Like GTA, but take out the ‘A’ and replace with ‘H’
Gun takes advantage of the free roaming environment perfected by the GTA series but removes the cars and replaces them with horses, which we will learn are just as easy to wreck. The story begins, after the obligatory training mission, with you and your ‘Father’ on a steamer headed down an unnamed river. There is a secret meeting onboard with aforementioned man and a prostitute when all hell breaks loose. The boat is ambushed by a band of murderous men gunning, pun intended, on everyone’s demise. You’re thrown clear from the perilous barge, but not before Ned tells you to get to Dodge City and is killed. You wake up days later on the shore bent on revenge. You are introduced to the sleepy western town of Dodge City and its counterpart Empire, where you will bring down your fury. Your one lead will soon meet her demise but not before you learn the crux of this whole macabre tale. You eventually battle with a deranged Railroad Magnate and his minions in search of a golden cross.
Technical Details: The graphics are good, the characters are well rendered but the buildings are quite drab, but this could lend itself to the time period. The controls are easy to master, which mostly include shooting up everyone in site, with pistols and rifles; and if they get to close, chopping with your Tomahawk. You will acquire new weapons as the story progresses. There is a quick draw system that will slow everything down, Matrix Style, and allow you to take down your enemies. One sticking point for me is the ineffectiveness of these early guns. Give me Master Chief’s pulse gun any day over these old irons. The title would lead you to believe that you have to jack horses from unsuspecting victims, but in reality, the horses are basically laying about to be had; and stealing horses brings no repercussions. The controls for riding horses are easy and it’s easy to shoot while riding. You have to manage how hard you ride you stag with their health meter. Money that you earn in the side missions, described below, can be used to purchase upgrades at the General Store. You get everything from better accuracy, quicker reloads and larger magazines, but you’ll see little difference overall. The voice acting is incredible with the likes of Thomas Jane, Kris Kristoferson and Lance Henrikson offering up their talent. But other than that the sound is lacking. One bad note is that the music will immediately shut off as soon as you exit a building and resume when entering. You can save your game, but if you get killed you start off right where you were with full health, so it’s easy, and it could have been fleshed out better.
The overall story gives you less than 10 hours of play but side missions add a few more hours and are quite enjoyable. The missions include, but are not limited to, bounty hunting, poker, pony express missions, hunting and prospecting. The bounties are pretty standard, walk up to a wanted poster and it will give you the low down on a crook that needs capturing or even killing! The side missions are unlocked after you have completed enough of the story. You can try your hand at Texas Hold’Em, which I would wager wasn’t around back then, against four bots for the pot. Again they are enjoyable missions but add little to the overall story.
Gun offers what Red Dead Revolver tried to due 2 years ago and missed, which is funny considering Rockstar did that one. It gives you a general story with plenty of side missions in an open ended game. I do think that they could have softened the image of the Native Americans in the game. They are mostly portrayed as a bunch of murderous savages, and eventually with upgrades you will get to scalp your victims. All in all a good play and hopefully they can get a follow-up to this which takes hold of all its potential.