Westerado: Double Barreled review

Gameplay
Graphics
Sound & music
Controls
Replay value

Do to the fact that i just finished recording part II of our “Westerado: Double Barreled” (the whole game is a part of a movie set btw) gameplay series last night. I felt like i´m ready to make an honest and fair review of the game now. So here we go! Ostrich Banditos action/adventure game “Westerado” is like THE ultimate tribute to the Spaghetti Western genre.

And it diden´t take me all that long to realize that either. Even the “Westerado” start menu screams “Clint Eastwood” and “the wild west“. So the game set the tune at a very early stage. And once “Westerado” kicks off, it really feels like you´re a part of an epic Spaghetti Western adventure.

Things doesn´t start off that well for our hero though ***SPOILER WARNING!*** As you´re family get murdered by a mysterious desperado (the bastard even burned down your home!). And you even have to put your own brother out of his misery by shooting him in the head. So you head out on a revenge crusade to find those who brought this pain up on you.

If you see this screen in “Westerado”. Then it means that you´re dead and gone for life.

However, you only start of with a gun (six-shooter), some hats (your health) and a horse though (you use the horse to travel around on the world map). But that´s more than enough to kick-off your adventure and revenge journey. So when you´re done with all the small talking with our protagonist uncle, you´re free to explore the world of “Westerado”.

And the first time i played “Westerado” i actually tried to kill everything and everyone that came in my way. Well, you can do that. But here´s the thing. Once you killed enough people, the director of the movie (yes, “Westerado” is supposed to be a western movie) want´s you dead and gone from the movie set.

So he sends in a whole army of people who tries to kill you. And that left me dead in less than one minute. So i scraped that idea, and just played as a good hero instead. And things went a lot better for me after that.

I also earned more money that i did when i was an evil bastard. As people (that´s alive. As in “not killing them at first sight“) actually pay you to get stuff done. And that can be anything from taking care of bandits, protecting caravans, buffalos to helping wifes with their drunk husbands.

So there´s quite a lot of different missions in “Westerado: Double Barreled”. You can also hunt down criminals for money.

You better hold on to your hat (“hats”) in “Westerado”. Because your life depends on it!

And i had tons of fun while doing all of this. As the graphics are really great, the soundtrack makes gives you that “Spaghetti Western” right away. And the gameplay experience made me think about a combination of 2 “Gun.Smoke”, “Zelda: A Link to The Past” and “Hotline Miami”.

The dialogs are really good in “Westerado” as well (there´s a lot of humor to them). And there´s even a co-op mode, 4 different playable characters and a handful of different game modes.

That´s great of course. But there´s some downsides to the game as well. Like the fact that “Westerado” is way to easy (unless you play the “Ironman” mode. Then you just got one life). And the main game is pretty short. So without all the missions and exploring, “Westerado” would be a really slim gameplay experience for sure.

The biggest issue that i had (and still have) with “Westerado” though. Would be the fact that you can only shoot sideways (as far as i know). Not up, down or any other direction for that matter. And that becomes a huge problem when you got tons of enemies coming from any other direction than left and right.

But even so, “Westerado: Double Barreled” is still worthy of both your time and money. So if you wanna play a really great Spaghetti Western action/adventure game. Then look no further!

Pros:
+ 4 different heroes to play as and plenty of weapons to play with
+ Top notch Spaghetti Western action!
+ Beautiful graphics
+ Great soundtrack
+ Awesome co-op gameplay

Cons:
– The main game is rather short
– You can not shot in all directions, only sideways
– Somewhat odd controls (everything is done with the help of the keyboard)
– To easy for most part

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
“Westerado: Double Barreled” is THE coolest Spaghetti Western game since “Red Dead” and “Call of Juarez”. Buy it asap!

Title: Westerado: Double Barreled
Developer: Ostrich Banditos
Format: PC
Genre: Action/Adventure
Resolution: Highest possible on PC
Release date: 2015-04-16
Difficulty: Normal
Spent time: 5+ hours
Average grade internationally: 81% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: 12+
Price: 9,99 Euro via Steam