Wild West Online Preview

Seeing as Rockstar won’t come to its senses and launch any Red Dead Redemption titles on the PC, computer players have very few options to experience the wild, wild west in all its immersive 3D glory. Besides Ubisoft’s hit and-miss Call of Juarez franchise -- whose sole good title was Bound In Blood -- the only other notable old west game was 2005’s fantastic Gun, which has aged quite a bit by now.

- Marcello Perricone

Cue in 612 Games’ MMO, Wild West Online. A new IP from a new company, WWO aims to scratch PC gamers itch of roaming the vast American wilderness as a gun-toting cowboy. Right now, the game is running its technical alpha, and I jumped into a saddle to bring you an analysis of it, like a more manly and journalistic version of Pony Express.

Wild West Online is not much of a game at this point. The technical alpha is utterly devoid of any content, allowing you to roam around an empty map populated with nothing but structures and other players. The one activity you can do is mine gold, which basically consists of finding gold veins in mountainsides and taking the metal to town.

Gold is valuable, and carrying it adds a visible front pouch to the ensemble of your character, making you a prime target for would-be bandits. While that means PvP firefights will undoubtedly ensue, the server was so empty that I never saw another soul before reaching the settlement’s safe zone. I just waded into town, walked into a store, and sold my pitiful yield for a meagre amount.