Gun Review

It’s not very often that we see a developer so well-known for a franchise and they decide to surprise us. Capcom, makers of Resident Evil, gave us Killer 7. n-Space, makers of the crapfest Mary Kate & Ashley games, gave us Geist. The case is no different here, as makers of the infamous Tony Hawk skater franchise give us what is simply known as Gun. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill shooting game. If you’re a fan of westerns in any way, you may very well fall in love with Gun. But be forewarned, the game does an excellent job of presenting what may have been the Old West, so do keep the children at bay.

You are Colton White, a gruff young cowboy, that is out for some revenge. At the beginning of the game, you are awoken by your father Ned who you hunt with. During this time you are taught the core mechanics of shooting basic guns. You utilize normal shooting, as well as the game’s intuitive Quickdraw feature. This is done to kill time also, as it leads into what is the main plot of the game. You eventually wind up on a steamboat with your father, as he needs to take care of some business. You are greeted by the local preacher, but something doesn’t seem right about him. Eventually the steamboat is attacked by a group of renegades and you all of a sudden have no idea what’s going on. You help defend the boat as long as you can with Ned, but eventually it’s a lost cause. You are thrown overboard as the boat is about to explode while hearing the stunning words, “I ain’t your father!” Talk about shock and awe.

Now as was said before, Gun is meant to be a realistic depiction of the Old West. Not only with its “personality”, but how it looks as well. There are four main areas of navigation: Dodge City, Empire, Blackfoot Camp and Apache Territory. In this entire scheme you have your typical wooden buildings that encompass saloons and weapons shops. Then there are the numerous hills, mountains and dirt paths. Of course the game wouldn’t be complete without a nice railroad, mine or ranch, and they are here too. The animals and way everyone dresses reflects that time period as well. Horses are always seen ready to take their next ride to a destination. Men dawn the traditional boots and hat while the women have their enormously large dresses.

Gun in an overall sense is one fine looking game, but as with any there are some shortcomings. For instance, the scaling of some buildings was just a little small. You ride horseback for a good majority of the game, and being able to see over the roof of a building on horse really shouldn’t happen. There are some noticeable glitches as well. Fallen enemies may become half stuck in a wall with their feet hanging out, and in one strange occurrence, you may see Colton holding onto something that isn’t even there if utilizing a human shield. The detail isn’t exactly elaborate throughout either. It is understandable though, since Gun’s world is completely free to roam. There are no loading times whatsoever, so some detail was sacrificed. It generally isn’t noticeable, but you will see it. Gun is a depiction of the Old West, and the graphical aspect is mostly satisfying.

The actual guns you use in the game look great too, and have their individual distinctions. They look great, and are just as fun to fire. Throughout your adventure you will be treated to revolvers, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, bows and various throwing explosives. The shooting engine works more or less like most others have this generation. The dual analog sticks control Colton’s movements and aiming. You can adjust the sensitivity of them to appeal to all likenesses. Shooting is done with the traditional right shoulder and ducking or rolling is done with the left. The only feature that is odd here is how the reloading, holstering, zooming and switching of weapons is done. This is all done on the D-Pad. As strange as it might seem at first though, it was done that way to make controlling the game easier.

Quickdraw mode is a huge part of Gun. Just think Matrix bullet time combined with the arduous task of “drawing” quickly in an Old West standoff and you have Quickdraw. It is initiated with B just as long as you have some of the meter filled. Something like headshots will do that. When you press B to start it, you are switched from the more usual third person view to a first person perspective. You then see whatever weapon you have drawn in that view with everything slowed down. What’s really nice is you literally have infinite ammo during the duration of Quickdraw, but only because your revolvers are the only guns used in it. Nevertheless, you can fire to your heart’s desire, and flick the control stick left or right to bring additional enemies into view and get a lock on them. This is incredibly useful when facing large numbers of foes at once, and the faster you are, the more meter you refill.