Half-Life: WANTED!

The gameplay combines single-player campaign and online modes. There are classic shootouts and an unusual team variant with a chicken, where one mistake can cost victory. However, weapon balance and combat aren't entirely smooth. Despite a wide arsenal of historical firearms — from revolvers and shotguns to rifles and even a gatling gun — most of them feel inaccurate or too slow. Artificial inaccuracy makes precise shooting almost impossible, and reloading takes painfully long. As a result, the rifle remains the only truly reliable weapon.

Enemies, especially Mexican bandits in the second half of the campaign, seem almost "cheating": they use the same guns as the player, but shoot much more accurately, reload faster, and can withstand an excessive amount of hits. This combination turns shootouts into an exhausting struggle where you constantly have to retreat and seek cover even on easy difficulty.

Despite all the problems, WANTED! remains a notable part of modding history. The project demonstrates the ambition and desire of developers to experiment with settings and mechanics back in 2001, even before games like Call of Juarez or Red Dead Redemption appeared.

Despite the controversial balance, Half-Life: WANTED! stands out for its atmosphere. Old towns, canyons, and desert streets look unusual for mods of that time, and the use of items like whiskey or herbs enhances the Wild West feeling. Sound design, voice acting, and even small details like the interface create a cohesive image, and the campaign itself doesn't overload with direct narrative, leaving the player space for imagination and immersion. It's precisely because of these elements that the mod is often remembered fondly as one of the most vivid and colorful projects based on Half-Life.

How to play multiplayer

Since it's now difficult to find players in multiplayer, you can add bots. Simply open the console with the ~ key, then enter the command addbot ? where ? is the number of bots you want to play with.