Brutal. That’s the first word you’ll think of when asked to describe Gun once you’ve played it. The thoughts of the maniac Reverend killing his unhelpful lush by throwing an axe at the back of her head during one of the early cut scenes will come to mind. Brutal. Visions of your ‘father’ Ned White running out of ammo whilst defending a riverboat, using the butt of his rifle to knock three attackers sprawling and then being blown up as the boiler gives in to the heat of the flames will be thought of. Brutal. Thoughts of slowing down the action with the ‘Quickdraw’ control and shooting a would-be killer in the shoulder, knocking him flying from his horse and watching him fall to his doom. Brutal.
And that’s exactly what Gun is. That’s exactly what the Old West was. No molly-coddling and wrapping in cotton wool there, just violence by the pound ‘ so as a representation of how things used to be, this game scores highly. As a game, thankfully, it also does fairly well, providing thrills, spills, a usable interface ‘ which is not a given in a game of this type ‘ and a whole host of weapons with which to wreak havoc.
The game starts with you ‘ Colton White ‘ learning the ins and outs of the control system by having Ned teach you how to hunt, bagging a couple of elk, some quail and then defending your kills against a pack of hungry wolves. There’s something about this opening section that is just stunning. Whether it’s Ned (voiced absolutely magnificently by Kris Kristofferson), the minimalistic backing track, the environment, or a combination of the three ‘ the opening scenes will be remembered for a long, long time. Moments after those opening scenes and following a tragic shootout on a riverboat, you’re pretty much left to fend for yourself ‘ with Ned’s last words being about how he isn’t your real father. You know what the goal is going to be now, don’t you’
However, unlike other games, Gun’s story never comes across as pass’. You’re drawn in to the game world and Colton’s struggles somewhat, and you’ll stay there until the game is complete. The scriptwriter ‘ Randall Johnson (The Doors, Mask of Zorro) ‘ has done an excellent job.
In your arsenal, you have the ability to pop into ‘Quickdraw’ mode with a tap of the R2 button. This is the Old West version of The Matrix’s bullet-time, and allows you to pick off opponents one after another after another by simply tapping your left thumbstick to target the next. Simplistic’ Maybe, but when you’ve got five enemies all with barrels aiming squarely at you, you need something to help you out. Plus, it isn’t unlimited, so it’s not like you’ll be running through the entire game without using any skill. You also have access to all manner of Gun types, thrown weapons ‘flaming whiskey bottles, etc ‘ and bow weapons, including arrows strapped with dynamite. Oh, yes. Up close, you can hack at your opponents with your trusty knife, or grab them as hostages, slitting their throats whenever you desire. Like I said, Gun is brutal.
Not all is grand in the Old West, though. The way in which the story is presented is a tad annoying, with the free-roaming action being brought to a sudden and unwelcome stop as the game presents another cutscene. You’ll first notice this on the riverboat, when you arrive at the top level to help Ned in his fight with the attackers. One minute, you’re firing on all cylinders ‘ so to speak ‘ and gunning down would-be assassins. The next, you’re watching Ned talk about how you need to defend the East side of the boat in cutscene form. With such a well-written story, it’s a shame that the atmosphere is spoilt this way. It isn’t the end of the world, sure, but it does detract from the experience.
The way in which the game over-compensates for your mistakes is also a little bit of an annoyance. You wouldn’t expect anyone to complain about being credited with a kill when they actually missed by a good few feet, but in Gun, it’s so obvious that you can’t miss it. A huge wider-than-the-character’s-chest targeting box appears around them when you give them focus, and just hitting the trigger when it turns red is enough to guarantee a hit. Sure, you won’t fill up your QuickDraw meter as quickly by doing things this way (since that is filled best by headshots), but you can walk through the entire game without having to really use the right thumbstick’s barrel view feature. Again, this detracts from the realism a little.
Whilst Gun gives you freedom and allows you to take on Pony Express jobs, go roaming, kill innocent townsfolk or hey, just go on to the next mission, something is missing. Taking a job for example, won’t do anything more for you than raise a few of your stats (mainly the cash figure), so there’s little point to it. Mining for gold is the same. No, you’ll try these side-missions once and then probably not come back to them, and this leaves the Old West feeling emptier than it ever did. This is why we’re so thankful that the main game missions are so compelling, interesting and action-packed. Even the hit-and-miss boss battles are welcome, especially when completion grants you a new weapon.
