This showdown in the Wild West will come up short but at least it has the spirit of simulating the Wild West feel.
Game Title: Gunfighter The Legend of Jesse James
Platform: PlayStation (PSOne)
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Age Rating: 11+ ELSPA, ESRB: Teen
Release Date: November 30th 2001 (North America), December 7th 2001 (Europe)
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Game Score: 4.0/10
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Summery:
This showdown in the Wild West will come up short but at least it has the spirit of simulating the Wild West feel.
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With Time Crisis 2 finally released on home consoles on the PS2 Ubisoft turns back at the PSOne with a game that takes you into the Hat of famous Outlaw Jesse James, not to be confused with Jesse and James from the Pokemon series. The end result is Gunfighter The Legend of Jesse James that is a short trip Light Gun shooter that is only considering as a preowned game or a rental.
At the beginning Jesse's girlfriend Zee gets Kidnapped and his friend Cole soon becomes executed and it's up Jesse and his trusty Six shooter to blast through waves of other Outlaws that are after his head and eventually take on Ex Marshall Carlson. One of the best moments of the game is the voice acting and great writing which brings out the accents of what Outlaws sounds like back in the Wild West days.
Gunfighter plays the same way as Namco's Time Crisis instalments with the "Duck and Emerge engine as you use the Light gun or the optional Analog Controller to shoot down waves of Cowboys while avoiding most of the red and brown guys shoots. Like Time Crisis you reload or avoid enemy shots by using the reload button which can be to either Press or Release. As for controls on the Light gun go, Ubisoft changed the layout to both A and B buttons to reload while pressing them and the trigger together pauses the game. This can be annoying if you're trying to pause the game if you get called or whatever. You fight your way through 5 different stages such as the Saloon, Desert, mine, train and eventually the town for the final showdown as you clear each wave before moving on to the next. Each stage has a simple boss fight where you pump dozens of bullets into their face before they eventually fall.
Gunfighter is more of a simple shooting gallery where the AI mostly stands in the open ready to be shot but you can only shoot one enemy character once that eliminates any chances of pulling of multiple shots at them which is disappointing. The only change in this game scenery is that there are civilians running around so you'll have to be careful not to shoot them or else you'll lose time. Jesse mostly relies on his six shooter but sometimes you'll come to use a Gatling gun to gun down groups of enemies but however there's little of them during these moments and they still die in one shot so these moments are pointless.
Most of the stages are easy but sometimes you'll take dozens of shots to the face as soon as some red guys appear instantly so you'll end up dying only a few times. Only if you die a few times there are Continues lying around so you can beat the game without to much trouble hopefully.
After you beat the game you can test your shooting skills in 5 different minigames that are mostly uninteresting. The best of the entire is the Showdown at the end of the game against Carson. You aim the Light gun away from the screen and the signal strikes you shoot down Carson fast enough before he shoots you or point the gun at the screen before the signal. This works really well for an ending boss as this simulates the feel of Wild West gunfights.
Unless you are using the G-Con 45 (Guncon in US) by Namco then you'll experience some bullets going off target when using a third party gun controller or if you're using a incompatible Television.
Gunfighter's graphics are average for the most part, the environments are some effects are quite impressive but however the character models do look blend or sometimes ridiculous like Zee's face expressions. The games camera does a decent job in keeping up with the games action as it avoids the gunfire going on as you take cover behind barrels, walls and chairs. The music tracks feature amazing Wild West tracks that use instruments like Guitars, Pianos and Ocarinas.
Aside from having civilians and fighting an actual Wild West showdown there is little replay value to this trip through the 19th century Wild West. If you've blown any of the Time Crisis games then perhaps you'll consider buying this game as a rental or as a game worth playing second hand cause this showdown in the Wild West will come up short but at least it has the spirit of simulating the Wild West feel.
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The Good Points:
1. The showdown is a fun Minigame to play.
2. Amazing Wild West soundtrack
The Bad Points:
1. The game is short and there's little replay value.
2. Light Gun Accuracy can be inconsistent.
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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