Gunman Chronicles
| Gunman Chronicles | |
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The US box art for Gunman Chronicles. European variations mimicked the style of Half-Life's box art.
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| Developer(s) | Rewolf Software |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Studios |
| Director(s) | Herbert Flower |
| Producer(s) | Jeff Pobst |
| Designer(s) | Stefan Baier |
| Programmer(s) | Brian Legge |
| Artist(s) | Renier Banninga Mary Allred Miriam Howes |
| Composer(s) | Anthony Brown Chris Liesch |
| Engine | GoldSrc |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | November 20, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gunman Chronicles or Half-Life: Gunman (previously Gunman: TC and simply Gunman) is a first-person shooter space western video game originally created as a mod by the now defunct Rewolf Software. Gunman Chronicles was originally a Quake deathmatch mod named Gunmanship 101, then it was moved to Quake II's engine before becoming a Half-Life mod. The game was popular at the Half-Life Mod Expo in 1999, and Sierra approached Rewolf to make a retail version. After significant work and with some office space, funding, and added staff, it was released as a standalone game. Plans were drawn to release Gunman Chronicles on GameCube, but it was never released.
Gunman Chronicles is a first-person shooter that requires the player to perform combat tasks and puzzle solving to advance through the game, much like its predecessor Half-Life. While gameplay is similar to Half-Life's in terms of health-and-armor systems and artificial intelligence, one major aspect of Gunman Chronicles is the ability to customize each weapon. Each weapon the player obtains has multiple alternate "modes" for various situations; for instance, the starting pistol can be turned into a sniper rifle or a rapid-fire machine-pistol while the MULE, a rocket launcher, can be configured to fire homing rockets, timed explosives, or cluster bombs. Another new aspect of Gunman Chronicles is the ability to drive vehicles, something that was expanded on in Half-Life 2. During the latter half of the game, there is a lengthy vehicle section in which the player is able to drive a tank through a system of canyons. Similar to the vehicle sections of Half-Life 2, the player occasionally comes across obstacles hindering the tank's path which will require the player to stop and figure out a puzzle or activate a switch.
The game features a wide variety of enemies, including rogue Gunmen-turned-bandits, giant dinosaurs, genetically-modified aliens called Xenomes, and robotic attack drones. Bandits will roll around to dodge fire while returning fire with dual pistols or rifles, while Xenomes will charge at the player in packs with reckless abandon and release homing projectiles upon death. Similar to Half-Life, certain objects such as vases and crates can be destroyed to provide ammunition, health, and armor. Unlike Half-Life however, armor takes the form of actual vests, and can not be replenished by chargers like health can. Unlike Half-Life and its expansions, Gunman Chronicles, however sparsely, uses cutscenes to tell key parts of the storyline. These usually appear only as transitions between different worlds and levels however, and thus most of the plot is seen through the eyes of the player like in Half-Life.
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