Line #34 Videogame/Outlaws


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Outlaws.jpg]]
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3	''Outlaws'' is a 1997 [[TheWestern Wild West]] FirstPersonShooter game developed by Creator/LucasArts.
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5	It follows the journey for revenge of the retired Marshal James Anderson, who after returning home from a shopping trip to the town finds his wife murdered, his daughter kidnapped and his house burned to the ground by the henchmen of an evil railroad baron called Bob Graham.
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7	----
8	!!Tropes:
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10	* ArmorMeter: You can find boilerplates to use as armour whose durability is shown as a card on the bottom of the screen that slides down with each hit they absorb.
11	* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Most bosses take several bullets to bring down, compared to just 1 or 2 for regular Mooks. On medium or hard difficulty, most of them can also kill you in half a second with a single burst of gunfire.
12	* BadAssLongCoat: Anderson.
13	* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: After the final battle, [[spoiler:Anderson is held at gunpoint by Graham, whom he now realizes killed his father. The sound of a gunshot is heard, but it was Sarah, who'd been placed in the same position as Anderson as a child and had grabbed Anderson's gun.]]
14	* {{Bandito}}: "Spittin'" Jack Sánchez.
15	* BangBangBang: You can instantly tell when you're fighting a boss before you even spot them due to the extra loud report from their weapons.
16	* BigBad: "Gentleman" Bob Graham
17	* BrawnHilda: "Bloody" Mary
18	* BonusLevelOfHell: In Ugly difficulty there is an additional cavern section on Level 6.
19	* CigarFuseLighting: The player character can chuck dynamite around. Alt-fire lights the fuse, and the animation consists of the PC removing his stogie from his mouth and applying it to the fuse.
20	* CowboyCop: Anderson was fired from being marshall for gunning down a suspect. It's worth noting that Anderson harbors no resentment for being fired. He fully realises that an officer of the law has to follow the law, and says so when another character claims his dismissal was unfair. Also, uh, he's literally a cowboy.
21	* CreditsGag: Players who willingly sit all the way through the end credits are treated to the top 10 quotes uttered during the making of the game as well as the top 9 signs you've been playtesting ''Outlaws'' for too long.
22	* CutsceneIncompetence: After beating the final boss, [[spoiler:Anderson foolishly drops his gun and runs over to check on Sara without making sure Graham is dead. As a result, Anderson is nearly killed when Graham gets up to shoot him, surviving only because Sarah picks up his gun and shoots Graham.]]
23	* DeadlyDoctor: Matt "Dr. Death" Jackson, who along with "Slim" Sam Fulton is responsible for killing Anderson's wife and kidnapping his daughter, and who receives the most screen time out of all the villains besides Bob Graham.
24	* DownerBeginning: The game opens up with Anderson losing his home and his wife as well as his daughter getting kidnapped. Afterwards the game never gets quite as grim as that.
25	* TheDragon: Chief Two Feathers, although he only really shows up at the end just before you go after Bob Graham himself.
26	* EasterEgg: Numerous, often pretty unusual. Dinosaurs with human faces, poodles with sunglasses that shoot fire at you, aliens in the toilet just to name a few. There are also a couple of more normal ones, such as the golden statue (which is a shout out to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''), Max from Franchise/SamAndMax and hell.
27	* EqualOpportunityEvil: Bob Graham's henchmen include: Former slave [[ScaryBlackMan "Buckshot" Bill Morgan]], Mexican-American [[{{Bandito}} "Spittin" Jack Sánchez]], [[BrawnHilda "Bloody" Mary Nash]] and [[NobleSavage Chief Two Feathers]].
28	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Both [[BigBad Graham]] and [[DeadlyDoctor Jackson]] disapprove of [[WouldHurtAChild "Bloody" Mary Nash's idea of killing Sarah.]] In Graham's case, [[spoiler:sparing Anderson as a child after killing the boy's father got him into this mess in the present, and by pure karmic justice, his sparing of Sarah leads to her shooting him to save Anderson.]]
29	* EyeScream: "Bloodeye" Tim got his alias since he lost his eye in a gunfight and so he now has the habit to shoot people in their eyes.
30	* FathersQuest: The game is about a retired marshall who embarks on a raid through bandit hideouts in pursuit of people who kidnapped his daughter.
31	* GatlingGood: An old school Gatling Gun appears as the game's {{BFG}}. While it provides [[MoreDakka plenty of firepower]], Anderson can't move around while wielding it. Well, unless you cheat.
32	* GoodOldFisticuffs: When Anderson lacks ammo for his guns, or is without his guns, his fists deliver a [[OneHitKill one-hit knockout]].
33	* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:"Henry" George Bowers]] CruelAndUnusualDeath
34	* TheGunslinger: The main character.
35	* {{Homage}}: The Game is most obviously one to SpaghettiWestern, especially those starring Creator/ClintEastwood (on whom Marshall Anderson is clearly based on).
36	* IHaveYourWife: In this case, the outlaws have taken Anderson's daughter, after they killed his wife.
37	* IShallTauntYou: You'll be hearing this a lot from the mooks: "Don't be a fool Marshal!", "Yer' outnumbered!". The bosses are also very vocal.
38	-->"My horse pisses straighter than you shoot."
39	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Keeping with the [[{{Homage}} above]], the difficulty levels are [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly "Good", "Bad," and "Ugly."]]
40	* LumberMillMayhem / DownTheDrain: The 5th Level.
41	* MadBomber: "Dynamite" Dick Clifton:
42	-->"Hey Marshal! I got a present for you: A stick of dynamite!"
