Template:Multiple issues
| Gunman Chronicles | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Rewolf Software |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Studios |
| Designer | Designer Missing |
| Engine | GoldSrc |
| status | Status Missing |
| Release date | November 20, 2000 |
| Genre | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Age rating(s) | ESRB: M |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Arcade system | Arcade System Missing |
| Media | CD |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse |
| Requirements | 233 Mhz processor, 32 MB RAM, 400 MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM drive |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Gunman Chronicles is a futuristic first-person shooter 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. At the Half-Life Mod Expo in 1999, Gunman Chronicles stole the show and Sierra approached Rewolf to make a retail version. After significant work, Rewolf was given some office space, funding and a mapper (Jeff Lane) by Valve Software to help complete the project. It was released as a standalone game.
Plot
According to the game's introductory cutscene, the Gunmen act as a sort of military police force for humanity's galactically expanding colonial empire in the distant future. During a mission 5 years prior to the beginning of the game, the Gunmen were dispatched to a planet called Banzure Prime to investigate a communications breakdown with a research colony there, under the command of their leader, known simply as "The General". While investigating the colony, they come under attack by massive, apatasaurus-like organisms that form one part of a larger genus of creatures known as "Xenomes". The General, seeing his men have no chance by themselves, takes command of one of the Gunmen's dropships and begins performing bombing runs on the attacking Xenomes, destroying several before being captured in the jaws of one of the larger creatures. Meanwhile, the player character, Major Archer, rallies the remaining gunmen and orders them to retreat to the remaining ships and get off-world immediately, assuming that the general is already dead. The General, still alive as his fighter is dragged underground, pleads (apparently unheard) for rescue over the radio, but the Gunmen leave before having a chance to receive the message.
The game skips five years ahead and places the player in direct control of Major Archer, preparing for a mission aboard a Gunman space station dubbed 'Aeronautica'. After a training level, Archer and a small deteachment of gunmen are deployed to a dinosaur inhabited jungle planet, under orders to investigate an outdated but extremely high ranking Gunman distress signal. The signal is soon revealed to be a trap, and the gunmen come under heavy attack both from unidentified human forces and the indigenous fauna. The player is eventually forced to fight his way through a series of catacombs, where he encounters the General, still alive despite having been eaten alive on Banzure Prime. He reveals to the player that the silicon based xenomes are incapable of digesting carbon based humans, and that he, the scientists from the research colony, and the other gunmen consumed by the xenomes managed to fight their way out of the creature's gullets after Archer left them for dead. The vengeful scientists and gunmen have now formed a rogue cell, with the General as its leader, and are engingeering new xenome breeds to use as weapons and to exact their vengeance upon Archer. The General allows the player to leave, so as to watch him die at the hands of the planet's vicious reptiles, but he manages to sneak onto the Generals cargo ship, bound for a falling moon that plays host to an outdated AI that has been unstable for sometime since the General left it. At the moon, the ship comes under fire from the now fully insane AI's aerial drone. The General dumps the cargo module Archer is hiding in and leaves the AI facility's science team behind.
As the Archer progresses through the facility, he learns that the AI's primary battle is not with the humans, but with a major Xenome infestation. Despite the player and the AI's best efforts, the Xenomes manage to destroy most of the counter-space anchors that keep the moon from falling to the planet below. The AI and the player come to a truce, in exchange for help escaping the moon, the player agrees to take the AI's mainframe core with it. Major Archer and the AI get on an Aerial Drone, but fail to navigate through an asteroid field and crash land on a desert planet which turns out to be the General's main Xenome facility. Battle his way through the facility causes the plant xenome to break lose.
The AI helps you to get back to the surface where you meet the General and his Kata-Gun which if hit by it, you will be teleported to Kata-Space. You lure him to the AI Super Drone where The General and the AI are across an opening to a few hundred feet drop with a little balance beam going across. The AI Super Drone defeats his Kata-Drone and as he is walking across the balance beam- the plant Xenome comes out of the crevice and eats him once again as he is saying "I will now have to kill you with my bare hands like I did with ...*ate*". More Gunman troops arrive shortly after and control the Xenome infestation. The AI makes the facility it's home.
Demo
A demo for Gunman Chronicles was created by Maverick Developments, who also created the training room level shipped with the original version of Counter-Strike. The demo included levels not available in the full game. These can be added into the regular gameflow using the Gunman Chronicles Demo Addon.
Online shutdown and abandonment
Just like the games and mods developed by Valve at the time, Gunman Chronicles used WON Server technology for online multiplayer. However, after the official closing down of these servers on July 26, 2004 the game was never given an alternative method to play online, leaving its community in state of abandonment. Rewolf, the company behind the game was dissolved and never released a patch to correct designing mistakes; Sierra closed its official forum and the game was never released on Steam.
As previoulsy mentioned, unlike the popular Half-Life 1 mods, Gunman Chronicles has never been officially released on Steam. However, redeeming a Gunman Chronicles CD-Key on Steam gives access to a "Half-Life Platinum Pack" that includes Half-Life 1 and several mods: Blue Shift, Half-Life Deathmatch Source, Opposing Force, Team Fortress Classic, Ricochet and Day of Defeat, but not Gunman Chronicles.
See also
External links
- Streamline Studios - the official website.
- Gunman to Steam - Gunman to Steam patch homepage.
- Gunman Chronicles Quake II Edition
- Gunman Chronicles Dedicated Server Tool - Gamespot (Registration/login required)
- Gunman Chronicles Dedicated Server Tool - FilePlanet (Registration/login required)
- Gunman Chronicles MP3 Pack - High quality MP3 soundtrack (for Steam).
- Gunman Chronicles Demo
- Gunman Chronicles on Metacritic
- Gunman Chronicles review on GameSpot
- Gunman Chronicles review at IGN
fr:Gunman Chronicles