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Outlaws
LucasArts
1st-Person Action
REQUIREMENTS:
- OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 95 required.
- CPU: Pentium 60 or faster required.
- MEMORY: 16MB RAM required.
- CD-ROM: 2X CD-ROM required. 4X CD-ROM or above recommended.
- GRAPHICS CARD: SVGA graphics card required.
- SOUND CARD: 16-bit sound card required.
- INPUT DEVICE: Keyboard and mouse required. Joystick and DirectInput compatible devices also supported.
- DIRECTX: CD includes necessary Microsoft DirectX drivers.
Quintin Stone
LucasArt's first-person shooter "Outlaws" is a fairly old game at this point, but I really think it deserves a review. Yes, its technology is relatively out-dated: it uses the original Dark Forces engine (as far as I can tell), utilizes predrawn flat sprite as objects, and I've experienced texture problems when playing too long and switching video modes often. But it's not the technology that makes this game a great experience, it's the way it plays.
Outlaws is a classic spaghetti western adapted for the computer. You play an ex-lawman whose wife was murdered and daughter kidnapped. You only goal is to retrieve your daughter and punish those responsible. Simple enough.
You have at your disposal the weapons of the western frontier: single-action revolver, lever-action rifle, three types of shotgun, knives, dynamite, and a gatling gun. Although, as a gun enthusiast, I saw some inconsistencies (like the single-action revolver being able to shoot without manually cocking the hammer, or the rifle being called a .44 but its cartridges looking an awful lot like .30-30's), the realistic manner in which the weapons worked more than made up for it. Not only do you have a limited amount of ammo, but your weapon only holds a few shots! So you must continuously reload by hand. Yes, the revolver holds only 6 rounds. The rifle, 12. The single-barrel shotgun holds 1 and the two double-barrel shotguns hold two shots each.
In addition, there are multiple ways to fire most weapons. The revolver can be fired slowly, or rapidly by fanning the hammer (the downside is that you may fire more bullets than you meant to). The rifle can utilize a scope that makes long-distance sniping even more deadly. The double-barrel shotguns can fire one barrel at a time or both at once. This realism is what really sold me on this game.
There are a few other downsides to Outlaws. The engine used has trouble presenting a true three-dimensional view point. Try staring up along a cliff... the perspective is skewed, disorienting, and doesn't pan up a full 90°. There's also a problem when trying to shoot at targets that differ from you in elevation. When shooting at someone sharply below you, you're required to aim lower, like at their feet, to even hit them. The opposite is true for higher targets -- you have to aim at their head or higher.
The "Marshal" levels allow you to hunt down a variety of dangerous criminals separate from the campaing mode. Unfortunately, you start out with default equipment of the pistol and rifle on every level. This gets rather annoying.
Even though every enemy is armed, not all of them drop weapons when killed. This has always been a personal pet peeve of mine. Most contemporary games don't have this problem: if someone has a weapon and you kill them, you can take it. But in the old days of computing, it was rather common, though illogical, to have an enemy's weapon disappear when they died. That sort of thing happens a lot in Outlaws, and it's one of my biggest dislikes of the game.
When I played for long periods, switching video modes (the load and save screens are non-3D video modes, apparently), sometimes caused problems. At first, a couple of textures/sprites (like my ammo display at the bottom left corner) would appear as solid white blocks. After the next video mode switch, more sprites, like enemies or powerups, might also turn into solid white rectangles. Eventually, every sprite, including your weapon and crosshairs, might turn into a white block. Fortunately, exiting the program and running it again cures the problem completely.
I desperately want to play some Outlaw deathmatch with 6 or more players, just to immerse myself in a classic western shoot-em-up. This game is just real (at least, compared to other first-person shooters). And it's fun. Old, maybe, but fast, especially since it works with my Voodoo card. If you can find this game somewhere for $15 (which is what I paid), I highly recommend you pick it up.
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