Before I write this, it is worth knowing that this game was supposed to be of much higher quality. Atari's inability to pay Spellbound (the developers) for 6 months meant staff had to be put off and this (basically) unfinished game was the result of that. This review nevertheless is about the steam product.

Edit: Another warning is that there are some bugs with certain graphics cards. Apparently there existed (functional) view cones and although this is a minor point, it may make the game a bit more digestible.

This game is alright, but if you're buying it in anything other than a bundle, I would advise against it.

Pros:

+ Art direction is pretty good - setting is handled very well, at least for the opening few missions.

+ Shootouts are kind of fun - in a brain dead, "spam mouse 1" sort of way.

+ Realism has improved - you can't throw a rock, then shoot 2 guys and carry both of their bodies at the same time all within a few seconds.

Cons:

- Stealth... - Just awful. Rinse and repeat of using Kate to distract them, lure them around a corner where one of your other guys will knock them out. You can apparently walk 3 feet in front of guards without them noticing you. You will spend most of this game running around with one character and their gun on a rampage while the other lads stay put in a well hidden spot.

- Storyline is confusing - A major character dies in the beginning but no-one around him
sounds remotely upset, leading me to believe that this character was alive. It was only until I saw the gravestone at the end that I realised, in fact, they weren't. The premise is that you're supposed to track down the killers but... Why are we helping random settlers or breaking into a prison to rescue a guy that we don't even know ? There's a tenuous link between the mission stories - even if you can understand the weird grainy story cards they use to tell them.

- Voice acting is awful - They replaced all the characters with a random bunch of people who just sound weird.

- AI is braindead. They don't care about dead bodies and just run directly into an alleyway where you revolver ambush half the enemies on the map.

- A few bugs - Not game crippling but rather annoying. If you shoot someone in the wrong place they can go flying across the map. If someone dies in a doorway, good luck trying to move them.

- Gameplay is clunky and slow - You can't synchronise multiple characters well because they take their sweet time to do whatever you ask them to do. For whatever reason, you can only take-down guards by sprinting at them when in close range... Why?

- Gametime is padded - There are only around 6 maps but they pad the game-time by having sub 'missions' within these maps that respawn all the enemies,often several times. Additionally, there are a huge number of enemies anyway which makes stealth a chore, though this is unavoidable in a few 'remain undetected' missions (also very buggy). You can see this took me more than 30 hours to complete when it should have really taken less than 10 for the amount of content in the game.

- Music is inappropriate and repetitive - There are only around 4 tracks, 2 for undetected and 2 for detected. The problem is that in a tense mission to save someone's life, the music that plays here is the same as when you're having fun at the carnival with John and Kate's date. Sometimes the tracks are bugged and play at random times too.

It was a frustrating experience that had a few decent and enjoyable moments, but they too were soon marred by glaring problems that unfortunately the developers weren't able to fix before the release.

Guess we all know that transferring a 2D game intro 3D may result in a complete disaster. Sure, it may put the series on the whole new level of epicness (like it did with Nintendo's titles from Nintendo 64 era), but still, there are always games like Bubsy 3D, Earthworm Jim 3D, Castlevania 64 and many, many others to ruin both your day and your mental health. Let's just admit it, if you weren't born yesterday, something like that happened to you at least once. You love a 2D game series with all of your heart, then boom! 3D title comes out and it turns out to be the same exact thing with what Johnny Depp found in his bed – a bunch of stinky doo-doo. Happened with the very best of them, really. Happened with Contra, happened with Altered Beast, happened with Golden Axe, happened with Final Fight... Even the third installment of the original Prince of Persia series sucked pretty hard. So... yeah. You know where this is going. What we have here is failed 3D transfer.

