I have been following Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West’s development for some time and watching all of the videos as well. Not only just for work but for personal interest. Finally, I got a chance to get into the game prior to the launch (April 8th) and fool around with it.

The first thing that struck me is the coolness of the graphics style. Sort of somewhere between standard FPS and Battlefield Heroes, but all set in the wild wild west. In the game you get to choose from one of four classes - Gunslinger (run and gun type), Trapper (long-range sniper type), Deputy (medium to long range rifle), and Boomstick-wielding, dynamite-throwing miner, Blaster, the up close and person type.

Each of the four classes radiates a particular unique synergy bonus: Accuracy, Critical, Damage and Armor. They also have their own special attacks and items like the Trapper has a bear trap which can stop an enemy long enough to get a bead on a headshot, etc.

There are multiple gameplay modes to jump into. Many of them will be familiar: capture the flag, control territory, etc. But there’s also a gold collection mode that’s sort of new and cool. You have to haul big bags of gold back to your main base. Those things are bloody heavy so you can’t shoot and have to drop the bag to defend yourself. Of course, if you’ve got a well organized team you could always have an armed escort to protect you while hauling in the goods. Meanwhile, another team of players could snipe the opponents who are attempting to do the same thing.

There are six modes in all:

• Conquest - 6 maps, Control strategic points
• Robbery - 2 maps, one team defends gold, the other tries to steal it.
• Powderkeg - 2 maps, one team defends, the other uses powderkegs to blow up objectives.
• Shootout - 6 maps, team deathmatch.
• Greed - 5 maps - Both teams are out to get the gold.
• Gold fever (coop) - This is like a survival mode for 1-2 players. You’ve got one map and you have to survive wave after wave of enemies. Plus, you have to grab the gold and haul it home.

Some of the maps have multiple modes so it’s not 22 maps in total right now. However, there is no word on if these will be the final maps in the full version next week.