Hello adventurers!
Today I am showing you the somewhat older and rather unknown game, El Matador, a 3rd-person shooter developed by the Czech developer Plastic Reality Technologies in 2006 and published by Cenega Publishing.
PREMISE AND STORY/NARRATIVE
In this game, the player takes on the role of El Matador, a DEA special agent tasked with bringing down drug lords. A new drug cartel is on the rise in Central and South America, sharpening its claws and expanding its influence. Locate the camps, infiltrate the headquarters, and put an end to the cartel's influence.
El Matador has a generic action movie story in order to have a guns-blazing loner killing dozens of criminals.
Here's a short recap of the story with slight spoilers:
After Victor Corbet successfully rescued a DA’s daughter in a nightclub owned by a drug lord, he is sent to Colombia to help the police take down the La Valedora Cartel, who were involved with an incident that affected Victor in a personal manner. In Colombia, Victor works with Captain Enterrador and his fellow police officers: ADA Mia Rodriguez, Sgt. Gabriel Montego, and his close friend Rico Altemetra.
Victor's first assignment involves him eavesdropping on a meeting held in a Bogota Hotel. His team is then ambushed making him the sole survivor. He proceeds to go Punisher on the cartel and earns the nickname „El Matador“
Victor and Rico raid a factory serving as a drug operation base for La Valedora. They are tasked with arresting, a drug kingpin who is controlling the operations. During the raid, Victor destroys the Factory with C4 but the Kingpin escapes. Victor and the Team corner him and in the ensuing shootout, the Kingpin gets wounded and gets executed.
After that, the police find out that the cartel has a training camp in Columbia’s jungles led by a former Israeli Agent (Oy vey!), and Victor is sent to take care of it alone. Due to the information he recieves, the DEA learns about the leader of La Valedora - a former SS Soldier - leading to a high stakes raid on a island fortress.
During the final showdown, tensions rise within the team. Victor gets betrayed and has to make tough decisions. The Game ends with significant changes in the characters lives, hinting at new beginnings and future assignments.
Unfortunately, the devs didn't include the iconic Paynesque comic book cutscenes and instead focused on conventional ones. However, they did take some inspiration from Max Payne in terms of the look and feel of the missions and some characters. For example, Alberto Marica is a spoiled brat gangster who loves to party, similar to Vinni Gognitti. He screams at everyone and even orders his goons to “******* kill” Victor , echoing Gognitti's line: "Ow no! Payne! Not him! ****! ****! ****! What are you waiting for?! Circle him and kill him! Kill the cop!" El Matador also uses the "Here's an important character, let's slow down time and show the players the name of the character" trope (see screenshot). Here's a fun fact: His last name is the Spanish word for ******
CAMPAIGN
It's going to be a short experience (4 hours) The game has 4 difficulties:
- Easy, Normal, Hard, Nightmare
The tutorial is set in a Costa Rican training facility for spec ops.
The first thing you might notice is that the game looks and feels like Splinter Cell but has the gameplay of Max Payne. That's because the game is developed on the Max-FX Engine, the very same engine used for Max Payne 2.
In the tutorial, you learn how to crouch, jump, and interact with the environment. Then you get to the shooting range, where you have access to pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, grenades, and C4.
The first real mission is set in Tijuana, North Mexico - specifically in the Baracuda night club. You and your "SWAT" team try and rescue someone here, blasting through criminals all while Disco music is blaring from every side. It sets the tone quite nicely and does hold up. It's also here where you first really have to use your “Powers”, meaning bullet time. Like his role model Max, Victor can slow down time while dashing to the sides or back and forth.
The game has quite the diverse set of locations, be it a disco in Mexico, or even the most famous city in Colombia, Medelin.
ART DIRECTION
It doesn't exactly have one, though it is similar to Max Payne, except it has no deeply suicidal, pessimistic Philosopher as the main character and the game isn't overly depressive in it's depiction of the areas. In fact, most areas are hot, bright, and full of color. The graphics of the game do look good for a game that came out in 2006, but that also applies to Max Payne 2 too.