See, the original Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive was awesome. Up to this day I consider it to be the very best Commandos-like game ever made. It took everything that was good about Commandos and improved it. It was way more balanced than Commandos, the characters were very likeable, while tactical freedom? It was a pure joy. The tools, the maps... Awesome, awesome stuff. Can talk about the first Desperados for days and can't even count the times I've finished it. In other words, the game was absolutely brilliant and if you haven't played it yet, you should totally do so. Especially since Steam offers the updated version of it now that works perfectly fine on modern systems and even offers higher resolution. Naturally, it was hard not to expect quite a lot from the sequel. It was clear that Spellbound Entertainment loved PYRO Studios' games and that they knew what they were doing. The problem was... they actually didn't.

That's it. They didn't really know what they were doing. Even though Jean‑Marc Haessig was still there as a creative director, the rest of the team was new (partially because quite a lot of people were fired after Chicago 1930, another Commandos clone from Spellbound failed to sell) and, well, it shows. Because... let's just say that the guys... ended up being a bit too ambitious here. Even though Plastic Reality already proved with their KOREA: Forgotten Conflict that turning Commandos into 3D can be extremely challenging , Spellbound decided that something as basic as that is not enough for them. With big publisher like ATARI behind them, they felt like they can move the mountains. They looked at Dungeon Keeper with its option to control any creature from the first person view and thought “Dang! We want that in our game!” So... yeah. Not only Desperados 2 turned the old formula into full 3D, it also offered a third-person view mode, which was supposed to feel a lot like third-person action game. Note that I said “supposed to”. Because, as you can easily guess, nothing went right here. Literally. Nothing.

The only thing about Desperados 2 you should really know is that it feels extremely cheap and overall unfinished. Remember all those cheap tactical games made by small and poor teams? Stuff like Paradise Cracked, Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge and so on? That's pretty much what we have here. In other words, Desperados 2 is not much better than KOREA. Just because it comes with the same exact cheap aftertaste that ruins most of the fun. And guess what? There's more. First – the game became way more action-oriented. Remember how the original Desperados fixed Commandos' biggest issue by making the guns overheat? By how it tried to make you think instead of shooting? Well, you can forget that. Desperados 2 actually forces action on you quite often. Very cheap action too, both in RTS and third-person mode (anyone remembers Virtuoso? That's pretty much how third-person mode here feels).

Heck, the game can't even explain your goals properly. Most of the time, it just wastes your time describing the current story events without providing you with the proper goals. So, good luck guessing. Even the story this time feels painfully cheap and ugly. I won't bother asking why good ol' Sanchez looks like Ukrainian Cossack in this game, but seriously, the entire charm of the original Desperados disappeared. Desperados 2 looks cheap, feels cheap and, well, it is cheap. It also ends with the cliffhanger. Because why freakin' not, right? But I'll return to cliffhanger a bit later.

I can't say that this game is completely unplayable, though. If you've played second-rate games before and desperately need something like this, you may as well finish this one once. I've sure played worse than this. Like... a lot worse. But still, I can only say that what PYRO did in their Commandos 2 was way more smarter than this. The guys knew their limits and didn't want to risk it with a full 3D. Spellbound were way more ambitious. And paid the price. With way bigger budget and way more time, Desperados 2 had all chances to become something brilliant. The problem was – there was no bigger budget, there was no time and, well, let's just admit it, the new team didn't even feel the Commandos' soul. They just tried to make bigger and more impressive Desperados. In 3D. And failed. Hard.

Up to the point when, after seeing the result, ATARI quickly pulled the plug on the expansion. Yes, that cliffhanger here wasn't for nothing and Spellbound did plan the expansion. Since very beginning. Only after seeing Desperados 2, ATARI didn't want it anymore. Eventually, Spellbound were able to release it in a form of a stand-alone game called Helldorado, but that's the story for another day. And so is the question who in the right mind asked the guys to work on fourth GOTHIC game. And as for today, I just want you to know that Desperados 2 is just a bunch of failed ideas and broken dreams. Cheap, unpleasant and overall ugly, it is not the game you're looking for. Dixi.

