Taking it out to the OK Corral with Lead and Gold

I never wanted to be the rootinest, tootinest cowboy while growing up. I never wanted to be in the old West, and I never wanted to be involved at all with a hot dusty dry miserable people doing hot dusty dry miserable things. Excuse me if I find 19th century American Imperialism, the destruction of native peoples, and the mass disregards for environmental and socio-political needs of the masses to be crass and callow, a cultural celebration of American moral degradation.

And then I played Lead and Gold, realized the Old West was just people shooting each other in the face over money bags of gold, and I changed my opinion entirely. The Old West is kick ass.

Thanks Lead and Gold! Hit the jump for my impressions on being a filthy gunslinger and a whole lot more.

Lead and Gold (PSN, XBLA, PC)
Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
To be released: Q1 2010

Lead and Gold, as I’m sure you are interested in finding out, is a team-based multiplayer third person shooter from Swedish development team Fatshark. Much like Battlefield 1943, this PSN, XBLA, and PC based third-person shooter is on the higher end of downloadable titles. Designed to force players to use their classes to the best advantage for the group, it’s easy to see Lead and Gold as a conglomeration of many different innovations for multiplayer shooters over the years.

Special to Lead and Gold are four new battle types, all rebranded around a Western Aesthetic. Going up to ten players at five versus five, and six levels across four modes, there is actually a lot of flexibility of play. Modewise, we’ve got Conquest, which is a control point mode, where people fight over specific points in a specific order, and Greed, in which players work as a team to snag bags of gold from a safe as the other team works likewise.

There is also Powder Keg, in which one team must defend structures against the other team as they try to bomb them with kegs, and finally, Robbers, which is a mode much like Greed and Powder Keg. One team is defensive from the others, who work to steal gold from their enemies.

Having played all of these modes, I can say they are pretty fun. Nothing here is outrageously unique, but they are solid and capable. The levels are pretty smartly designed, with lots of hiding areas perfect for jumping out for a kill, or for sniping an enemy from across the level. One specially neat feature from Lead and Gold is this flag that can be picked up. When someone has it and is still alive, downed teammates will spawn from that point, as opposed to being across the map. Makes for some neat tactical options.

Also for multiplayer, Fatshark was kind enough to toss in an experience point system. While you will not be unlocking new items to shoot with, you will be unlocking stuff like better critical shots. It doesn’t seem to be the deepest experience system in a shooter, but it’s nice to see it included.

One really odd element of the game is the healing system. Instead of having a dedicated healing class, anytime you are near a teammate, you both will automatically heal each other. It makes every player a Medic/Heavy combo, which makes sense, I suppose. It really builds on the synergy system in game. When, for example, a player is literally next to a Trapper class, they will receive critical hit boosts. Being by a teammate Blaster gives you increased damage resistance. It’s all about working with your teammates to create the best combinations.

Graphically, Lead and Gold is a very bright and colorful game, however nothing enters the realm of over-saturation. With gold mines, trading outposts, streams and rivers, farms and a plethora of wooden structures, there’s is a very solid variety to the six levels, who are all named according to Western tropes, like Sinner’s Gulch. As opposed to offering broad horizontal stages, many of the levels in Lead and Gold tend to rise upward and downward. There is a lot of noticeable verticality in this game, a positive change of pace. I’m honestly very impressed with the whole deal, for it is obvious that Fatshark hopes to make this one very good looking game, especially for a downloadable title.

There are four playable characters in the Lead and Gold, each one playing slightly different. Arguably, it’s like Team Fortress lite, with fewer classes. It rounds out with four character classes, each fulfilling a different role. I was partial to the Blaster, a burly bearded dude who rocks the shotgun and pistol, and who also can throw sticks of dynamite. He was fantastic for dealing with opponents trying to take a debated control point in Conquest, for example.

Also included was a Trapper, a sexy lady decked out in a raccoon hat who acts as a sniper, as well as being able to lay bear traps for opponents. The Gunslinger is an interesting class, as he really only holds one weapon, a Colt revolver. However, he’s fast, and his special ability is to blast through a round of shots faster than any other character class in the game. And then there’s the Deputy, who is much more middle of the road when it comes to his weapon options (revolver and rifle), and a special ability that tags enemies, and makes them much easier for teammates to find the enemy and plan attacks.

DLC was discussed, and while there is no plans to make confirmations on what they hope to release, do not rule out new levels, gameplay modes, or even new character types.

One of the most interesting elements of the game is that this is a Western developed by a Swedish studio. I asked them about this, as how do they coordinate the quintessentially American Western with a Swedish game development team. I got an interesting answer “We all hove our own views of the Wild West”.

Even more, the team did no site-based research. Everything they did was based on films and shows that they watched. A really positive result of this artificial analysis of the Western itself is that Lead and Gold is just as you would imagine a Western to play. There’s none of that reality getting in a way of how you would imagine a Western to play out.

I’m actually pretty damn impressed with Lead and Gold. Far from some slap-dash downloadable game, it looks to be an incredibly deep and rewarding multiplayer games. Fans of third-person shooters should definitely take notice, and the unique Western theme helps it stand out. Keep an eye out for it when it releases in Q1 next year.