(The Devs 100% took Max Payne and Punisher as their inspiration, see the picture here)
SOUND DESIGN
The voice acting is fine for a low budget title like this. The main character is voiced by Tom Clarke-Hill. He’s known for Sniper Elite and has a gruff low voice, perfect for a Max Payne/Punisher mixture. Most of the weapons that are usable, have the same sounds as the Max Payne guns. The soundtrack is also very similar to the soundtrack of Max Payne 2.
ENEMIES
STANDARD CRIMINALS- THE GOON SQUAD
They will be the enemy you most encounter, and in huge amounts. They have all kinds of weapons: pistols, assault rifles, grenades, shotguns. Everything you have, they do too. They will also wear protective gear and can take more damage.
HEAVY CRIMINALS- FAT BASTARDS
Those are big fat brutes and will always have weapons that hit hard, Such as machine guns, grenade launchers and rocket launchers.
BOSSES- IMPORTANT PEOPLE
They will be either in the middle of a mission or at the end, with a closed off area (an arena of sorts) where you can take cover, run away, or flank them.
(Ignore the 100.000 Health, since these screenshots were made after completion of the game)
EQUIPMENT
You have a arsenal of weapons at your disposal, I'll list some examples
HANDGUNS
- Beretta 92FS- Pistol ingame
- Colt Anaconda - Dirty Mary (Easter Egg/Reference to Dirty Harry)
- Colt M1911 variant - with silencer - Silencer ingame
SHOTGUNS
- Pancor Jackhammer
SUBMACHINE GUNS
- Heckler & Koch MP5A3
ASSAULT RIFLES
- M16A1, when fitted with scope, looks like the M16 from Golgo 13
SNIPER RIFLES
- Remington 700 AICS
MACHINE GUNS
- Hand Held M134 Minigun
LAUNCHERS
- Type 69 RPG
GRENADE LAUNCHERS
- DefTech 1315
TIDBITS
The devs were a small team and it shows as it only got mixed reviews and they also had to close doors in the same year. Almost all devs went on to Illusion Softworks, a.s - now known as 2K Czech, s.r.o. responsible for Mafia 1 & 2.
In itself, the game is solid and does many things just as well as its role model. For example, the allied AI is smart and can efficiently eliminate enemies before you arrive. But it also has one unique thing going for it: if an enemy is protected by bulletproof glass or other means, you can shoot somewhere close to them so that the bullets ricochet and hit your target, provided the material allows for it.
NEGATIVES
I'd say there are almost none. The game is very responsive. Gunplay feels good, graphics hold up quite nicely, voice acting is fine, there are plenty of different types of guns, cover and enemies. Most Levels have clutter that act as cover, be it walls, fallen over columns or tables, which is good because enemies come from all sides to deal damage. The last time I played, it had some graphical glitches, but those didn’t appear in my most recent playthrough (but that may have been due to playing on GOG this time, instead of Steam) The game usually doesn't tell you where to go next. Some might dislike that, but it wasn't exactly rocket science to know where you need to go.
CONCLUSION
It took me about 4 hours to beat the game on normal. There are no secrets to discover or achievements to 100% complete the game. It's a straightforward action shooter that just wants you to go on a fun killing spree akin to the Punisher.
If you enjoy Max Payne-like games, i'm sure you'll enjoy "El Matador" too.
PROS:
The gameplay is almost exactly like Max Payne, along with some unique little twists that make it it's own game
Diverse set pieces with their own feel
Bullet Time is well done and can even be extended by killing enemies
Main Character is a no-nonsense Punisher of Criminals, no sparing them
Saving is possible at all times
CONS:
Short game, might be disappointing for people
Steam version of the game is basically dead and does not have any support unlike GOG version
Simplistic gameplay could be a deterrence if one wants more
El Matador feels like what would happen if Remedy handed their Max Payne homework to Plastic Reality Technologies and said, 'Just don't copy it exactly,' and Plastic Reality Technologies replied, 'Sure thing.'
Overall I do recommend it as it's a short and fun experience for small change.
