In this episode, we turn the clocks back to the year 1997 with Lucas Arts' fusion of the Doom-esque Boomer shooter subgenre, with spaghetti westerns like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which received the remaster treatment from Nightdive. Is this game truly worthy of remembrance, or should this game be lost forever in the pages of gaming History?
Let's find out!
Big shot out to Boomer shooter connoisseur and long-time DGR veteran Greig OG LOC Freeland for suggesting Outlaws. Now onto the review.
During the mid to late 90s, the gaming industry was in a grip of Doom Fever. As I have said in my previous review of Doom the Dark Ages, the original Doom, released in 1993, turned gaming in general on its head. Everyone was trying to replicate Id Software's license to print money.
Notable examples of this trend were 3D Realms' Duke Nukem 3D and Parallax Software's Descent.
LucasArts was another company that tried to "Out Doom" Romero. They did so with the Star Wars flavoured Boomer Shooter Star Wars Dark Forces, released in 1995. In 1997, they tried again with this title.
In this game, you play the part of former U.S marshal James Anderson. Your wife has been killed, and your daughter has been kidnapped by a criminal syndicate. It is up to you to fight your way through the various hideouts, seeking justice.
The accessibility scores are as follows:
Visibility 10
Due to the game's age, there are no color blind modes in its interface, even in the remaster, but there is very little need for one. Even when using the map, the doors are represented in yellow, and the walls are represented in grey. Even the keys are not colour-coded! So no issues exist when taking players with visual impairments into account.
Audibility 9
During cutscenes, subtitles are present. However, you will be reliant on audio cues when tracking down enemies, which can be helpful with level progression. So, despite the shortfalls, this game is playable for players with hearing impairments.
Mobility 9.5
In terms of this category, there are both positives and negatives. In the PC version that we used to test this game, the controls can be customised when using the keyboard and mouse.
This game has full controller support right out of the box. However, similar to Dark Forces, no legacy stick layout is present in this game; the button layouts can be customised as well.
This is important as a legacy layout can be a deal breaker when you are playing FPS games, as movement forwards and backwards and turning left and right is on one stick.
So there are accessibility issues when using a controller, which might carry over to the console versions.
Gameplay 10
On the surface, this looks like your typical run-of-the-mill Boomer shooter, with a spaghetti western coat of paint, but there's more to it than meets the eye. For starters, ammo management is key.
In traditional boomer shooters like Doom and Dark Forces, you fire your weapon until you run out of ammo. In this game, you need to reload your weapon after firing a few shots. In most FPS games, when the last bullet in a magazine is fired, your character reloads automatically.
Similar to Hell Divers, you need to reload your weapons manually. If you don't, your gun won't fire. There's also an inventory system. Items such as keys and med kits are added to your inventory. These items can be used at any time, and certain items are carried on from level to level.
In summary, Outlaws is a throwback to a time when boomer shooters were in their infancy. Similar to Halo Anniversary, you can toggle between classic and remastered graphics on the fly. Although you might spend most of your time in this game hunting for keys and specific items to progress through the levels.
Nightdive Studios is the master of remastering boomer shooters. They gave us remasters of the classic Doom games, Heretic and the remake of System Shock. In my opinion, they have done a tremendous job bringing an all-time classic back from the dead.
In terms of system requirements, this game is low-spec friendly. The game recommends any GPU with DirectX 11 and a dual-core processor; even a simple Chromebook would be able to run this game at a stable frame rate.
So, if you're a boomer shooter enthusiast and are looking for a classic for nostalgia, this game might fit the bill.
OVERALL SCORE 96.25%
See you guys in the next review!
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