Wild Wild West The Steel Assassin
$9.95		(Win95/98/ME/XP) (Retail) (WWWESTPR)

Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive

ESRB Rating: Teen (Ages 13+) - Animated Violence and mild language

Ratings:

B from Just Adventure

It's Time to Tame the Wild Wild West

Gun-slinging action! Outlandish scenarios! Intriguing adventure! The Wild Wild West comes to life on your PC in an all new mission.

It's five years after the brutal assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the rift between North and South is finally beginning to mend. That is, until President Grant receives a death threat signed, "The True Executioner of Abraham Lincoln." As Secret Service Agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon you'll race against time to uncover the villains behind this ruthless plot and save the President.

So reach for your six-shooter, muster up your courage and hit the dusty trail to the Wild Wild West!

Blast your way through action sequences and think your way through challenging situations.

Customize the difficulty settings for both action and adventure to suit your style of gameplay.

Jump right into the action with a user-friendly, mouse-driven interface.

Immerse yourself in a stunning 3D world.

Encounter a provocative adversary as you unravel the plot.

Music based on the original Wild Wild West Elmer Bernstein score.

Requirements:

Windows 95/98/ME/XP: 266 MHz Pentium or faster processor, 64MB RAM, DirectX compatible video card with 4MB VRAM, Direct 3D hardware acceleration recommended, DirectX compatible sound card, DirectX 6.1 or later (supplied), 200 MB free hard disk space, 8x CD-ROM drive or better, Microsoft compatible mouse or other pointing device.

Tested OK on Windows XP.

Reviews:

Just Adventure, by Randy Sluganski

"How refreshing to play an adventure game that does not take place in outer space or some other make-believe world, does not contain any horror or fantasy elements, and is actually rooted in reality. Not that we do not appreciate all types of adventure settings, but it seems that very few are situated in a real-life atmosphere. Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin, if you have not already guessed, is based on the 1999 Warner Brothers movie starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. The movie was in turn a spinoff from the irreverent television series that aired from 1965 to 1970. Now, before you get your dingleberries in an uproar and begin to bellow, 'But the movie was a flop!' rest assured that even though the James West and Artemus Gordon characters have been recreated from their movie counterparts, the game is closer in spirit to the original television series..."

"The Steel Assassin takes place a few months after the events of the movie. You must take on the role of either James T. West (Will Smith) or Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline). President Grant has asked for your assistance from an assassination conspiracy set to be staged at the infamous Ford's Theater - five years to the day from Abraham Lincoln's murder. The game is broken into 10 segments - four each that can only be played as West or Gordon, and a finale and epilogue in which both characters finally team up. West follows the five-year-old trail of John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, as he suspects that Booth had a partner (Oliver Stone writing for SouthPeak!), and Gordon slinks about the Baltimore wharf and Ford's Theater as he searches for clues that will link a suspicious murder to the threat on President Grant's life. The rousing finale reunites the two Secret Service men in a race against time. SouthPeak's writers (and designers) have done an excellent job of bringing the 1870s to life and are to be commended for their accurate portrayal of that era. This faithful recreations allowed us to immerse ourselves fully into the game. But the story left me wanting more - there were never any startling revelations or plot twists; it felt like an episode of the television show minus the commercial breaks...."

"WWW is billed as an action/adventure game, but is more of an old-school, point-and-click adventure game than any product currently on the market. Artemus Gordon is the brains of the duo. Die-hard adventure gamers will have a field day as Artemus dons disguises, deciphers messages, and investigates clues. The gameplay is very similar to such classics as Sherlock Holmes & The Rose Tattoo. Conversations with other characters provide hints, and relevant information is automatically recorded in your notebook. The amount of leads provided is dependent upon the game's difficulty level. In what may be a first, SouthPeak has allowed the gamer the option of changing the difficulty level on the fly. If you are stuck on a particularly hard puzzle or gun battle, you may customize the game to your preference for just one scene or the entire episode. Did I say gun battle? Well, this is, after all, a western, and James West is the quick-on-the-trigger-finger member of the duo. there will be times when gunplay is necessary, but there are also numerous occasions (and SouthPeak is to be congratulated for this) when a shoot-out can be avoided if you are alert and study the surrounding area. Sandbags and oil slicks, if used correctly, can be just as deadly as a bullet..."

"... The entire game is conveniently mouse-driven, and the characters are very responsive and detailed. Some of the outdoor locations are stunning. The Wanderer, the train that serves as a meeting place between missions for the agents, is extremely detailed. Besides housing weapons and gadgets, Gordon's disguises and laboratory are on board, and everything is at your disposal."

"In the final analysis, Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin is fun. It was fun riding a horse, it was fun participating in an Old West shoot-out, and it was fun playing a game that has some historical basis. It ships on two CDs, one for install and one for gameplay...."

Quandary Review by Peter Smith

"SouthPeak Interactive describe their new game Wild Wild West as an "action adventure". Happily the game allows you to customise how much action. For this review the action level was set to "go easy on me". On this setting Wild Wild West is a respectable adventure game with some puzzles where you're under time pressure. For comparison Sanitarium, Overseer, and Full Throttle have harder time-critical puzzles. SouthPeak have made a reasonable job of developing a game which can be adjusted to suit the player.

"Wild Wild West has an original story co-written by Lee Sheldon (Dark Side of the Moon, The Riddle of Master Lu.) It is set after the film of the same name and has you foiling a plot to assassinate President Grant. The setting is late C19th America with ‘steampunk’ technology similar to the film (so Victorian style jet-skis, plasma bolts, etc.) There are nine episodes: you play four as Jim West (the Will Smith character in the film), four as Artemus Gordon, and in the endgame you get to play as both."

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