Sound is an entirely different matter. The game's audio effects are barely able to support the visuals and the voice acting is definitely off. Doc's incessant growl alone begs you to turn off your speakers. Still, they provide some sort of support for the action so, as long as you're not trying too hard to pay attention to them, they won't distract you from the action. The music is not a dynamic one, or at least I did not hear the music change during fights. As for the speech, the characters only speak during the cut-scene, when some old photos overlap each other to create a short movie.

    Here’s no multiplayer in Desperados 2, but that's not unusual for the genre, since these types of games are based on players battling the environment rather than other players. That leaves you with the single-player game with all of its issues. So, unless you're a dedicated and very patient fan of this style of game, you should probably steer clear

    It’s too bad that the gameplay doesn't measure up to the visual presentation of the game. While the visuals have changed, virtually everything else hasn't, and the limitations of the genre are all on display in Desperados 2.

    The game's jump-through-the-hoops level design, clumsy controls, and brutal difficulty will make you angry. For example, gunfights require you to pick off hordes of opponents, which isn't an easy task thanks to the incredibly slow aiming reticle. You can't simply point and click, since you have to wait for the crosshairs to zero in on an opponent. In the meantime, that will leave you exposed to fire, and a single bullet will often ruin your day, as there are usually multiple guys firing at you from different angles.  

    Moreover, this new over-the-shoulder perspective also reveals some lamentable problems such as the fact that it prompts but does not teach. Who knew you could move and shoot in over the shoulder view? You have to figure that one out for yourself. In fact there's a whole load of guesswork involved in getting your characters to do what the must - mostly because you only have a limited idea of what it is they can do in the first place. Each time you use a new skill you're reloading half a dozen times to get the hang of it. Exploratory attrition; thanks to no tutorial and a lack of intuition. How does Kate's seduction work? And sneaking? And shooting? It's all down to you to figure it out without help, and the resultant process is temper-stokingly fiddly.

    Fortunately, it only takes a few seconds to revert to the last quicksave, so you can repeat the process again, and then, if by sheer luck you survive, slam the quicksave key and move on. Needless to say, you'll be abusing quicksave a lot in this game.

     Artificial Idiots

    The AI is not as bright as one would expect. You can kill a guard with a shotgun and another one at little over four feet would go on about his business as nothing happened. In addition, they do not seem to notice that the patrols return with fewer men or they do not return at all. If you by any chance sound the alarm, the best move, next to killing everyone on sight, is to hide for a time. After about 5 minutes, the guards return to their posts and resume their normal routes, just as it was programmed to do.

    Getting through a mission becomes less about inventive problem solving and more about managing vision cones and patrol routines. Send Kate out, seduce an enemy, walk into the woods and have someone punch him out. It's a foolproof strategy that taxes your patience more than your imagination.

    You'll also get to see the AI's lame performance up close, as enemies will do the dumbest things such as stand in the open, run up to a fallen comrade and stare down in wonder at what killed him, or slowly run toward you rather than shoot you from long range. However, it's clear that this isn't a pure action game mode. The controls feel clumsy while in third-person mode, and you often can't do simple tasks such as holding your gun in one hand while opening a door with the other, which leaves you open to getting pumped full of lead by the guy inside before you can draw your gun.

    There just aren't enough Commandos-style games around these days for fans to be picky, and Desperados 2 offers a compelling Old West setting that feels remarkably fresh beside the glut of World War 2 and fantasy settings we normally see. Still, when you consider all the frustrations that come with it, it's a half-hearted recommendation at best, particularly when the original Desperados was so much more satisfying. The clumsy control scheme and passive AI are the two biggest frustrations we had with the sequel and while they weren't enough to completely kill the magic of the setting, they came damn close.

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