A Wild Western Adventure

I first encountered Revistronic’s Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure, the sequel to the 1996 cowboy cartoon adventure 3 Skulls of the Toltecs, when the company released a playable demo of it in Spanish last June. Even though my entire Spanish vocabulary consists of working at “el desko,” I made it through the demo of what was at that time titled Fenimore Fillmore: The Westerner just fine. This is largely because the inventory puzzles were logical and earthy enough to make clear what was required, despite the language barrier. I was also spurred on by the fully 3D point-and-click game’s likable cowboy hero, Fenimore Fillmore. He had returned from the original Toltecs game and now bore more than a passing resemblance to the effervescent Woody from Pixar’s Toy Story movie. Fenimore’s many facial expressions were entertaining (courtesy of PICTuRE, Revistronic’s new proprietary gaming engine), and I was hoping that when the U.S. version was released, I would be able to enjoy Fenimore’s conversations as well.

Unfortunately the American voice acting in Wanted ranges from barely decent to flapjack flat, even though the dialogues themselves are well translated and humorous. The story of a cattle owner’s tyranny over local farmers (who rebel with Fenimore’s help) is somewhat thin, and stereotypical characters abound. However, the elements I saw in the demo are still there. The visuals and cut-scenes are vividly colorful and entertaining. An abundance of locales and inventory items are connected to life in the Old West. Most of the puzzles, like stealing apparel from a doctor to impersonate him or using well water to grow carrots to feed to your horse, emerge sensibly from the surroundings. Backtracking for items necessary to solve puzzles will drive you crazy, though, unless you grab everything you see from every location the first time you’re there. Even so, you’ll wind up repeatedly tromping across town to send telegrams for more money as you find new contacts.

Several arcade sequences occur as the game progresses. You’ll be catching a fish as well as completing some timed carnival-style shootouts, the latter of which may have you repeating more than down-home Texas chili would, if you aren’t the coordinated type.

Overall, Wanted is a fairly polished and comical game. It’s too bad it didn’t emulate Toy Story a little more, though, and provide a better plot and stellar acting.

Verdict

Enjoy this decent adventure game before the Pixar lawsuits begin.