THE WILD BUNCH By: Firebird Download: wild.zip Some days you would be better off staying in bed. In Wild Bunch that is certainly the case. One day your on your way back home when you hear a gunshot. A voice in your head tells you to ignore it and go on your way. Bed is waiting for you. Nice, warm and comfy. Unfortunately game heroes don't think like that and you go to investigate. You find a dying man who mutters the description of his killer and then passes away. The killer is a member of the infamous criminal group known as the Wild Bunch. Your task is clear, you must find the murderer and bring him to justice. Is it because you're an insomniac and don't care much for sleep on your bed? Nah. After finding the dying man you discover a gun belonging to the killer and pick it up. The sheriff then chooses to arrive on the scene (a little late huh?). He sees you with the gun and assumes that you were the man responsible for the murder. You flee and know that the only way of clearing your name is to find the real killer.

With that the game starts. You choose a starting location from five different cities with the aim of finding the killer. Not an easy task as you only have $50 on you and the killer's gun (with few bullets). During your journey it will become necessary to earn some cash if you wish to succeed. You'll also have to watch out because the sheriff is hot on your trail.

The game is a text driven adventure in a wild west setting with a very BASIC feel to it. You'll start off in a city with a number of options available to you which include going to the saloon, sheriff office, store or telegraph office. Each location has a use :-

Saloon: Take a drink to restore energy (but don't over do it). You can also make some cash here by playing poker. There is always the risk that you'll lose money on the cards so watch out. If your feeling brave you can also look around. You might find a wanted man lurking in the bar. Taking him to the sheriff or beating him in a gunfight will earn you whatever reward is being offered for the guy. Just make sure that whoever you arrest is not an innocent bystander. Oh and don't forget to have some bullets on you when challenging someone to a gunfight!

Sheriff's office: You'll see wanted posters of Wild Bunch members here. Note down their name and description just in case you bump into them in the saloon.

Store: Be sure to visit this place before moving onto another city to stock up on goods. Food and water is a must. Having a horse and saddle will reduce the length of your journey (but you'll also lose a lot of money feeding your newly bought travelling companion). Other items like a coat or snakebite medicine become important if you travel through cold mountainous areas or get bitten by a slippery reptile.

Telegraph Office: Keeps you up to date with the news for a price. Normally it informs you where the sheriff who is chasing you is (so avoid that place). Sometimes you'll also be informed that the bounty on criminals has changed.

When your done you choose a new city to travel to until you find and capture the person who framed you. The journey between towns tells you what happens on a daily basis. Sometimes you'll get good news like the discovery of a gold nugget which increases your cash reserve. Most of the time though you'll encounter somebody or something who wants to hurt you. You'll then get the choice of running/fighting/bribing them. Running and bribing rarely work so you'll normally fight. Don't get too excited though because fighting consists of merely typing how much of your strength you wish to use up against the enemy. Watch out because when your strength drops to zero it's game over.

Wild Bunch is an average game. It'll certainly pass the time when you first play it and there is some replay value in it. There are three difficulty settings and the criminal names/descriptions are different each time you play. However the game is pretty limited (and I'm not talking just about the BASIC yet colourful graphics or sound). The game is pretty repetitive and tough (unless you cheat on an emulator). You normally don't have enough money and its hard to regain the loads of strength you lose when travelling between towns. It's a budget game that resembles something an average Joe would code rather than a professional game company, but it's not a bad game.

Rating: 66%