Gaming reviews

High-performance playtime

Though it’s a prequel to 2001’s Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, Desperados III is really Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun’s

successor. Like Mimimi Games’ last real-time tactical stealth affair, it’s got smart – but not too smart – enemies, intricate maps overflowing with opportunities for cleverly orchestrated murder and, if you fancy it, some mayhem, a quintet of proficient killers and sneaks, and best-in-the-business vision cones. As one of the greatest stealth games of the last decade, the Edo-era romp is a tough act to follow, but its Wild West cousin looks to some other great stealth games for inspiration.

A few missions take place in civil zones where you’re free to explore most of the map without drawing attention to yourself. While out for a stroll, you can listen in on conversations to get clues, helping you identify your targets or find ways to kill them. It’s social stealth very much in the same vein as the Hitman

games, but only the bare essentials. Rather than taking you down an elaborate path, the clues are more like ‘there’s a loose sign hanging above that guy’s head’ and you’ll still spend most of the mission sneaking and killing your way through off-limits areas full of guards.

The combination of plentiful firearms, lots of ammo crates, and the ability to pause the action means you can just drop the pretence of stealth and go in guns blazing if you want to, welcoming the alarms and turning it into more of a tactical shooter. Even if you prefer to be sneaky and creative, it’s reassuring to have the option to shoot your way out of trouble in your back pocket. Guns can become a bit of a crutch, however, letting you brute force your way through some of the game’s puzzles, but ammo is one of several elements that can be tweaked at the start of every mission. If you’re after more of a challenge, you can use these options to turn it into a pure, unforgiving stealth game.

Everything’s bigger than in Shadow Tactics – maps, enemy numbers, combat ranges, explosions. There are more obstacles – so many obstacles – but just as many tools to deal with them. It’s full of astonishingly complex clockwork dioramas – again calling the recent Hitman games to mind – but Desperados III does rely a bit too much on its scale and overwhelming numbers to create its challenges. Early on there’s a mission where you’re defending a small farmhouse from an attack, for instance, but instead of focusing on that one location, it’s spread out across a large area, where you once again have to kill and sneak past an entire army to progress through the level.

Desperados III is bigger, more boisterous and a bit less elegant than Shadow Tactics, but maybe that’s fitting for a game about rough-and-tumble gunslingers and outlaws.

FRASER BROWN

Turns the Wild West into a brilliant tactical playground that will fill you with lead over and over again. ★★★★☆