worth playing the first 2?

[Masquerade]

Never played this series before but want this new one, will I need the other 2 to understand the story?

[DugTheDog]

As far as I can tell you don't. The characters are similiar to part 1 and 2 (except for the voodoo girl). But there's no overlapping storyline. In the demo mission I played, John and Doc Mccoy meet for the first time. Perhaps part 3 is the first part chronologically. But i wouldn't worry about it.

[burningmime]

Desperados 1 is pretty classic. Not many games in the genre, and it's probably the best of them (or Commandos 2; I liked Desperados more but I can see arguments either way). You absolutely should play it. But you need DxTory to play on a modern computer without the experience being complete ass.

However, this is a prequel, and seems fairly different in tone (much more serious/gritty, and includes a voodoo practitioner, while the original was roughly historical). Desperados 1 is also quite complex with a lot of abilities, Desperados 3 is much simpler.

[Wormerine]

Desperados3 is a prequel so no prior knowledge required. If you dig the game, the first Desperados is absolutely worth picking up and playing. It's design is less elegant then modern Mimimi's games, and some mechanics aren't as clearly communicated, but it is still very playable. If you are familiar Trilogy of Dollars, this is pretty much one big homage. Though, judging by the demo Desperados3 is just as "subtle" :-D

Desperados2 is pretty garbage, unfortunately, and I hear it has some issues with Windows10.

[Rabid Urko]

The original was a masterpiece in its day.

[Masquerade]

Its pretty cheap so I;ll try the originals out as I loved commandos

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

What about Helldorado? Lol.

[burningmime]

Originally posted by Zak-Del:

What about Helldorado? Lol.

The publisher stopped paying them halfway through Desperados 2 release cycle. So they released Desperadoes 2 unfinished, then released Helldorado with the other half, but couldn't get rights to the Desperadoes name. It's built on the same engine as Desperados 2 with the same characters; it's just the second half of the story. Also less buggy.

I couldn't get into Desperados 2 or Helldorado. They took away a lot of the cool abilties from the original, leaving it very repetitive. And the 3rd person mode was an interesting addition, but was more bad than good.

[LetsGetKrumpin]

Desperados 3 is a prequel set several years before the first game. In fact it features levels where Cooper meets his longtime partners McCoy and Kate for the first time. You can enjoy it without having even heard of the franchise before.