/ head of Silas Gryvez tells about his past adventures. But the hryvn – an unreliable storyteller. He gets lost and recalls new details on the move. Everything would be fine, only each such detail changes and complicates the passage, or even it can cost a player of life. The game retained the dynamics of the series, and outwardly began to resemble a comic book, recalling the stories of Roland (the main character "Dark Tower" King) from Gilead about his wanderings in Feoda Medjis.
In the first game, the main treasure is the gold of the Aztecs
In Gunslinger, the hero will meet many famous shooters outlawers. The most eminent are Billy Kid, Pat Garrett and Jesse James
And finally, inspired by the shooter of the late 1990s Outlaws , Rockstar I released … no, not Red Dead Redemption. The first cowboy experiment of the studio was Red Dead Revolver. Wild West. The end of the XIX century. A boy named Red kill parents in front. Years later, he decides to find bandits and take revenge. And although at first glance it is a classic story about revenge, it turned out to be so true and rich that you are worried with Red every moment.
And then … we know what happened next. Original Red DEAD REDEMPTION, Rockstar experiment. The game takes place in 1910, at sunset of the era of Indians, cowboys and saloon fights. The plot tells about the thug John Marstona, who has long moved away from business. Having learned about his past connections with the most inveterate state bandits, the authorities take his family hostage and make the poor fellow deal with former colleagues.
For a couple of decades, the history of the video game has collected a decent collection of mental westerns. Even with strict restrictions on the genre and its stamping, projects continue to surprise, and sometimes they open a completely new world. And it doesn’t matter that the fashion for movie westerns is no longer as strong as before.