Could have been a good game, but the developers must have misunderstood what people liked about the original. The focus is all wrong, the characters look and sound wrong and the experience is just wrong. Stick to the original and you will be better off

I don't understand all the bad reviews this game has received, it was by far THE best western game I've ever played and I've gone back to play over and over again..It's a bit dated now but still a good game to play...The storyline was pretty good and so were the game mechanics, I especially liked the stealth parts..If you take the time to understand all of the features of each character then there is NO way this is a hard game..Easy peasy and I've owned it since it first came out and even still have the Disc and box..Buy it if you like westerns and stealth and a little challenge. :)

+ The only thing positive from this game is it has a nice music, I love the music in this game.

- This game was full of major bugs that can ruin the whole gameplay experience.
- My favorite character Pablo Sanchez was nerfed. He no longer could carry 2 person at the same time like in the previous game Desperados Wanted Dead or Alive.
- Developers really hate Kate O'Hara. They give Kate the weakest gun in this game.
- Using the same shooting mechanics in both mode (isometric and third person view).
The reason why it's bad because in the third person view where you can aim your shot, there's no difference between shooting the head and the body.
And in the easiest difficulty, Kate O'Hara still needs 2 headshots to kill an enemy with her gun o_O
- When highlight the enemies, we can't see enemies behind a wall or inside the house.
- John Cooper's running like a sexy girl.
- Doc McCoy likes to growling like a dog.

Only for gamers who doesn't want to have a gap between the first and the third installment (like me). This game lacks of an interesting campaign, bugfree gameplay and demanding missions. After the first game this feels like a undone project, alas a downgrade in every aspects.

big piece of doo doo

edit: play the first, skip the second, continue with the third and you will have a blast.

Very very very horrible voice acting. Cooper's voice is nowhere near the movie-quality voice in the original Desperados Wanted Dead or Alive. And the constant annoying grunts by Doc McCoy... what happened with the developers?

The graphics after changing to 3D looks disjointed and not....solid.... can't explain it. The increased animation frames look smooth but at the same time made the gameplay feel slow.

Pros : But sometimes feels nice to go to 3rd person view. Feels like you are in the wild west movies. Music is good.

Cons : Almost everything else. Some missions repeat the same map with different objectives. Feels recycled... And feels like you are swindled of your money because of this. And the annoying voices... so sad to see Cooper's voice is being acted by someone like a drunkard or high-with-drugs street thug. And the Doc's irritating grunts....

Bottom line Play the first one - Desperados : Wanted Dead or Alive. It's far superior and a gem of a game. Even the recently released 3rd game can't match the original game both in gameplay and feel, even though it's the next best game in the series.

Cooper's Revenge is an alright game but it's definitely not Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive. The soundtrack and the the voice acting is lacking compared to the first game. The AI is also pretty dull and unresponsive for the most part. The gameplay is somewhat similar to the first game but not as satisfying. I personally liked the addition of first person mode but this addition has negative effects on the gameplay as you can literally finish each level with a single character. Teamwork is not as prominent as Wanted Dead or Alive

[ENG] Desperados: Wanted dead or alive is an epic game, indeed, but this sequence is pretty bad... The camera and the attempt of make a 3D game make a damm bad thing, besides, the developer screwed with the original dub!! Seriously, it's horrible if you compare with the 1st game! And ah, the plot is pretty weak... But ok, still is a Desperados, worth it for 2 dollars (and not a single tip more).

[PT-BR] Desperados: Wanted Dead or alive é um jogo épico, de fato, mas essa seqüência é muito ruim ... A câmera e a tentativa de fazer um jogo 3D fazer uma coisa damm ruim, além disso, o desenvolvedor aparafusado com o dublagem original!! Sério, é horrível se você comparar com o primeiro jogo! E ah, o enredo é muito fraco ... Mas ok, ainda é um Desperados, vale a pena para 4 reais( e nem um tustão a mais).