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
EngineUnreal Engine 2
Platform(s)Xbox, Microsoft Windows
ReleaseXbox
  • 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.

Plot

1890s Mexico

Tejon is left for dead by Tennessee Vic, he’s found by the corrupt General Blanco who leaves him to rot in a prison. Tejon’s cellmate is the leader of the resistance fighting the general. His men come to free him and Tejon.

Tejon’s first trip is to Sanchez. He was the drunk of the group but also known to find hideouts for the group. After gunning down Sanchez and his men. He’s approached by his former lover who hears about it and seeks to aid in his quest. He refuses saying it’s personal and dangerous.

Flat Iron is Tejon’s next target. Flat Iron is a renegade Comanche who’s skilled with knives. He’s a much more formidable opponent, on the account of his speed and sharp knives. After confronting Flat Iron, Tejon kills him.

Tejon then confronts “Numbers”. Numbers with the accounting of the group Numbers was the banker of the group. He was also seen as cowardly and easily pushed around. Numbers heard about Sanchez and prepares. Tejon also kills him with ease. Along the way Tejon, picks up bounties who are either helpful to find the nine or extra money.

After then he goes to the lumber mill owned by Big Guns Grissom, the strongman of the Nine. What he lacks in intelligence he makes up for in brute force. He proofs to be more tough opponent as he’s capable of throwing axes with accuracy. Tejon confronts him and blows up what’s left of his mill.

Next on the list is Father Zeke, a jacklegged preacher who hustles his congregations to help build his lavish lifestyle. He often quotes scripture when taunting his enemies. His signature weapon is whiskey bombs. Tejon confronts him in one of his churches, after he kills Zeke, he goes to his house and destroys it.

Remembering that his cell mate Iago needs his help, Tejon goes back to Mexico to fight General Blanco. While he’s battling the general, he rallies to the remaining rebels and defeats him once and for all.

He then returns to the trail of the Nine. He’s seeking a well known gambler, who’s name is Kendall. Kendall has local connections and uses them to hide. Tejon kills the sons of the local madam who knows where Kendall is. After killing her, he’s able to clear a path to his own friend. Kendall was the smooth talker and ladies man of the Nine. Known to be a quick draw when needed. He too is a much harder opponent.

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

Dead Man's Hand received "mixed" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[1][2] 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.[8]

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."[18] 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."[19] 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. "Dead Man's Hand for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  2. "Dead Man's Hand for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  3. "Review: Dead Man's Hand". Computer Games Magazine. No. 165. theGlobe.com. August 2004. p. 61.
  4. Brown, Ken (August 2004). "Dead Man's Hand" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 241. Ziff Davis. p. 79. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  5. Edge staff (May 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Edge. No. 136. Future plc. p. 107.
  6. EGM staff (May 2004). "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 178. Ziff Davis. p. 98.
  7. 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.
  8. "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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. Kasavin, Greg (March 26, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  12. Kasavin, Greg (March 8, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  13. Zacarias, Eduardo (April 19, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  14. Clayman, David (April 6, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  15. Clayman, David (April 5, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  16. "Dead Man's Hand". Official Xbox Magazine. Imagine Media. June 2004. p. 82.
  17. "Dead Man's Hand". PC Gamer. Vol. 11 no. 7. Imagine Media. July 2004. p. 64.
  18. "Dead Man's Hand (Xbox)". Playboy. Playboy Enterprises. December 2003. p. 44.
  19. Wapshott, Tim (April 24, 2004). "Dead Man's Hand". The Times. News UK. Retrieved April 25, 2020.(subscription required)
  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.
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