Gun [X360]

At its best, the western is the genre that delivers classics like High Noon and Unforgiven. These stories strip characters and civilization down to the bare essentials, the better to highlight the best and worst about humanity. Gun is not one of those stories. But it is the sort of western that keeps company with Hang 'Em High and Silverado -- a great action tale that delivers the goods.

The cowpoke at the center of Gun is Colton White, voiced with growling gusto by smart action star Thomas Jane. After he and his father are ambushed by a crazy preacher, Colton rides in search of retribution, only to find a railroad baron who's mad for Spanish gold and a resistance movement that opposes the baron's rapacious methods.

Through the last few Tony Hawk titles, Neversoft has gained experience slotting rigidly linear story missions into a wide-ranging game environment. Gun makes good on that experience by offering a fantastic storyline that includes pretty much everything you need in a western -- even a Wild Bunch-style gatling gun. It's broken into pretty small chapters, and there's plenty of room to wander around the countryside in between. The balance is good, though it would be much better if there were more to do out in the brush.

It's a big world, at least. There hasn't been a better vision of the west on a console. The expansive landscape is riddled with canyons, paths, hills and valleys. It's easy to get lost, which is exactly as it should be. There's not enough life to fill it, though; Gun often seems to be trying too hard to recreate the loneliness of the west. When Colton does come across some life, it's often a cookie cutter "bandit attack" or an unlikely Native trading tent. These encounters feel like they could be from any old action game, which really hurts Gun's otherwise fantastic sense of atmosphere.

To fill that unsullied landscape, Neversoft has called on a handful of western standbys to do double duty as side missions. There's money to be earned hunting bounties, working for the feds, and riding with the Pony Express. Trapping and gold mining are viable pastimes, though each is barely a mini-game (buy pickaxe; find glowing hunk of gold; press a button to "mine"). Most of the missions feel too much like one another, however, especially compared to the variety found in Gun's main story. And they're not challenging enough to provide the rush found in GTA's extra tasks.

Most of the side missions really serve to improve Colton's stats, which helps defeat more powerful enemies. At least in theory. Though players can see their current stats and rankings, the system seems fairly arbitrary. Complete a side mission or two alongside the main story and most players will come out OK. The extra objectives do provide enough cash to get markedly improved weaponry, however.

Given the title, it's not a shock to find that the weaponry is almost entirely of the blue steel variety. Rifles and pistols are abundant and the interface lets players quickly switch between them. A bow is on hand for silent kills, but Gun is really terrible when it tries to implement any sort of stealth, so don't count on using the bow for more than a hunting mini-game.

In targeting and accuracy, Gun goes pretty easy on players. Depending on the weapon, there's a lot of leeway when shooting; sometimes a shot that should be way off will kill, as if there's a damage halo around each character. But then, Colton does so much shooting from the saddle that a less forgiving aim would add unreasonable difficulty. And even from the focused quickdraw mode, kills aren't guaranteed.

The quickdraw is Neversoft's version of focus or bullet time. Colton can concentrate and zoom into a slo-mo view of battle, giving him a chance to drop a few enemies at leisure. It's an unfair advantage; the limitation is that Colton can only do this with a pistol. The slow quickdraw violence does really highlight the game's gore, which throws out exploded heads and limbs with abandon. There's plenty of chance to use it, too. Rather than severely rationing the ability, Gun just throws out lots of enemies, most of which can be killed with a couple shots.

Perhaps Gun's greatest weakness is the horse. The animals behave like electric cars, starting and stopping at the push of a button. Colton spends a lot of time on horseback, and the animals feel terribly mechanical. There's no weight or inertia, and unlike Agro in Shadow of the Colossus, there's no terrain they won't barrel over. A trample attack feels more like one block of wood encountering another; the blocks are simply skinned to look like horse and man.

We've also been spoiled by Grand Theft Auto and Tony Hawk, and it seems like this horse opera could have been so much more. What if heat and water really played a part in gameplay? Heck, what if a horse really felt like a horse? Hopefully Neversoft will return to the west with a truly next-gen effort and we'll find out.

Speaking of which, the Xbox 360 version of Gun is little more than a higher resolution version of its current gen counterparts. While it looks sharp in high definition, it also calls attention to the blurry looking textures and a world without many ambient effects. The game looks good by today's standards, but it won't show off 360 owners' new kick-ass hardware.

But it's the strength of Gun's storyline that allows us to focus beyond some of its letdowns. Colton is a great western hero, and though his adventure is stitched together as a pastiche of classic western elements, the plot points are so well chosen and implemented that it feels seamless and almost new. The game is also full of good voice actors -- Lance Henriksen, John Getz, Kris Kristofferson. The occasionally ghoulish Brad Dourif weasels wonderfully as the crazy preacher Josiah Reed. Note the lack of women; only one female plays more than a passing role. Gun is truly a man's world.

There aren't a lot of good western games, so we're glad to find Gun stands out as one of the best efforts. The quality story, strong voice acting, vast landscape, and competent combat make for an all round solid action-adventure experience.