Dead Man's Hand (video game)

Dead Man's Hand is a first-person shooter game developed by Human Head Studios and published by Atari SA. It was released in North America for Xbox and Microsoft Windows in March 2004. The game takes place in the American frontier.

Dead Man's Hand
Developer(s)	Human Head Studios
Publisher(s)	Atari SA
Programmer(s)	Ben Gokey Toby Jones Jimmy Shin
Composer(s)	Rom Di Prisco Michael Larson
Engine	Unreal Engine 2
Platform(s)	Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release	Xbox NA: March 2, 2004 EU: April 29, 2004 Windows NA: March 16, 2004 EU: April 2, 2004
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Story

El Tejon was a member of the notorious "Nine" who was betrayed because he didn't join the gang to murder women and children, but to be famous and rich and a chance to make a name for himself, as a gunslinger. The Leader of the Nine shoots him and leaves him for dead. However General San Juan Jacinto Blanco found El Tejon and threw him in a jail cell to rot. But Tejon's cellmate Iago is the leader of a revolution that will free both Iago and Tejon to exact vengeance on those who betrayed them.

Gameplay

The game is somewhat unusual in that between levels, the player plays poker for extra health and ammunition. The character is armed with 4 default weapons; a knife, a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun. Other weapons that can be found are TNT and Whisky bombs. The player can shoot objects such as whisky bottles, cans and enemies to score legend points, thus filling up the "trick shot" meter that lets the character use the secondary mode of firing which varies depending on the current weapon. The combat in the game also makes use of the game's physics engine, with the player being able to trigger physics based traps such as shooting a rock and causing it to fall onto an enemy below - kills obtained this way are rewarded with extra points and a greater increase in the "trick shot" meter.

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PC Xbox CGM [1] N/A CGW [2] N/A Edge N/A 3/10[3] EGM N/A 5.33/10[4] Eurogamer N/A 4/10[5] Famitsu N/A 27/40[6] Game Informer N/A 7.75/10[7] GamePro N/A [8] GameSpot 6.6/10[9] 6/10[10] GameZone N/A 6.8/10[11] IGN 6.2/10[12] 6/10[13] OXM (US) N/A 6.5/10[14] PC Gamer (US) 75%[15] N/A Playboy N/A 88%[16] The Times [17] [17] Aggregate score Metacritic 63/100[18] 62/100[19]

Dead Man's Hand received "mixed" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[18][19] In Japan, where the Xbox version was ported for release as part of the Xbox World Collection on September 2, 2004, Famitsu gave it a score of two sevens, one six, and one seven for a total of 27 out of 40.[6]

Playboy gave the Xbox version an early review, over three months before it was released Stateside, and stated, "A unique scoring system lets you unlock killer trick shots - if ya ain't a coward that is."[16] The Times gave the game four stars out of five and stated, "The Wild West theme lends itself well to the FPS treatment, and the primitive weaponry brings an almost liberating freedom to the gameplay. Given the game's fairly tame content, its 16+ age rating seems harsh."[17] However, Maxim gave it three stars out of five, saying, "The concept and play consistently deal a royal flush, [but] just ignore the choppy visuals, which can irritate like a pesky infection picked up at Miss Kitty's Cat House."[20]

References

1. "Review: Dead Man's Hand". Computer Games Magazine. No. 165. theGlobe.com. August 2004. p. 61.
2. Brown, Ken (August 2004). "Dead Man's Hand" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 241. Ziff Davis. p. 79. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
3. Edge staff (May 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Edge. No. 136. Future plc. p. 107.
4. EGM staff (May 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 178. Ziff Davis. p. 98.
5. Reed, Kristan (July 6, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
6. "デッド マンズ ハンド （Xbox ワールドコレクション） [Xbox]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Vol. 821. Enterbrain. September 10, 2004. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
7. Zoss, Jeremy (April 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Game Informer. No. 132. GameStop. p. 106. Archived from the original on November 18, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
8. Major Mike (June 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review for Xbox on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. p. 70. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
9. Kasavin, Greg (March 26, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
10. Kasavin, Greg (March 8, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
11. Zacarias, Eduardo (April 19, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
12. Clayman, David (April 6, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
13. Clayman, David (April 5, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
14. "Dead Man's Hand". Official Xbox Magazine. Imagine Media. June 2004. p. 82.
15. "Dead Man's Hand". PC Gamer. Vol. 11 no. 7. Imagine Media. July 2004. p. 64.
16. "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Playboy. Playboy Enterprises. December 2003. p. 44.
17. Wapshott, Tim (April 24, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand". The Times. News UK. Retrieved April 25, 2020.(subscription required)
18. "Dead Man's Hand for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
19. "Dead Man's Hand for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
20. Porter, Alex (March 2, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand". Maxim. Biglari Holdings. Archived from the original on March 10, 2004. Retrieved April 25, 2020.

External links

• Dead Man's Hand at MobyGames