Desperados : Wanted Dead or Alive is the first strategy game ever to combine a movie-based and-story driven atmosphere of an adventure game with the intellectual challenge of a real time tactic game. Desperados has been developed by German developer Spellbound Entertainment - maybe you tried to play their Airline Tycoon, a weird sim game released last year. So I didn't expect much when I have seen this title first time. Fortunately, Desperados is much better game than quite unsuccessful Airline Tycoon! Main character of the game is John Cooper, a bounty hunter who, together with a motley crew of tobacco-chewing mercenaries, is hired by the Twinning and Co. Railroad Company as protection against the Mexican bandit El Diablo. But upon hearing of El Diablo’s intention to gather together a huge criminal army, Cooper’s gang set off in hot pursuit, only for Diablo to wrongfully accuse Cooper of manslaughter. The accusations stick and Cooper becomes a wanted man, desperate both to prove his innocence and to bring down the murky face of El Diablo’s crime syndicate. I can say Desperados has an excellent story from Wild West, if you liked/remember Freddy Pharkas or Outlaws you will 100% satisfied. Well but now back to the game :) Desperados is similar to Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty, you take control of 6 different characters each with their own unique traits and characteristics. Using these 6 characters you must work your way through 25 different levels chasing down the infamous El Diablo, the outlaw you're after in this story. Desperados features many different atmospheres: day, night, sunset, storm, numerous action scenes: shooting colt and other classic weapons etc, an environmental interactions such as: building crossings, saddling and riding horses, sabotaging installations, retrieving equipment, crawling, climbing, jumping on horses, unlocking doors, hiding, stealth, pushing or destroying obstacles and much more. In addition Desperados includes 25 enemies with different profiles, from the lazy and cowardly Mexican bandit to the fearsome mercenary, through to the unruffled Marshall and his faithful henchmen and 35 more or less harmless civilians and animals, that makes game more various. The graphics in Desperados are very realistic looking, to give the game that typical, nice, western feel. Character models are also well done and aren't grainy or poorly drawn. The terrain graphics and textures were also very realistically done, offering lots of variety while adding greatly to the game's atmosphere. Also during the game you will see over twenty five amazing individual cutscenes between the levels, building the plot and immersing the player in the rich story of John Cooper. The sound of weapon and other sound effects are very realistic, and the voice acting sounds cool. What about gameplay? Surprisingly, although the game is an extremely detailed and hugely atmospheric, the gameplay is quick and efficient. All missions are scripted and initially seem puzzle-based, but this tends to dissipate as more characters join your party, also the combat system is fairly simple to understand and easy to use. Desperados is really very precious game with very addictive gameplay, if you like Wild West & strategy genre, hurry to buy it :) Download English demo (92MB).