on Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Gunman Chronicles is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game using the Half-Life game engine. It was originally planned as a total conversion for Quake; it then switched games to Quake II, followed by another switch to Half-Life, before being spotted by Valve Software and released as a stand-alone retail product in 2000.

The player's character is Major Archer, a soldier who once left his commanding officer behind on a battlefield believing him to be dead. As the story unfolds, Major Archer discovers that said commanding officer, known only as The General, in fact survived the battle on Banzur Prime, and was swallowed by a giant eel-like organism known as the Alpha Species.

The General escaped, feeling betrayed by his followers, and decided to create a race of super-Xenomes to conquer the human species, and it is the player's mission to stop him.

Despite being essentially a science fiction game, Gunman Chronicles also features Western-style elements, dinosaurs, steampunk, and US Civil War themes. Its space soldiers are curiously attired like 19th century US cavalrymen.

Most weapons have different firing modes and some can be upgraded with add-ons: for example, the laser pistol can be fired in pulse, charge, and rapid modes, and an add-on allows the player to charge up shots or use a telescopic sight. The game also features the M.U.L.E, a rocket launcher with eleven customisations.

A demo was released for Gunman Chronicles which included levels not available in the full game. These can be added into the regular gameflow using the Gunman Chronicles Demo Addon.