El Paso is a different kind of boomer shooter. Instead of taking Doom, Quake or Half-Life as inspiration it is a Max Payne clone with a twist. Instead of shooting gangsters and drug addicts in New York the player is put into the role of a guy that fell in love with a vampire queen. Too bad for him that his ex-girlfriend now wants to end the world with a dark ritual. So he has to descend into 50 dream-like levels and fight vampires and werewolves to save humanity.
The graphics are simple, even worse than Max Payne 1, but the artstyle is on point. The bizarre color palette and surroundings make for a great atmosphere. Regular ingame-cutscenes with fantastic voice acting and heavy-hearted writing add to the strong vibes of the game just as much as the original hip-hop soundtrack.
The gameplay is simple. There are 50 levels to go through, each of them built as a small labyrinth where the player has to find keys, rescue hostages and escape to an elevator to the next level. Most of the levels are easy enough to navigate. Don’t expect to get lost often or lose track of where to go. Visual clues and light pillars in the distance are easy to follow.
The game is played in a third-person-perspective and heavily relies on using bullet-time mechanics to quickly shoot enemies before they hit the player. Lost health can be replenished by painkillers. Enemy variety is quite solid with good encounter design. There are also plenty of weapons to choose from and the game features a unique melee mechanic. Melee is limited by wooden stakes which can be replenished by destroying furniture.
I agree with everyone saying that the game can be repetitive. But I think the playtime of around eight hours is still completely fine. Just don’t expect to do that in two or three sittings. I preferred playing the game over several weeks in short bursts but enjoyed every minute of it.
The graphics are simple, even worse than Max Payne 1, but the artstyle is on point. The bizarre color palette and surroundings make for a great atmosphere. Regular ingame-cutscenes with fantastic voice acting and heavy-hearted writing add to the strong vibes of the game just as much as the original hip-hop soundtrack.
The gameplay is simple. There are 50 levels to go through, each of them built as a small labyrinth where the player has to find keys, rescue hostages and escape to an elevator to the next level. Most of the levels are easy enough to navigate. Don’t expect to get lost often or lose track of where to go. Visual clues and light pillars in the distance are easy to follow.
The game is played in a third-person-perspective and heavily relies on using bullet-time mechanics to quickly shoot enemies before they hit the player. Lost health can be replenished by painkillers. Enemy variety is quite solid with good encounter design. There are also plenty of weapons to choose from and the game features a unique melee mechanic. Melee is limited by wooden stakes which can be replenished by destroying furniture.
I agree with everyone saying that the game can be repetitive. But I think the playtime of around eight hours is still completely fine. Just don’t expect to do that in two or three sittings. I preferred playing the game over several weeks in short bursts but enjoyed every minute of it.