[Games] How The West Was Won

A Review of "Gun"
Platform: Playstation 2 | XBox | Gamecube

by Nick Judin
December 7, 2005

This is my third review of a Western game, and the last for a while. Scout’s honor. But “Gun” is such a fun game, building on the successes and failures of previous attempts to make an experience out of the Wild West, that I had to go West one more time. Like many games set in the time period, the theme of “Gun” is a mix of revenge, greed and sadness. Starting out in the wilderness, hero Colton White is thrust into a frantic search for a sacred artifact that took the life of his father. With only a couple guns, a horse and a token to a place called the Alhambra, he sets out for Dodge City.

It’s not surprising that “Gun” entails shooting. There are four types of weapons to choose from: pistols, bows, rifles and shotguns. Each receives several upgrades as the story continues, the next installment more lethal than the last. Aside from those, melee weapons are available. These also grow in power, the final weapon being so deadly it actually makes it hard to apprehend criminals alive! The game, of course, allows for horse riding, giving the character almost supernatural skills in it. Horses do have a life meter, however, and that’s necessary but also kind of sucky. Nobody likes killing a horse.

The story is an action-packed ride through a couple cities, miles and miles of wilderness and a good bit of blood. But when you’re not seeking revenge, there are plenty of things you can do for fun or for cash. Bounty hunting, my personal favorite, has you trekking to the most remote mountains, or maybe just the saloon down the street, and fighting vicious outlaws. Most are worth more alive, but generally nobody’s going to blame you if the target comes back in a pine box. Gold mining, the most profitable of ventures, is more a reward for exploring the map than anything. Just be sure to bring that pick—gold you can’t mine is depressing. Pony express is a fancy name for horse races. Federal marshal and lawman are really fun and are as difficult as keeping the law in the Wild West sounds like it would be. Poker and ranching are just plain boring.

The graphics are good. It’s hard for me to complain about the scenery, because although the “dusty pass through treacherous mountains” gets kind of stale after a while, there wasn’t much else out there. Some of the characters are very well made, but the others could have used more effort.

The sound was created with the epic nature of the game in mind, and several orchestral tracks accompany it. More importantly, the voices are well done. No ear-killers here.

All in all, “Gun” is fun and interesting, if not short, and proves to be a great way to kill some time.