While most of us are probably waiting for Red Dead Redemption, you might be itching to play a game set in the Wild West? Well that’s where the team heavy Lead & Gold: Gangs of The Wild West comes into play.
Lead & Gold: Gangs of The Wild West is third-person team based shooter where you’re on either blue or red team. Then you must carry out certain objectives depending on which of the five game modes you’re playing. You’ll also choose between four different class types each with their own weapons and abilities.
One of the key features of this game is how team heavy it is. Each class will give a certain synergist effect to their allies. One class might give the team extra defence (Blaster), while another more accuracy (Gunslinger), damage (Deputy), or extra critical chance (Trapper).
This leads us to the “What is good? What is bad? Would we recommend it? “Essentially this is what the review is based on. We give a mini description of the game at the start, and then give you what we liked and disliked about the game.
Good:
Balance: With Lead & Gold you’ll never feel as though one class has an advantage over another. The developers made each class good in their own ways, without messing up another one. It really helps out with the overall experience of the game. No matter which class you pick you will always be able to adjust to the situation at hand.
Presentation: Without a doubt Lead & Gold looks stunning, from the highly detailed maps, to the blur effect while you’re aiming down your sights, the game is very beautiful. The look of the characters adds a nice feel of the Wild West world. The only real lack of presentation is in the menus.
Maps: For a game with only five maps they are very well built not to mention beautiful. Each of them has a distinct difference and offer different points for both teams to flank and give that special element of surprise. One thing that is really good about the maps is that they are pretty big but they never give you that feeling as though they were.
Easy Accessibility: Lead & Gold isn’t a hard game to get into and learn; the game is well explained in the help section of the menu as well as the practice mode (tutorial). While on the other hand the game modes are pretty straight forward, and easy to learn.
Controls: The way Fatshark put together the control scheme for the PlayStation 3 version is one of the best I’ve played with. All the controls flow into one another and I never have an issue with performing a wrong task when I didn’t want too.
Bad:
No Dedicated Severs: With a game like Lead & Gold you need servers that are run by the game. For right now all the servers are run by another player. A lot of times you’ll be in a middle of a game when the host decides to leaves closing the whole game down. This can get annoying because it tends to happen often.
Community: One of the main problems with Lead & Gold is the lack of in-game community support. There is no way to form a clan with your friends, or to join their game without them inviting you. The game doesn’t support any kind of party system as well. You can’t get a couple of your friends into a lobby and then all of you jump into a match. This can lead to some issues when trying to play with your friends.
Lack of Maps: The bad thing about the maps is the way they are distributed; with only five maps most game modes only support two or three. The only two game modes which support all five are Conquest, and Shootout. The other game modes: Robbery, Greed, and Gold Fever only play in two or three.
Lack of Teamwork: There were times where my team had no idea what they were doing, while the other team completely walked over us. This problem really depends on the match you’re in but it’s happen enough times that it got on my nerves. With a game that really is an easy learning curve these sorts of things shouldn’t be happening.
Is it worth buying? The answer would be yes; with a price tag of $14.99 and the easy accessibility you really can’t go wrong. The lack of community and dedicated servers isn’t really enough to justify not buying this game. With Red Dead Redemption coming out in a week, Lead & Gold: Gangs of The Wild West is a perfect game to get while you wait.
Gaming 411 reviews style and design are inspired by the ones done by Kotaku.
Please leave comments on the review, and ways which you think would make it better.
By: Lazar Odic
I think most of the negative points are things that can and will be fixed in future updates. Fatshark has already promised dedicated servers in a future update, so why not maps? They also so far seem to be receptive of their players in taking suggestions, so its just a matter of time before clan support and stuff comes in. Of course, all of it should’ve been there to begin with, but the game is good enough to be worth the wait.
The lack of teamwork is not the maker’s fault, and is the same issue that any team-based game has when morons come on the server just looking for some kills. There are still plenty of matches where both teams really fight for their objectives.
Is voice-chat supported?
@ tgs Yes for the PlayStation it is.