Desperados 3 has no small number of useful tools, so it is difficult to pick a favorite. The brutal bear trap that jaws up anyone who has the misfortune to walk over it has to be a contender, but I'm also quite fond of the dart that can take down two enemies with a single blow. However, nothing has saved my ass as often as the humble F5 and F8 keys. Without these two keys, my other weapons would have been useless.

Every stealthy encounter is a puzzle, and every puzzle is a chance to experiment and more often than not, fail. Desperados 3 is all about a team of specialists working together, breathing together and using supernatural precision and timing to overcome the impossible, but the journey to perfection is full of slapstick and catastrophe. A split second or an inch can mean the difference between a team effortless victory and a team full of corpses, but with a quick save in one holster and a quick load in the other, you'll get there eventually.

A very clever attempt to drop an entire wall on someone may have failed because a guard turned around and spotted you at the last moment. However, another enemy may see through your disguise. Unless, however, you have made this mistake before and wisely remembered to set traps in the enemy's path. Nevertheless, the alarm will sound again as a conspicuous corpse will be left on the ground, but next time, have someone waiting in the bushes and remember to jump out and grab the corpse to hide it. Through trial and error, you will eventually come up with the perfect plan, and the body count will increase.

Although a prequel to 2001's "Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive," "Desperados 3" is really "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun," the successor to Mimimi Games' previous title, "Shadow Tactics: Blades of Shogun," like its predecessor, it features smart-but-not-too-smart enemies, intricate maps full of killing opportunities, a quintet of skilled assassins and sneaks, and a vision cone of the best kind. It's hard to follow one of the best stealth games of the past decade, but this "Wild West" cousin references some other great stealth games for inspiration.

Some missions take place in civilian areas, allowing you to freely explore large portions of the map without attracting attention. During your walk, you can listen to conversations to get clues, help identify targets, and find ways to kill them. This is Hitman-style social stealth, but only the bare minimum. Rather than following an elaborate path, the clues are more like "there's a loose sign hanging over that guy's head," and the majority of the mission is spent sneaking and killing through a no-go zone full of guards.

Not that it's not a good time to drop a sign on someone. Accidental and environmental kills are not limited to the Civil Zone and are always just a little more satisfying than filling someone with lead. Accidental or environmental kills are not confined to civil zones and are always just a little more satisfying than filling someone up with lead. Gatling guns and dynamite barrels can also be used, but of course they don't count as accidental deaths.

Then there's the added magic. About a third of the way through the game, you meet Isabelle, who suddenly becomes dishonorable. She can possess animals, make guards kill each other, and link people together and make them suffer the same fate. ...... Corvo would have a nose for it. In every mission, you are tasked with controlling the enemy and guiding them to a position where you can kill them or pass by them unnoticed, usually indirectly. A character who can completely manipulate almost any human or animal on the map is a huge boon in itself. Mechanically, Isabel's magic in this game is mechanically perfect, but voodoo and cowboys are a rare combination.

Mechanically, Isabel's magic fits perfectly into a game where lateral thinking is everything, but voodoo and cowboys are an unusual combination. But voodoo and cowboys are an unusual combination. Instead, the revenge story is mixed with the origin story of the group, especially its most boring member, Cooper. He is proof that not all gunmen are cool, and a tragic backdrop is played out.

None of the gangsters enter my mind, but I have no complaints about their work ethic. By the end, they had found new ways to utilize their myriad talents, and it is one of life's great joys to watch them work in tandem to clear a room and ultimately see a plan succeed without a hitch.

The showdown mode allows for this kind of synchronized attack, pausing the game to issue orders to each character. This is an incredibly powerful planning tool and gives the ability to set up complex sequences that can be fully controlled without supernatural micromanagement skills. The problem with launching such an elaborate attack is waiting for the right moment, but the fast-forward function makes that painless. It can be used at any time and will probably be used many times.

The combination of firearms, lots of ammo boxes, and a pause function means that you can blurt out guns under the guise of stealth and welcome the alarm, turning the game into a more tactical shooter. Even for those who like to sneak around and be creative, it is reassuring to have the option of using a gun to get out of trouble. But while guns can be a banging crutch to break through puzzles, ammunition is one of several elements that can be tweaked at the start of each mission. If you want, you can turn the game into a pure, unforgiving stealth game.

Everything is bigger: the map, the number of enemies, the combat area, the explosions. There are a great many obstacles, but just as many tools to deal with them. Although full of amazingly complex clockwork dioramas, Desperados 3 relies a little too heavily on its scale and sheer numbers to create challenges. For example, there is a mission early on to defend a small farmhouse from attack, but instead of focusing on that one spot, it is spread out over a vast area, where you must again kill or sneak past entire armies.

Although impressive stealth sandboxes, none of the maps look great. There is a lot of mud, sand, and ragged buildings, and the gang's journey traverses several areas, but many of the maps lack a clear visual identity, especially compared to Shadow Tactics, where the lighting and art were expressive and set the mood. There are, however, some great trains and a scene where a large ship is set on fire in the middle of a swamp.

The campaign offers 25-30 hours of tricky tactical puzzles, but each mission also offers a number of hidden challenges. The speed-run challenge in particular is a shutdown, with a 15-minute goal set for a mission that took nearly two hours to complete. There is also a series of separate challenges that reuse the map and add new objectives and twists. It is quite fulfilling.

I want to keep chasing the pleasure I get from solving the killer conundrums; I want to get off the map in 15 minutes or less without anyone finding me. Desperados 3 is not critical and does not give you points, but I am compelled to set myself new goals and explore routes I have never taken. I didn't have enough animals to use at my beck and call. My head was full of plans that I came up with after a few missions.

"Desperados 3" is bigger in scale than "Shadow Tactics," noisier, and a little less elegant, but still fitting for a game about gunmen and outlaws. To hell with restraint, give me dynamite. It's fun to make your way through the frontier towns, settlements, and swamps failing, and I've only screamed into my pillow in frustration a couple of times.