American Outlaws: Bonnie and Clyde

This is technically extremely impressive, but I think it fails to capitalize on its extremely fascinating subject matter. Bonnie and Clyde have always symbolized a kind of bizarre anachronism in American pop culture. They were outlaws after their time, going on this ill-fated, Western-style robbery spree even though it was the 30s and the world had moved on.

I think there's a lot to say there, particularly if you're writing a crime story. The frontier is a recent memory, the Five Families have just been organized, Vegas was starting to flourish. The gangsters of this time would have known that. You could put any words you want into their mouths to speculate on what people might have thought in this dramatic shift in the way crime was done in North America. You chose to go for a more mechanical approach, which I respect.

Let's talk about mechanics, then, and engage with this game on its own terms. The game seems to go down like this: you're given an option to take or leave a job. You then get to pick what you do during that job. This affects your stats. You move on to the next job. As far as I saw, you continue until you die or go to jail. There's nothing really wrong with this, but it felt like something was missing.

The secret sauce that was missing in this game, I think, was a compelling narrative. Nobody felt like a particularly compelling character, because the characters were never given any time to breathe. I would like to know what these people think of the strange, changing world they inhabit. I'd like to hear their opinions on the violence inherent to their job. Are they disturbed by the fact that I've killed a half dozen cops so far? The reader doesn't get to know, and it leaves it feeling somewhat hollow.

All in all, though, an enjoyable experience. 6/8

GUNFIGHTS is 10.
WOUNDED is 0.
KILLED is 0.
ROBBERIES is 15.
SCORE is 12500.

Hmmm, I wonder if the posse I was with noticed that I was busy mastering the art of my warning shots, and not actually shooting to wound or kill, well, anything for that matter. If so, they were certainly doing a bit of magnanimous act by letting me essentially be a fly on the wall.

Will, as always, he has an interesting way of weaving historical fiction stories in a way that is both engaging as it is interesting. The writing that's in this game remains consistently top notch, and it makes learning a bit of history in this alternative way quite fun! At times you can choose to be an active part of what is occurring in history, or bide your time and keep your cards to your chest. You aren't really punished for whichever choice that you might choose, but when choosing to throw yourself into danger, you better be ready to make the correct split-second choice that will keep you alive to live/rob another day in these tense gun battles. :)

As mentioned in my opening line of this comment, I didn’t really do much of anything when it came to anything more than warning shots and such. Will gives quite a bit of freedom to the player when it comes to his historical story-games. At least as much freedom as one is able to be allowed in the confines of history. Although, I have to say, maybe things would have been even more engaging if inaction at certain moments could lead to a fail-game link. Such as one of the outlaws being killed, or maybe apprehended due to the reader's failure to act during the situation.

It made me start wondering why they were keeping me around when I was just borderline standing around and watching them. All I could think in this instance for their reasoning is that the player character has a wealth of roguish charm, or perhaps mastery of the warning shot was respected.

There's something cool about making it as the last survivor in Will's stories. There's a sense of accomplishment on making it through all of the bullets and many odds of capture, and finding an ending in which maybe eventually you're the last to meet your end in a barrage of gunfire, or you're able to put your past behind you and live a quiet life.

Either way, there's an interesting story that’s here for any reader. Once again, this is a great showing by Will. I recommend this game for any person that finds themselves wanting a very enjoyable story-game to both play and read.

Those obituaries made me feel like a bastard. This is good work and I enjoyed it.

The author manages to present historical events through interactive fiction while neither stripping the player of all agency or betraying the integrity of the story told. Obviously the gameplay is railroaded and unfortunately the choices get repetitive. I’m really a fan of running scores at the bottom of pages it turns out, and those may have made the difference for me. I learned today that “making out like a bandit” means half of the time getting no loot at all, and just as often being a few bullets poorer.

The writing style is pleasant, concise, and clean, but clean to the point of being sterile. Description is used sparingly. One coat of paint is enough to communicate the facts and those were the priority of the writer. Few liberties were taken in that regard. There were many names but little character. We got glimpses at these people, but only those available through a catalogue of events. As far as I could tell, nothing is embellished for the sake of storytelling and hardly more than a single line of dialogue is fabricated.

I have to appreciate the devotion to authenticity. The story feels complete and recounts events carefully. It tells the reader what happened. A careful reader might even catch the scent of what it was like to be there. Again, the slight gamification is a positive in my book. I considered my choices more than I might have otherwise.

i love to story please make more like this

i love this story can you make another one like it like this but different year like ijn the 2000

From the little I know of this part of American history, this story makes a successful effort to portray the bank robber's life as it might have been. Glad you put in the details about the victims' widows & children and so on.
Giving us a way to keep score and rack up as many robberies as possible was an interesting motivation.

I love it, it's quite a interesting perspective to get into the 'Bonnie and Clyde' aspect. Good job, mate!

I lived a life of crime till the end, near the end I took time to relax. I'd say I lived and nice life with mostly people I could trust. BUT I STILL OUTLIVED THEM ALL!!! MUAHAHAHAHA

very good

is the best tingh in the worls