Deadman's Hand (PC)

I LOVE Dead Man's Hand, and I think it's been overlooked by a great many people. Now it's out on budget label there really is no excuse not to try it out. Although it's based on the Unreal II engine, you could hardly claim this makes it "ancient", since we've only just finally seen the Unreal III engine in the last few months. Dead Man's Hand is no Half Life 2. But then it never *tries* to be Half Life 2. The AI amounts, usually, to running from side to side shooting at you. So what ?! This doesn't lessen my fun at all. In fact you could even say that this game is an old school shooter. Before you begin each level you are presented with a card game - which I think is poker. Seeing that I've little understanding of card games I just randomly choose my cards and hope for the best. I think you're not meant to go over 21. If you win, you get extra ammo, guns etc. Then it's on to the action. And definitely, the feel of the wild west is all there. Cue lots of "yeeehaaw" noises and "them thar" type accents - there's even some honky tonk piano going on. Now some might say the fact you cannot save mid-level is annoying. Well sometimes it is frustrating when you know you're at the end of a level and you die, and have to start all over again. But to me this makes the game more challenging, and you can then plan out your strategy more tightly, since you'll already know where the ammo and health is going to be. Early on there's a nice level which is all on horseback. You cannot control where the horse goes, which yes means it's 'on rails' in that level, but then who can control a horse properly anyway ?! All in all Dead Man's Hand does exactly what it says on the tin, and is without all these often superfluous extras such as bullet-time. There's no slow-mo option here in the wild west - it's shoot or be shot. Great fun to play - don't miss out.