Dead Man's Hand

You step out into the dusty streets of a town long forgotten while the spurs on your boots jingle as if to announce your presence.  From all directions, bandits begin to rush for cover, their guns gleaming in the unmerciful sun.  Suddenly one bandit steps out before you, forcing you to lift your six shooter in a duel that could only mean that one of you would end up in a pine box.  Atari’s first-person shooter is set in the days when the west was wild and gunslingers, well, did what they do best.   So is Dead Man’s Hand more Pale Rider (good) or more Paint Your Wagon (bad)?  Pull up a chair, gunfighter, and let me pour you a drink while you read on.

The title of the game is a reference to legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok that was killed holding a pair of eights and aces or, as it's known now when you’re dealt this bad hand of cards, the Dead Man’s Hand.  As fate would have it, a bad hand is dealt to El Tejon, an outlaw that decided to steer clear of the band of killers he joined up with that call themselves The Nine.  In an effort to leave this wild bunch, he is gunned down by the group’s leader and left to rot in a Mexican prison until an uprising against the corrupt Mexican General allows El Tejon to break free from prison.  Now, this young gunslinger is out for revenge and its up to you to see that he makes each member of The Nine pay for what they did with their blood.

You’ll be quickly introduced to the collection of traditional western firearms of that era and, for those fans of first-person shooters that are use to advanced weaponry, picking up a peacemaker or Lewis revolving rifle satisfyingly feels right at home.  Sure you’ll be reloading far more quickly than usual, but its a small price to pay for performing neat gun tricks such as fanning the hammer of your peacemaker to send out rain of bullets on your enemies.  You’ll have a choice to choose your weapons at the beginning of each level but you initially start with the basics (a handgun, a rifle with a scope, a shotgun, a knife and a bundle of dynamite that replaces the grenade).  Interestingly enough, before you enter a level you’re treated to a quick game of poker where you can win things such as extra ammo.

The game’s many levels places you on a map that takes you into different locales such as a ghost town or a mineshaft and everything about the locations feel authentic to the Wild West.  In fact, you even get to ride a horse and shoot it out on horseback. Yet this is where the positive features (the authentic locales and firearms) end. El Tejon isn’t the smoothest of characters to move around.  In fact, he’s pretty sluggish when it comes to turning, ducking or moving in a crouched position.  While this may seem like a major annoyance, the worst part is that occasional his aim becomes astonishingly confusing.  At one point I focused the crosshair of my rifle at a bandit’s head and when I fired the shot hit the explosive barrel not far from him instead. 

Yet all of this is a small gripe compared to the disappointment that is the enemy AI.  You’ll go up against a light scattering of enemies throughout each level and the majority of them end up doing some pretty unintelligent things such as conveniently placing themselves right next to an explosive barrel.  Since the bad guys are not at all very bright, this gives you the opportunity to win big points for doing things like performing instant kills or shooting their hats off their heads.  You’ll find plenty of opportunities to shoot enemies off buildings or get points for crush kills (e.g. shooting the rope that hangs a crate and watch it crush the bad guy underneath it).  Shooting things like windows, lanterns and swinging signs also makes points.  Thanks to the Power Meter, you can double your points by performing chain shots, that is shooting and hitting breakable items without loosing the flow.  The points allow you to unlock better and more powerful weapons for you to use in the next levels.

Another problem is that the game feels like it lacks a variety of opponents to take on in each level.  There are many times that the flow of the game is interrupted by emptiness and that you don’t really feel any real sense of danger.  There are no hidden snipers you have to seek out or the challenge of taking on five bandits at a time.  The boss fights also feel rushed, as if killing members of The Nine is necessary for the sake of the story but really not that important.  Thankfully the game does include an Xbox Live multiplayer mode.  Up to eight players can take each another on in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Bounty and Posse.  Bounty has one player going up against a group of other players while Posse, the more original multiplayer game mode, has you teaming up with a group of gamers to take on a number of computer-controlled bots.

Unfortunately, Dead Man’s Hand is not a very good-looking game.  The environments, while wonderfully accurate, certainly lacks the level of detail that would have immersed gamers into that particular time period.  There are certain areas that are somewhat impressive, but the lack of visual detail makes things look rather, well, empty.  The character design also doesn’t help things either since they move around unrealistically.  The “rag doll” effect is used often in the game and it looks pretty good, but watching the bodies almost instantly vanish the second they hit the ground takes away from the fun of watching the bodies go limp in the first place.

