I had completely forgotten about Outlaws until the other day when I was going through boxes of old games searching for Star Trek: Bridge Commander (a game I’d always failed to figure out when I was younger and hoped age might have made easier. I’ll never know though since I found the box empty except for the manual.)

Having fond memories of watching my brother play the game and fuzzier ones of some Indian Jones-style level, and having failed in my Bridge Commander quest, I decided I’d install and try it.



Released in 1997 by LucasArts, Outlaws’ graphics are still pretty rough and there’s not a lot of fancy bells and whistles, but the game still has a lot going for it. For one thing it’s a western first person shooter. Westerns, like in movies, are a sadly unrepresented genre in video games, and Outlaws is one of the few FPS’s, as well as being, interestingly enough, the first game to have a sniper zoom.

There are two separate paths you can play. The single player, which follows the story of James Anderson, a retired marshal, who sets off to avenge his murdered wife and save his kidnapped daughter, and the Historical Missions, which follows Anderson’s rise to Marshal as you go out to fulfill several wanted posters. It’s fun to jump back and forth depending on your current mood and both are engaging and I have an especial fondness for the History Missions, where you can either bring the target in dead or alive, and afterwards see them in your jail cells...dead or alive. That’s the kind of little thing, I always enjoy.



The controls are little hard to get used to, but I liked the speed with which your character zooms along, without any concern for realism. Sometimes, I confess, I get board by walking in games.

I’ve rarely played any game above difficulty level: normal, and usually keep it on easy, but I do hear tell that if you set Outlaws on ‘ugly’, you have to approach the villains with stealth, wits and planning if you want to survive.

After a little research I also learned that Outlaws still has quite the cult following; websites still release new levels for example and people still play multiplayer. I also discovered that my fuzzy memory of my brother and the Indian Jones level, was not completely made up as I was beginning to suspect as I searched through the game’s menu, but was in fact a bonus level after completing the Historical Missions. Actually, having browsed through various websites I learned there are quite a few nifty little easter eggs hidden throughout the game and I plan on trying to check a few of them out.



There’s actually something rather cozy about playing Outlaws, as with most games from way back when. It’s simple and straight forward and yet still very engaging and creative, as well also being influential with games that came after. Plus it’s sometimes nice to go back in time.