Fans of the show-- expect severe dissapointment with this video game adaption. You get what you pay for.
Shootout places you in the recreation of some of the most historic battles of our history-- this is about as good as it gets for the most us. From here the game takes a steep downward plunge into the abyss.
Considering the game is built using Valve's Source engine technology, you'd THINK this game would be mediocre at best. This is untrue. The game shows many graphical blemishes and the Source engine's rag doll physics is hardly given a chance to be displayed due to the fact that the decal count in this game is abysmal. Weapon and character animations are hard on the eyes and can at times leave you questioning how much effort was really put into this game.
Sound is another serious problem in this game. Considering this a game based on realism, the weapon sounds are very poor and at times just downright unbearable to listen to. During many points in the game, I found myself being hit by an enemy I couldn't hear-- only to find out he's a few yards away...
Enemy/Friendly AI is embarrassing. You'll find that most of the game can be played run-n-gun style; this can be attributed to the fact that enemy response times are practically dead.
Gameplay in itself is a train wreck. If you're a fan of the television series-- you're in for a nightmare. The game resembles almost nothing of its television counterpart except for the name. You'll start off with several objectives to complete; from there out you're on your own and you'll find yourself questioning if you're even on the right path much of the time. Each battle can take anywhere between half an hour to an two hours to complete. God forbid that you die at all throughout the mission unless you intend to start back from square one. There are no checkpoints at anytime throughout the mission and remembering to save manually can be a burden. Much of the time I found myself completing missions and feeling as if I just got done doing manual labor rather than playing a computer game.
If you're familiar to the same layout and HUD of Half-Life 2 or any similar mods, you will be finding yourself very comfortable at times and (sadly) that's probably Shootout's only saving grace.
Downloading and installing the game is a nightmare in itself, so if you are truly intent on experiencing this game for yourself-- then get ready for a real headache.
The replay value of this game is nearly non-existent, once you've beaten each mission-- there's nothing incentive to bring you back and play it again. However considering that missions are downloadable you know that you can always look forward to new content. To wrap it up; Shootout is a very difficult experience to describe. Throughout the game you're probably going to end up questioning why you bothered downloading it. History Channel's Shootout: Great Show--Awful Game.