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Title Hired Guns
Publisher Psygnosis
Developer Scott Johnston/DMA Design
Game Type RPG
Players 1-4 (simuntaneous, real time)
Compatibility All
Demo: Aminet: game/demo/HiredGunsDemo.dms (706K)
Submission Stuart Tomlinson


Review
Many people have a past-time. Something people do
to pass the time, to fill the gaps when there is nothing
to do. In many films, this is commonly characterised
with such activities as carving, someone lost, shipwrecked
on a desert island, carving the image of a loved one out
of wood. In the Shawshank Redemption, the main character
passes his years in jail by etching chess pieces out of pebbles.

These works are exceptional in the amount of effort put
into them, hours of painstaking work to get everything just
right, the curvature perfect, the likeness just as detailed
as the real thing.

The same can be said for Hired Guns, a game which so much
heart has gone into, no attention too great, no detail
too small. From the slickness of the introduction screen,
the quality of the music, the realistic feeling created
by the sound, the feeling of overwhelming realism and playability
to the effort taken in the graphics.

The game in concept is simple enough. The player or players
(up to four) partake in a role-play style first-person perspective
trip into the future. The game screen is divided into four
windows, each individually controllable by either a single player
each, or with fewer than three players, players controlling multiple
characters.

Given an impressive array of weapons (of which any number
may be carried, inventory space permitting) from guns, sentry
guns, to grenades, your team must set off across 16 levels
(although the game is level based, it is much more Eye Of
the Beholder or Dungeon Master in style than Doom), through
many puzzles, outside and inside areas, and many varieties
of monsters. Co-operation is essential to achieve your aims,
a true multiplayer experience. Or you can chose one of the
20 other single levels and blow each other to bits, for fun.

Extremely playable and atmospheric, every aspect of the
game oozed quality. You just get sucked in until the end,
and even then you'll never ever be able to put it down.

Eye Of The Beholder, in the future, four player, with guns
instead of swords, but much, much better. Who could ever
want more? (except a sequel, and although an AGA version
was produced by Scott in his own time for his own amusement
(it was his hobby game) we will never see this.

Oh, the level editor was almost released,
copyright cleared up and everything, then
two years ago all went silent.