GUN: Grand Theft Horse I review the game GUN: a sweet under-the-radar title worth buying.
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Free-roaming: Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto has been the unchallenged captain of free-roaming :go anywhere and do what you want" gameplay for seven years. GUN attempts to change this--albeit with a western theme. Does GUN's cowboy-powered world have what it takes to take down a behemoth? The answer shortly.
GUn follows the travels of Colton White, a man out for revenge and justice who plays by his own rules. Basically, he is every Western Character ever played by John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. His character is static--he is an antihero through and through. However, every single cowboy film I have ever been exposed to has followed the same plan as this, so I'm not too critical here.
What really gives GUN a boost is its freedom. Sure there is a main story, but while you're not out unravelling the secrets of your father's death and cutting a swath of justice as a Western badass, you can tackle a wide variety of side missions to boost your stats in areas as diverse as bounty-hunting, serving as town viginante, cattle herding, or even acting as local card shark at the casino.
The environment is wide and expansive, so even if you're tired of side missions, you can, say: blow the head clean off a local pedestrian and hole-up in the saloon fending-off the "town heros" and scalping them afterwards (guilty--several times).
The game is fun. I don't know any other word to describe it--its just plain fun. While gunbattles are easily the best part of the game, they may get repetative, but there is a solution to this: creativity. Say you're facing a band of gunslingers and you're low on ammo (guilty). But look beside you--a TNT barrel. You decide to grab it and toss it at them. The barrel will not explode on impact, so you use your quickdraw (a la Max Payne) and shoot it right in the air over their heads. BAM! GUN is that cool.
The game looks gorgeous for a late Xbox title. Aside from a few glitches and textures, it was gorgeous. Special care was given to horse-riding physics and I found that it was very realistic aside from the bad smell and sassiness I have come to associate with horses.
However, its not all suger and cake. The gun battles ARE repetative near the end. Very fun but I found myself doing the same thing repeatedly. The environment is large, but at times, perhaps too large. More often then not, I'd find myself in the town at one edge of the map and realize I had to be in the other town on the other side. The trip takes around 2 minutes--longer if your horse is slow. If there was some way to have this hugeness but still have enough action to make the trip go easier, that would be excellent.
GUN is a game that really slipped under the radar for most. It was a great title, just not a great GTA hit. Then again, it was never trying to be GTA anyway.
HeadshotJackal's Rating:
I gave this game a 6.5/10. It is a solid title with a lot to do. Buy it, enjoy it, but know you will do a lot of horse-riding to seperate towns.