Graphics 5/10

Yes, this is the wild west and I shouldn’t be expected a lot of...well...color, but the game just doesn’t look very smooth. The frontier plains and atmospheric effects of dust in the air look very nice, and character models look okay. But the game just feels a bit incomplete. Character animations, especially in the up-close cutscenes look sloppy and are reused to the point of tedium. The jump animation, specifically, just looks ridiculous. There is also a huge amount of clipping and paper-thin pixelation. The dusty towns begin to deteriorate with the severe lack of technical polish. But one of the biggest problems, in my opinion, is that while the towns look okay, the rest of the world, like the sky, feel painted on. The graphics in Gun really don’t create a great-looking, or particularly authentic Western world.

Audio 9/10

The audio of Gun feels very authentic to the Western world. There is the well-played western sounds when riding across the plains and badlands and the different instruments provide some nice variety in the world. Voice acting was a pleasant surprise, creating some entertaining cutscenes and always giving you something to listen to. Eavesdropping on the people of the dusty towns is a treat alone. The sound effects are well made. The horse-gallop sound is authentic and the entire audio system seems real and appropriate. There could have been a bit more variety in Gun’s audio, but the massive amount of voice acting and authentic-sounding music and sound effects make Gun a pleasant game to listen to.

Gameplay 7/10

Gun uses the free-roam gameplay style to give the player a true sense of the lawless lands of the wild west. There are quite a few things to do in Gun. The controls are simple, but do take some getting used to. The R button is used to fire, A for melee, C-Stick to aim, Y is a contact-sensitive action button, the X button is used to jump, L to crouch, and various actions are used with the D-Pad. The Gamecube controller, in my opinion, isn’t the best way to make a shooter. The R button doesn’t have the quick access for the shooting, but isn’t too hard to get used to. The B button allows the player to use a bullet-time mode called Quickdraw to take out multiple enemies by firing and tapping the Control Stick to enemies in view. While I can’t say that the B button was the best choice for the job, it is easy access and functional. One very impressive factor of the controls is the horseback controls. The Control Stick is used for movement, and firing your gun is as simple as on foot. Jumping on horseback is easy, and makes the experience of riding and firing a fun and frantic experience.

The free-roam treatment is executed rather well in Gun. The story of a vengeful cowboy looking for the answer to his and his father’s past isn’t particularly original, but a slew of characters arrive to keep the story interesting. The story missions are mixed with some optional missions to raise stats and earn cash for weapon upgrades and new skills. The map starts out as a small area, but expands showing more cities, canyons, and areas to explore. The entire area is rather large, but is not nearly as huge as other free-roam games, so expect many of the areas to look a little more than familiar. The missions are pretty diverse, including Hunting, Pony Express, Deputy, and Texas Hold-Em Poker, but there’s just not enough things to do in Gun. Many of the missions get redundant quickly. Fortunately, the story missions give some good variety and the gameplay is solid enough to keep much of the redundancy at bay.

In many free-roam games, you can’t just kill people at will. They will eventually retaliate. In Gun’s case, it’s the Showdown. When you’ve killed one too many innocent bystanders, a larger swarm of enemies comes in gunning you down. Well, at least they should. Gun allows the player to refill health not only at will, but extremely fast. Just tap up on the D-Pad to refill yourself with your trusty flank. Also, with a ridiculous amount of firepower and the Quickdraw mode, even gunning down the entire town is far too easy. As a result, you can have multiple Showdowns without breaking a sweat, and eventually shooting things loses its fun factor.. As a key component in the free-roam, this is a real problem. Another annoyance is the large amount of protection missions. Most of the time, you’re forced to keep someone safe while executing your goal. In the lawless world that is Gun, this gets annoying quick and the game’s missions begin to focus less on action and more on escorting. But probably the biggest problem is the AI. It’s just not acceptable. The swarms of angry outlaws and townsfolk pretty much take a strategy and stick with it, even if their head is getting shot. As a result, you can pretty much learn the pattern and gun them down at a steady pace. Overall, Gun’s gameplay is okay. Though not what I was hoping for, Gun is a passable attempt at a solid Western title.

Replay Value 6/10

Sorry, but there’s not enough to do. As compelling and interesting as the story is, the gameplay lacks substance. The missions are fun for a while, but get tedious after the seventh Pony Express delivery. Yes, there are more difficulty settings, but the game isn’t as diverse as other free-roamers.

Final Verdict 7/10

While Gun is a nice step forward for Western games, it really didn’t live up to the hype. Many of the missions are redundant, along with some sloppy graphics, short length, and unbalanced gunfights, making Gun far from the perfect Western. Fortunately, the excellent voice acting and fun (but rather mindless) gameplay do provide a save for Gun. While we are still waiting for a truly excellent Western, Gun is worth a rental. If you are interested in the wild west and wish to give this game a purchase, prepare for a bit less than expected.