GUN as a title = Generic. GUN the actual game = Anything but generic.
Graphics: The game isn't as good-looking as most Xbox games, but that's not saying it's not decent at least. The environments are pretty nice, and the character models are okay. There are some cool facial-animations, but there's not much else.
Sound: The sound is one of the better parts of the game, not doubt. With a great, spaghetti-western style soundtrack and awesome desert-y sound effects, the game creates one of the best ambiances I've heard in some time. The voice acting is excellent, with only a few people standing out. The sound is without a doubt one of the best parts of the game.
Gameplay: I love gory, fast-paced action in my shooting games, and GUN delivers on so many levels it's mind-blowing. There is a huge amount of moments that are guranteed to put a giant grin on your face; like, for instance, the first time you:
- Blow a dude's head off with a well-aimed rifle shot
- Kill five or six enemies with one shotgun shell (complete with their rag-doll bodies getting thrown multiple feet backwards)
- Shoot a TNT barrell with a group of guys around it, causing their limbs to get blown off
This leads to one issue; the games seems a little bit overdone sometimes in terms of violence; I found myself cringing at some of the more brutal cutscenes and shootouts. The storyline is your basic revenge story, filled with lots of tragic deaths of friends and unexpected twists. In other words, the storyline is entertaining, keeps you interested, and gives you reasons not to skip over the cutscenes. GUN is more than just running around, shooting mindless goons. You can also ride horses, go mining for gold, herd cattle, go bounty hunting, and much more. Not all of these side-missions are really worth playing, but a good number of them are great. One of my main gripes, however, is with the controller layout; they take advantage of every button, and I mean EVERY button, incluing the D-Pad and using the analog sticks like buttons. This lead to some confusion due to the untradition button assignments (black button to change weapons? White button as the action button? Left analog stick to reload!? C'mon, guys!), but you get used to it after accidently pressing the wrong button for the 10,000th time.
Overall: This game, despite its slightly lacking visuals, weird button layout, short length and some bad mission objectives, is still a great game. If you have the maturity and stomach to handle it, I reccomend at least a rental.