14 DAY TRIAL // 
It looks like Tony Hawk has grown weary of blowing away any competition. So he decided to take things more personal and start doing some real damage. And because a skateboard is not usually anyone's weapon of choice, he asked his old-folks from Neversoft to provide him with something really nasty. Thus the Gun was born. But, against anyone's expectation, it's loaded with blanks.
Story The narrative behind Gun made me think twice about what am I doing: watching an old-school western or playing a third-person shooter? And it is no wonder things popped-up so good. The screenplay is written by Randall Jahnson ("The Doors", "The Mask of Zorro"). And the voice acting - ranging from Kris Kristofferson (as Ned White), Ron Perlman (as Hoodoo Brown) to Lance Henriksen (as Thomas Magruder) - is just staggering. After watching the prologue - which is, yet again, masterfully crafted -, I felt an unnatural urge to go through the entire story.
You will play as a young hunter named Colton White (great voice acting by Thomas Jane), who learns in the "Luke Skywalker" way that the man who raised him and taught him how to survive in the wilderness was not his father. As faith would have it, Ned White - your mentor and step father - won't be able to clear things up. After being ambushed by a band of marauders led by a ravenous-looking character known as reverend Reed (Brad Douriff), the steamboat he was on with you explodes. Just before that, he gives you a strange token and pushes you overboard. So, you are left to seek answers through retribution in a world led by what's best in men: greed.
Gameplay Gun is a first/third-person shooter enriched with some RPG elements. You will be free to explore the entire world right after the prologue - which is, in fact, the tutorial. Gun resembles very much games like Gothic, Morrowind or Grand Theft Auto. You will be required to finish some tasks in order to advance in the game. But unlike the others, each one of these main quests means that you have to kill many weak enemies led by a stronger boss. After completing each of these quests, you will be granted with a brand new weapon - either a fire-arm or a cold-steel weapon, and your stats (riding, melee fighting, shooting, quick-draw, and so on) will be improved.
Of course, there will be also many side-quests in which you will have to do some more killing. The role of these secondary missions is for you to raise your stats and obtain funds for your weapons' upgrades. It becomes really boring, really quick. If it weren't for the story, for the stats (they really count) and the equipment, I would have gunned down the game. Slaughtering AI-controlled adversaries was nice in the early Doom series, or Postal, or (un)Serious Sam, but Gun intends to be a mature, violent game. And this "kill the bastards" thing doesn't fit in the landscape. Served in large quantities, gore dilutes itself.
Between the missions you choose to deal with, there is really nothing to do or see. Besides riding your horse to death or stare at some plain landscapes, there is almost nothing out there. See for yourselves. I understand that the Wild West was mostly barren and uninhabited, but a game defined by these characteristics isn't fun to play.
The physics of aiming and moving resembles the one in Splinter Cell, but it is unpolished and ultimately tiring. Your character moves like being recently stuffed. Aiming is also sluggish. In order to hit your foes, you are required to put your cross-hair on them and wait for it to lock on (it gets red). It is not surprising, because the game was designed for consoles, where the control isn't as precise as that provided by the mouse, but I just hate to improve my patience instead of my reflexes when dealing with shooters.
This system of aiming has an unwanted consequence. It is impossible to do anything with small fire arms at great distances. This means that if you are out of ammo for your rifles, you will have to go melee. It is funny, but your pistols have such a low range of fire that the tomahawk - mainly because of its superior damage and rate of fire - becomes the close -quarters weapon of choice. Pistols are to be used only in contained space using the quickdraw option. It is a bit like the bullet-time in Max Payne, but, unlike it, you will zoom in and scroll - with strafe keys - between your enemies while popping their heads out. After some exercise and some upgrades, quick will become blazing.
Melee attack and throwing were implemented as an individual type of attack (like in Farcry). This way, fighting scenes may become nasty: shoot - blow up - burn - slash - stab - scalp.
Well, although Gun seems to look bad in terms of gameplay, it isn't. Riding saves it all. Working so much at the Tony Hawk series counted a lot for this project. It is very hard to make two combined objects to act natural when moving (it is no wonder that bike simulators are so rare). The horse looks and acts surprisingly well, but also, your character acts very smooth on it. The mechanics of the mustang-rider are incredibly well harmonized. The game thrives on this approach. The mount's high HP, the feeling you get when dueling from its back, and - more than anything - the possibility of trampling your opposition, are enough reasons for you to play the whole game on the saddle.
As I told you before, the way of playing is open. You will have to count on your map. Cross my heart and hope to die, this is one of the best maps I have ever seen. I've never got lost in the game. And, whatever I've done, I knew what was requested from me to do. Because the implementation of a smart compass, and because that which is important is always highlighted, Gun offered my enough comfort for me to forget its dark aspects.
In terms of "means of killing", you will have almost everything we've met in westerns. Tomahawks, hand-guns, rifles, bows, cannons, gattling-guns, TNT, and whiskey-cocktails. I won't spoil your fun, and let you discover them all by yourself. Because every one of these weapons will be won by killing their original owner. By the end of the game you will have a fine collection kept in your inventory for you to freely choose from, whenever you want.
Concept Making a game where the story line is everything is not a hot thing to do. Against this belief, bringing up the West from where Clint Eastwood (Bronco Billy, Unforgiven, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Joe Kidd) and co. (the later Tombstone, The Quick and the Dead) rocked our worlds, may grant you a ticket to the moon - one way only.
Until now, the western motif wasn't taken into consideration too seriously by game designers (there is only a Red Dead Revolver by Rockstar, and Outlaws by Lucas Arts). I did not understand why until Gun was born. The Wild West does not provide us with SMGs and flamethrowers, and it needs a grim story and a moral dilemma for it to work. It's hard to make, and even harder to sell if you are not "elite" in this line of work.
From my point of view, Gun is as good as it gets. Remove the "Wild West movie" motif, and you will be left with a turkey-shooter game.
Video It's so sharp, I almost cut myself. Luckily I was wearing my chain mail. Buy one yourselves, because Gun can be hazardous to your health. And now take a deep breath, and let me finish. There is also a bloom effect that will get on your nerves if you have a slow system or an old video card (Note: I have an NVidia FX6600). Sometimes (see for yourselves, I took a couple of screenshots) you may loose textures, or have memory leaks. It is a tricky one, what can I say? Even the level design is not that hot. The world feels crowded and empty, all the same - a paradox that roots in the shortage of NPCs and space for you to explore.
Sound It is great. Fine sound themes and voices like you never heard. It is more of a theater experience than a shoot-em-up game. You will get emotionally involved right from the beginning. I know I did.
Multiplayer There isn't one implemented.
Conclusion Even if it is unpolished in almost every aspect, its ruggedness will eventually get to your heart. The horseback experience and the reduced rate of difficulty, considering that your interest throughout the entire game will be focused exclusively on its story will convince you not to stop before the end.
Sadly, you will not feel the need to replay it. It is a little bit like love: intense but short-lived.