At least the game’s score is rich with newly revamped spaghetti western-styled tunes that feel like they belong in a Robert Rodriguez action flick like Desperado or Once Upon A Time In Mexico.  The lone acoustic guitar has a wonderfully Spanish feel to it and it works wonderfully with the game’s theme.  Unfortunately, the voice acting isn’t as good as the music.  You’ll find plenty of the game’s main characters voiced stereotypically and much of the spoken dialogue during cut scenes seem forced.  Yet its nothing compared to the various repetitive phrases you’ll hear during the game.  Much of what you’ll hear from your enemies is unintentionally funny.  Now we don’t mind funny, as long as its not done to death like it is in this game. 

Sorry, gunslingers, but Dead Man’s Hand is far too flawed a game to be the addictive action-western game we all hoped it would be but there’s still some fun to be had here so don’t ignore it completely.  For those gamers that are able to overlook things like erratic enemy behavior and near empty levels, this might just keep you somewhat entertained.  And, while not as good as it could have been, the online mode does offer some pretty fun multiplayer game modes.   

Gameplay: 6.0
At last, our chance to be a gunslinger who pushes lead with the best of them . . . yet why does El Tejon move so sluggishly?  The game uses the Unreal engine but there’s something not quite steady about his movements or the fact that the hero often confusingly hits targets we weren’t even aiming at in the first place.  The game also feels unfinished thanks, in part, to the levels that feel barren and devoid of any real challenge when it comes to taking on multiple enemies.

Graphics: 6.5
Dead Man’s Hand is also not a very good-looking game, although there are a few attractive areas in the environments scattered throughout the game.  Canyons look desolate and vultures circle overhead as if hinting at the deaths that will occur any minute now.  Yet there are also some pretty plain locales and weak character models.  Worst yet is the fact that bodies seem to disappear before they really hit the ground, taking the joy out of the neat “rag doll” physics seen in games like Hitman 2: Silent Assassin or Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Sound: 6.0
It’s hard not to enjoy the modern western theme music of today’s Robert Rodriguez action films and its wonderfully Spanish influence does a good job of immersing you into its Tex-Mex style.  The voice acting, on the other hand, is unintentionally funny and not in a good way.  Southern gents (like myself) don’t really sound like the Looney Tune’s Foghorn Leghorn (“I say, I say, put that away, son!”) and Native Americans such as the character Flat Iron don’t often say things like “Many moons have passed since we cross ’um paths.”  Yet the most unforgivable part about the sound is that you can’t distinguish where shots come from the majority of the time.

Difficulty: Medium
It's good to see a game that offers the opportunity to change the difficulty level at the start of every level, this way you can raise the difficulty level if you feel you’re comfortable with it or lower it if it's too hard.  Still, this game isn’t incredibly difficult.  Sure you’ll die once or twice in each level, but there’s nothing here that is extraordinarily challenging.

Concept: 6.5
Dead Man’s Hand has all the makings of a really good first-person shooter with it’s Old West era firearms and a level that allows you to shoot bad guys off their horses while you ride your own mustang.  The game also cleverly gives you the opportunity to earn bonuses before each level by way of a nice game or two of saloon poker.  The novelty of all these things wears off pretty quickly though.

Multiplayer: 7.2
The good news is that the game does offer a few multiplayer modes for the Xbox Live and they’re certainly far more entertaining than the single player mode . . . but not by very much.  Here, though, you’ll be able to get into a no-holds-barred deathmatch against up to eight other players so at least you’ll have challenging opponents to go up against.  Still, the best (and original) online multiplayer mode you’ll find here is Posse mode that will have you forming a posse with fellow gamers and go up against computer-controlled bots that grow increasingly more difficult to dispatch as you go on. 

Overall: 6.8
You’d think that a first-person shooter set in the wild west would make for a blood-and-bullets good time but Dead Man’s Hand just doesn’t quite live up to its gun-slinging reputation.  That’s not to say that this game doesn’t have a few good qualities, but they’re dampened by barren level design and poor enemy AI.  Still, its online multiplayer mode has a few good tricks up its sleeve so this is definitely one of those weekend rental games.