Gun

Written by John Scalzo  on September 28, 2005

First Impressions: Varmit: "Draw!"
Wiseass Cowboy: "Do you want a tree or a fluffy bunny?"

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I can't seem to explain it, but gamers go wild over games set in the Old West. Only a handful of titles have actually placed players in the spurred boots of a wandering cowboy and even then, most of those games have been long forgotten. But with Rockstar producing a minor hit with Red Dead Revolver and "Western" constantly topping those lists of "What genre do you want to see more games from?" surveys, Neversoft plans to draw Gun on the world.

In development in secret for a long time and was known only as "Untitled Neversoft Project (And It's Not Another Tony Hawk Game, We Swear)" until this past E3, Gun is still shrouded in quite a bit of mystery. We do know that Gun will hand players the six shooter of Colton White, a cowboy who spends his days hunting with his father in the Montana badlands and well, that's pretty much it. While gambling on a riverboat with his son, the elder White gets into a fight and ends up being killed. In the process he blew up the riverboat and just before he died, told young Colton that he is not his real father. This revelation sets the game's story into motion as Colton goes in search of his real father in Dodge City.

In addition to the Clint Eastwood classics (Unforgiven, Man With No Name trilogy), Gun is drawing a lot of it's inspiration from the Grand Theft Auto series. Replace cars with horses and replace trucks with wagon trains and replace prostitutes with well the prostitutes are the same (this was the Old West after all). And naturally, the sense of total carnage is the same, so now you've got an idea of how Gun will look.

Like GTA, Gun will give you a narrative series of missions to take on as you work your way through the game's main storyline. Cut scenes (which are looking pretty sharp) will also help propel the story forward. Some of these missions include chasing outlaws on horseback (and shooting at them while riding), riding shotgun (literally) on a wagon train, good old fashioned "kill that dude" missions, and duels at high noon.

But if you like to do your killing before breakfast, you might want to surprise your opponent with Gun's Quick Draw mode. When it's activated, the camera whips into a first person mode and Colton pulls out his guns to aim anywhere he wants. Shoot 'em in the head, the stomach, shoot the horse if you want. Or you can show mercy and shoot the gun out of their hand. Do you feel lucky? Wrong movie.

Later in the game Colton will meet up with an Indian tribe who will teach him how to use Indian weaponry and camouflage techniques. This opens up a whole slew of new toys including tomahawks, bows and Indian dress. Word is you'll even be able to scalp someone if need be. But you'll have to be in tune with nature because if you push your horse too hard you could make him exhausted or even kill him. And then it will be a long dusty work back into town. Unless the coyotes get you first.

From the trailers Activision has released, the game looks beautiful. Everything is fast, action packed and the environments (from the old saloon to the train to the open prairie) look like nothing that has ever been attempted in a game before. Gun also includes a nice complement of mini-games including hunting, Blackjack and Poker. And did someone say barroom brawl? I think they did. Needless to say, Gun will paint a picture of the Old West much closer to Deadwood and Unforgiven than Paint Your Wagon.

And just today, Activision has announced the Hollywood talent that will bring Gun to life. Thomas (The Punisher) Jane will play Colton White with Kris Kristofferson as Colton's mountain man father, Ned. Tom Skerritt will be resistance fighter Clay Allison. Brad Dourif will play evil preacher Josiah Reed. Hellboy Ron Perlman will take the role of Mayor Hoodoo Brown and Lance Henriksen rounds out the cast as tyrant Thomas MacGruder.