GDC 10: Lead and Gold is no Team Fortress

Until this afternoon I never had the opportunity to check out Fat Shark’s downloadable shooter Lead and Gold. But I thought I had an idea of what it was: a Team Fortress 2 clone set in the Wild West.

The journo shorthand seems wrong. Lead and Gold doesn’t cash in on the addicting action of Valve’s class-based shooter or otherwise rip ideas. For me, it’s a solid third-person competitive shooter with just a dash of meaningful class-based tactics. Sure, using the four classes in each map has its advantages (for example the Blaster heals others when near) but the core of the game leans on simple and satisfactory shooting — the most important part of any competitive shooter. In short, Lead and Gold feels and looks great. I can’t wait to hit up a full server later this year.