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Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West

Two elements bearing atomic numbers 82 and 79 respectively. Combine them and you come up with an exciting new western shooter from the folks at Fatshark.

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This is not your run of the mill video game preview for a couple of reasons. First of all, Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is not your typical boxed AAA release, instead its a downloadable team based third person shooter with graphics close to the level you would expect from a retail release. Secondly, I did not see this game in a typical 20-30 minute presentation, nor did I test it with a developer sitting next me, feeding me useful hints. Instead I took part in a close focus group test of the game last fall, and I've held on to my impressions until now for sake of non disclosure. Since then I have revisited the studio, and talked some more with the developers. So needless to say, I have more ammunition than what is usually the case when a game is previewed.

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is from a distance similar to Battlefield 1943. It will be released on the same platforms, includes a similar amount of game modes, classes and maps and is team based. However, there are some major difference that have to do with the theme and setting, and Lead and Gold also brings some new ideas that haven't been explored in this kind of game before.

There are four classes derived from the archetypes of the old west. The gunslinger, your typical gun happy, revolver man, great at close to mid range and with a special ability called "fanning" that allows him to shoot bullets at an even faster pace. He has no back up weapon, but is easy to pick up for the beginner. The blaster is you tank like shotgun carrying character, whose special ability is his dynamite (old school grenade). The deputy has a rifle ideal for mid range combat, and is something of a leader on the battlefield as he can tag enemies marking them for team mates. The final class is the trapper, equipped with a sniper rifle and traps she is your long distance class. Her bear traps will freeze the enemy for a few seconds making it easy for her to line up that lethal shot.

This could have been all, and that would have been quite a lot as the special abilities make for more variation than most multiplayer games. However, there are a few more things of note. First of all how the health system works. When you are close to a team mate you are going to heal each other. This promotes sticking together as a team. But each class also has a synergy effect that helps nearby team mates. A nearby trapper will increase your chance of a critical hit, a nearby blaster will allow you to resist damage better, the deputy will increase the damage you inflict, while a gunslinger will increase your accuracy. Playing as a team has more benefits than the obvious tactical ones.

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When I played the game the gunslinger quickly became a favourite. My team was fairly disorganised and as such the short range class proved effective. Some maps favoured the long ranged trapper more, but as the point of the focus group testing was to allow us to explore the game without guidance it was easy to ignore a more tactical choice such as the deputy.

The first game mode we played was Conquest, similar to the mode in Battlefield with the same name, the objective was to control a number of points on the Prairie map. The open layout of the map paired with the obvious choke points had me going for a trapper as I picked off a few opponents from a distance. However, you are never quite safe as a sniper and most of the action takes place in close quarters. A fun incident happened when I gunned an opponent and he was bleeding out, he shot me and we were both bleeding out next to each other. I was searching for the melee button, but there is none (when you are close enough to an opponent, pulling the trigger will automatically result in a melee attack) and by accident I pressed the context sensitive A-button to commit suicide.

Committing suicide to respawn is a tactical decision you can make. If there are no near by team mates to revive you or if you're in a position where the risk for your team mate is greater than the reward of saving you, then its better to blow your brains out and wait to respawn.

Conquest is probably the most traditional game mode you will find in Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West, and far from the most exciting one. Next up, was Greed. Two teams in a western town started in a camp each with a sack of gold spawning at intervals in the town centre. Work as a team to get the sack of gold, protect whoever is carrying it, and return it to your base. Rinse and repeat. The formula makes for extremely intense shoot outs in the central area of the map and requires the team to stick together. As soon as our opponents started to spread out it spelled their doom.

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Next up was Powder Keg. The premise is that there is one attacking and one defending team. The objective of the attacking team is to carry two powder kegs to specific points and blow them up. Simple enough, but you cannot run or use your gun while you carry it so your team mates have to protect you. To complicate matters further the other team can shoot at the powder keg in order to blow it up while you carry it. There are several deposits of powder kegs spread out over the map. The first session when my team was attacking became a complete disaster. Our spawn point was camped out, and we died almost as soon as we respawned. I also managed to get blown up while carrying the keg.

Oh well, it turned out that a friend of mine on the other team was a blaster sitting beneath the balcony of our spawn point. As we jumped down he took us out. Pair that with a couple of trappers sniping at us while we were still inside the house and the end result is a lot of profanity. Since then specifics of the spawning has been tweaked. You can now choose to spawn either at the spawn point or at the flag (one team member carries a spawn flag) and you are invulnerable for a short time after you spawn. Powder keg is a game mode that will take some time getting used to. But once mastered it offers a great deal of finesse. Throwing the keg ahead and shooting at it to take out enemies, defending and sniping at the powder keg. But most of all playing as a team in order to attack one point or defend two makes for an interesting and dynamic game mode.

The final game mode I played was set in the mine and called Robbery. The attacking team enters the mine by blowing up the entrance and they have to collect three bags of gold and carry it back to their base. The defending team needs to defend said gold. The mining tunnels make for interesting choke points and there are also mounted guns to help keep things exciting. At times it is easy to forget about the objective and just indulge in the frantic shoot out.

There is another level to the whole experience an experience points system that is reset at the start of each round. You gain levels by doing anything that benefits your team, healing a team mate, boosting them with synergies, using your special abilities and taking out opponents. When you gain a level the effectiveness of your synergy boost increases.

There is a distinct arcade feel to the action, and the developer themselves said it was a very conscious choice to choose the Western era for its inaccurate weapons. It means the action will mostly be played out at close range. It's up close and personal, and it may not be everyone's cup of tea. From the short time I played I'm not fully convinced about the design of some of the maps, and if they will offer enough variation in the long run, but that is something that remains to be seen.

I had a lot of fun during a couple of hours with Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West. It is easy to pick up, but offers surprising depth. The graphics are better than what you would normally expect from a title on Playstation Network or Xbox Live Arcade (the game will also be released on PC), perhaps not surprising since it uses the Diesel Engine (Bionic Commando). Fatshark was in fact partially owned by now bankrupt Bionic Commando developers Grin, but they managed to pull through when Grin went under and soon their first game will hit Steam, Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild WestLead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West

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