43	-->"I hear you like cigars! Here, [[ExplosiveCigar have one of mine]]!"
44	* MadeOfIron: Most of the bosses in the game are only marginally to moderately tougher than the average mooks you gun down, so a good bit of buckshot or a few well-placed rifle rounds can drop them. [[FinalBoss Bob Graham]], on the other hand, can stand there and take over several dozen rounds from a ''gatling gun'' before he finally goes down.
45	* {{Mooks}}: The game features three standard types:
46	** Skinny single pistol wielding mook.
47	** Stocky GunsAkimbo mook.
48	** Rifle (white shirted) or Shotgun (blue shirted) wielding mook.
49	* NintendoHard: On "Bad" (Medium) or "Ugly" (Hard), difficulty, the game is very hard. You die in just a handful of shots, and can be killed in one or two hits at close range. Plus, all enemies use hitscan weapons. Despite the appearance of the game, if you run around with guns blazing you'll be shot to death pretty damn quickly. The key to success is to treat the game like a tactical shooter and methodically pick off enemies from behind cover and around corners. Or you could play the game on "Good" (Easy) difficulty and, well, run around like it's ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.
50	* NoGearLevel: You lose all of your weapons at the beginning of the final level thanks to CutsceneIncompetence.
51	* OneHitKill: More like One Hit Knockout, but Anderson can knock out foes with a single punch.
52	* OneHitPolykill: With a shotgun, it's possible to kill at least two mooks with one shot.
53	* OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe: "Bloody" Mary Nash has this taunt:
54	-->"Oh Marshal! Ex-Marshal! Is that really a gun in your hand, or is it just wishful thinkin'?"
55	* {{Outlaw}}: Well, duh.
56	* PragmaticVillainy: As far as is shown "Gentleman" Bob Graham seems perfectly willing to leave people alone as long as they sell him the land he wants. In fact, while not opposed to hiring cutthroat outlaws to "persuade" people into accepting his buyouts, he doesn't want the land owners killed and chastises Dr. Death for burning down Anderson's home, killing his wife, and kidnapping his child. Not because it's morally wrong of course, but because it sent Anderson on the warpath and is causing problems for his plans.
57	* RecycledInSpace: The game uses a modified version of the ''VideoGame/DarkForces'' MediaNotes/GameEngine which itself was based on the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' engine. Which would essentially make this game ''Dark Forces'' or ''Doom'' in the WildWest.
58	* RetiredBadass: The protagonist, James Anderson.
59	* RoaringRampageOfRescue combined with RoaringRampageOfRevenge
60	* SawedOffShotgun: One of three different shotguns available in the game. A full length double barreled shotgun and, in a very rare move, a single shotgun are both available.
61	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Along with Dr. Death, "Slim" Sam Fulton is directly responsible for the murder of Marshall Anderson's wife and kidnapping of his daughter. He is also the first who bites it.
62	* ShortRangeShotgun: The SawedOffShotgun has a very wide spread but a very short range.
63	* ShoutOut: As expected in a [=LucasArts=] game, there are plenty:
64	** The Difficulty Levels are named: [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly Good, Bad, and Ugly.]]
65	** On level 2 (the town) there is a business called [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Stan's Used Coffins]].
66	** There is an Easter egg in one historical mission that pays a {{Homage}} to the opening sequence of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
67	** The musical piece called "The Last Gunfight" is a huge one to Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (which itself it a prelude to the famous final gunfight from the film).
68	*** In fact, the entire soundtrack is pretty much a 90-minute LoveLetter to Music/EnnioMorricone.
69	** The train locomotive in the opening cutscene has the number [[Film/THX1138 1138]].
70	* TakingTheKids: In addition of killing his wife, Dr. Death also kidnaps Anderson's daughter, and Bob Graham ends up keeping her around because he can't figure out what else to do with her.
71	* TooDumbToLive:
72	-->'''"Slim" Sam Fulton:'''...Damn it... I told that fool Doctor stealing your kid weren't gonna be good for everyone's... health... uhhhh dies
73	-->'''Anderson:''' It's a shame he didn't listen.
74	** Dr. Death really shouldn't have brought up the topic of the Marshall's murdered wife the way he did, hanging upside down from a rope by his ankle above a mineshaft...
75	** In retrospect, the best way of dealing with a former lawman who got fired because he "killed a few men before a jury gave him permission to" was probably not "Burn down the property, kill the wife and kidnap the child". Bob Graham lampshades this to the particular henchman responsible roughly halfway through the game.
76	* TrainTopBattle: It wouldn't be a WildWest game without it.
77	* TheWestern: One of the first successful video games set in this period.
78	* WeaksauceWeakness: Bosses can typically take quite a few bullets, but can be taken out with a single good left hook.
79	* WouldHurtAChild: "Bloody" Mary Nash:
80	-->When you're gone, we shall weep! Especially that little girl of yours! What's her name? I can't wait to get my hands on her... her throat!
81	* WouldntHurtAChild: Bob Graham firmly draws the line at harming children when Mary Nash suggests just killing Sarah. Dr. Death agrees with Graham, although seeing as he was the one who kidnapped Sarah in the first place strictly ForTheEvulz it rings a bit insincere.
82	* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Dr. Death does this to Anderson, bragging about how he helped murder his wife Anna. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for him.]]
83	* YouKilledMyFather: At the end of the game [[spoiler: when Bob Graham has him at gunpoint, Anderson realizes that Graham is the bandit who killed his father in front of him when he was just a child.]]

Context Videogame / Outlaws