Desperados (game series)
| Desperados | |
|---|---|
| developer |
Spellbound Entertainment Mimimi Productions |
| Publisher |
Infogrames Atari SA dtp entertainment THQ Nordic |
| Designer | Armin Gessert |
| First title | Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive (2001) |
| Last title | Desperados III (2020) |
| Platform (s) | Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
| Genre (s) | Real-time tactics |
Desperados is a Western- themed computer game series from the real-time strategy genre . It was originally developed by the German developer Spellbound and initially published via Infogrames / Atari . The first installment in the series was released in 2001 as Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive . Due to disagreements between Spellbound and Atari, a planned add-on for Desperados 2 appeared as an independent game under the title Helldorado . The trademark rights to Desparados have been owned by the publisher THQ Nordic since 2013, and Helldorado has also been with the publisher THQ Nordic since 2017 .
Gameplay
The gameplay is based heavily on that of the Commandos series, but does not act like it did in World War II , but in the Wild West . In Desperados the player controls five other characters in addition to the main character John Cooper, all of which have special skills and tools. Usually the player can only pass a level by combining these skills ; Trigger-happy behavior, on the other hand, rarely helps the player.
Trademark rights
The series was created in cooperation between the Spellbound development studio and the French-American publisher Atari . After the publication of Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge in 2006 and the end of the partnership between developer and publisher, the naming rights remained with Atari. Spellbound published the planned add-on Desperados 2: Conspiracy in 2007 under the title Helldorado as an independently executable game with a new sales partner. On June 25, 2013 it was announced that Nordic Games had acquired the trademark rights to Desperados and Desperados 2 from the now insolvent publisher Atari. This transfer of trademark rights did not include the rights to Helldorado as these were not owned by Atari. THQ Nordic finally acquired the rights to Helldorado by taking over the Spellbound successor studio Black Forest Games in August 2017.
Single track
Wanted Dead or Alive
Desperados - Wanted: Dead or Alive includes 25 levels of varying difficulty with increasing difficulty. The game stands out above all because of the atmospherically well-implemented western scenario and the very good AI of the opponents. These differ in reaction, aggressiveness, courage and more.
Cooper's Revenge
Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge is the official sequel to Wanted: Dead or Alive , after two playfully similar games by Spellbound appeared in 1930, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood and Chicago .
Cooper's brother Ross, a US marshal , is tortured to death by the men of a gang boss known only as "Angel Face". Following the few traces of his brother, Cooper gradually discovers that Ross has come across a perfidious plan by which the unscrupulous railroad entrepreneur Lester Lloyd Goodman is trying to unlawfully appropriate Indian land. But Goodman seems to be on the ball, and he also has important allies in a gang of corrupt US cavalry soldiers . But it wasn't until the friends were joined by a new ally, Chief Hawkeye's son, that the tide slowly began to turn in their favor ...
The game principle was largely retained. The most striking innovation is the change in the game engine : Instead of using a 2D in-house development, as in the first part, a 3D engine, the "Vision Engine" from Trinigy , is used, which also allows ego views. Another change affects the characters: Mia Yung is no longer part of Cooper's Revenge , the Indian "Hawkeye" takes her place instead .
Helldorado
Helldorado was originally planned as an add-on for Cooper's Revenge entitled Desperados 2: Conspiracy , but was released as a standalone game via dtp entertainment due to disagreements between Spellbound and Atari .
This game is a direct sequel to Desperados 2 : Doc McCoy is kidnapped by Mrs. Goodman, the widow of the main opponent in the previous game, and is injected with a creeping poison. In order to save McCoy's life, Cooper and his companions are supposed to do some "minor" jobs like stealing a train full of army weapons and stealing large sums of money. But as it turns out later, they are all just farmers in the game of the Mexican revolutionary El Cortador who plans to assassinate the President of the United States .
Desperados III
At Gamescom 2018 , THQ Nordic, formerly Nordic Games, announced a new part called Desperados III . The sequel was developed by Mimimi Productions and was released on June 16, 2020 for Microsoft Windows , Xbox One and PlayStation 4 .
Web links
- Desperados series at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andre Linken: Nordic Games - Publisher secures the rights to Desperados and Silver ( English ) In: GameStar . IDG . June 25, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Samit Sarkar: Nordic Games acquires rights to Atari's Desperados and Silver on Polygon .com, accessed on August 21, 2018
- ↑ THQ Nordic buys Black Forest Games - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . August 21, 2017 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed on August 23, 2018]).
- ↑ Petra Schmitz: Desperados announced - New game by the Shadow Tactics makers in GameStar , accessed on August 21, 2018