A quick blast through the Wild West. Entertaining, but short.
After the hectic beginning the game settles more into a more free-roaming type of world. Side-quests are unlocked by following the storyline and you’ll never have any problems telling the two apart, as even the map tells you where to go to move the story along, if you’ve run out of things to do. And run out you probably will, as there are only a few places that ‘spawn’ quests when unlocked. Fortunately a lot of these are fun to do, despite being variations on “go here, kill this (or don’t!)”. Considering the whole game consists of killing things, they don’t seem out of place. Some side quests like herding cattle, hunting animals or playing poker offer a nice change of pace and fit very well into the Western theme. There isn’t much in this game that you’d expect in the West and can’t do, except perhaps some “hot coffee” action at the brothels...
The environment is what really brings this game to life, though. The game world is quite small but packed with varying scenery, including forts, rivers, waterfalls, a lake and dusty old cabins. Spurring your horse to near-death across the plains in order to make that medicine delivery in time is thrilling enough, but so are the little things like the clop clop of it slowing down or its neigh and majestic leap over a crevice.
On the other hand, seeing enemies (and the player) running around with burning arrows sticking out of their limbs is less thrilling, but it’s just a game.
Control is responsive and manageable, although I’m led to believe certain reviewers didn’t take the time to adjust the mouse sensitivity before starting, as mine was set much too high to be of any use.
The special ‘quick-draw’ is a first-person bullet-time that’s useful for quickly exterminating enemies and will even help you lock on to them. More than a gimmick, this handy tool will probably help you avoid many near-death situations, at least until you receive better weapons from boss battles. Speaking of near-death, the screen also slows down and changes slightly when your health is low, similarly to the Hitman series.
The main problem with GUN is it’s empty and short. A good estimate for game time is around 10 hours, perhaps a little more on higher difficulties, and that’s including all the side-quests. Completing the game at 100% will give you some bonus items but unfortunately, there isn’t anywhere to really use them, apart from stirring up a posse by causing some ruckus in town. It would have been nice to play the game from the beginning with your special weapons, for example, or get some new gameplay modes.
Were GUN not so short it would be easier to recommend it. It’s still a fun, violent, blast, but don’t plan on spending more than a few evenings of play with it.