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Publisher:
Sierra
Developer: Rewolf Software
Reviewer: Lefty 2 Guns
Review Date: 11/29/00
When I first heard about Gunman Chronicles I wasn’t jumping
up and down to play the game. The thought of another run
around shooter just didn’t catch my attention. Well, Luckee
called me up and said that I had to check out this new game
that he just got. As I walked into his computer dungeon, I saw
on his screens a great looking game, it was Gunman. He told me
to take a seat and look at the weapons available in the
multi-player mode. After about an hour of fragging each other
I was ready to tackle the single player missions for myself.
The intro
movie begins and shows five drop ships being escorted by one
fighter to investigate a communications breakdown at the
Banzure Prime Science facility (sounds like the movie Aliens).
After landing, the General in charge commands his troops to
take a look around the area and to try and figure out what the
real problem is. As his brave troops are searching the area
enormous aliens’ known later as the Xenome’s attack them.
Instead of watching his men die, the General hops into his
starfighter and starts to blast the beasts eating his men.
After destroying three of the alien monsters the General is
caught in the jaws of one mad Xenome, and watches as his
remaining troops run like ants to the drop ships to make their
escape. As he sees the remaining ships leave the surface he
screams to no avail, "Who gave the order, I’m still
alive!"
It is a very
good intro that I’ve watched many times, and it really makes
you want to get right into the action. But there is one minor
setback. How many of you remember starting Half Life for the
very first time and experiencing the five minute tram ride to
get you into the center? Well Gunman Chronicles has the same
five-minute tram ride that feels like an hour and makes the
enthusiasm to play this game go a little cold. Ok, now that we’ve
gotten the tram ride out of the way we’re ready to play
right, wrong. You have to make your way around a space station
looking for the firing range. While you are doing this they
give you a quick rundown of the controls and how you might get
out of certain situations. They did a very good job
implementing this into the story, but there should be some way
to skip it if you know how everything works. Once you make it
to the firing range they give you an overview of the weapons
you will be using and how to use them. This is very much
needed, seeing that there are four different weapons used
during the game (pistol, shotgun, machine gun, and the
multiple unit launch engine, or m.u.l.e.), and 32 different
variations of these weapons to choose from at your own
discretion. After the firing range is done, you get a lesson
in how to drive the tank that will be used at some point
during the game.
During this
"training session" you find out that it is five
years after the Battle of Banzure Prime. You are Major Archer,
(I wonder if you’re related to Kate Archer from No One Lives
Forever ) the one who gave the order to retreat from that
battle in which the beloved General died. You have been given
new mission orders, to take your men and investigate a
suspicious signal coming from a remote jungle planet. Once you
land on this planet something goes terribly wrong. What you
thought was dead five years ago has come back to get revenge,
and this is when the real fun begins…
This game is
very well done. The story line is fresh and something we haven’t
gotten in a while. It is run on the Half-Life engine and it
doesn’t seem to be making any leaps
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