GUN

Despicable and violent, the Wild West wasn't much like those old Sunday flicks, and more like Neveroft's GUN. But will the Activision game blow you away? Final vids included.

	Version Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox	Developer Neversoft	Publisher Activision	Genre Action

By John Gold

It's a shame that you don't see kids playing Cowboys & Indians anymore. I remember spending many a lazy Sunday afternoon with my cousins, threatening to scalp one of them if my brother wasn't cut loose from the rumbling train tracks. It was all a lot of fun. You probably wouldn't want kids to be playing Activision's new Western-themed shooter Gun, though. This is the Wild West at its most violent.

Ostensibly based on the period as seen in novelist Cormac McCarthy's blood-encrusted Blood Meridian, Gun does away with the niceties of the Old West and replaces them with blood, bullets and boudoirs of infidelity. And it's all done with a heavy Hollywood-tinged hand.

I don't mean that it's fluffy and poorly conceived. No, this game hearkens to the better parts of Hollywood's talents. It strives to provide a solid narrative, spurred by strong voice performances, that pulls you all the way through the game. Take the opening scene, for instance, where you're not only taught how to use the different weapons and control yourself and your omnipresent steed, but you're also introduced in seamless fashion to several of the main players in the story. There's perhaps an over-reliance on cut scenes, but that's an unfortunate repercussion of the way developers are grappling with the idea of a cinematic experience.

As a game, Gun is so-so. The action is at times rapid and raw, but it also feels quite directed. During earlier showings of the game, when it was still shrouded in inky secrecy, Activision wanted to stress that the game has open-ended, but it doesn't always feel that way.

The mechanics of the experience are such that they seem good enough but not great. You won't sit there marvelling at how easy it is to do everything, but you'll not be tearing out what's left of your hair either. Gunplay is naturally the core of the experience and it's quite fun too. Your six-shooter comes with the nigh-obligatory slow-motion option and a timer that drains, heralding the resumption of normal-paced death.

There's an impressive arsenal on hand for you to experiment with and you'll get better at using them as you progress through the revenge-themed story. Rifles are especially fun to use, but there's enough distinction between the rest of them that you'll be hunting to find the combinations you're most comfortable with. There are also a ferocious melee option, which is impressive in its blood-letting but slightly cumbersome to use, and all manner of throwables.

The developers at Tony Hawk-creator Neversoft must be commended for making an experience that you'll want to try to finish - unlike so many other games in the increasingly more crowded (and frankly increasingly stupid) action genre. You're constantly kept abreast of where you are, what you've done and what you're supposed to be doing. Gun isn't the longest game either, coming in at around a dozen hours, which for most of the aging market that's likely to pick up this title is a boon.

The Wild West is perhaps a cruelly underutilised theme for videogames, but Gun has tried to go beyond the standards set by what little has come before with a more realistic take on how life was on those barren (and in some cases surprisingly green) plains. There's a lot to like about Gun, but I couldn't help but feel that it could have been better.

Still, this is a worthwhile diversion if you're looking for a new action game, and it's one that should sate your blood lust easily.