By Anthony Swinnich on November 29th, 2005

After seven years of making nothing but Tony Hawk games, Neversoft has finally developed a game that has nothing to do with the crazy antics of Bam Margera, making ramps by breaking apart buildings, or anything to do with extreme sports at all. When playing the Tony Hawk games, I found myself wondering if Neversoft could make a great game that had nothing to do with skateboarding. Tony Hawk games had well designed levels, tight controls, and balanced gameplay; I longed to see those elements applied to other games. GUN, an Old West-style shooter, is the culmination of everything the developer learned while developing Tony Hawk games for the better part of a decade, and it’s obvious that they’ve come a long way since the first THPS.

Of course, GUN has faults; the controls aren’t quite as tight as I’ve come to expect from third-person shooters, and the difficulty level is sometimes too steep for its own good-- mainly a combination of the seemingly bullet-proof enemies and bullets that don’t seem to go where you aim them. All frustrations aside, the story is the main star of the show. Since such a wonderful cast of characters help tell a grand tale, you’ll probably push past the flaws to find out what happens next.

As GUN begins, Colton White and his father (voiced by Thomas Jane and Kris Kristofferson respectively) are out to make an honest living one of the few ways people in the old west could: by hunting. This provides an excellent backdrop for a tutorial that not only sets up the gameplay, but also the fantastic story that is to follow. Gamers are treated to a glimpse at the beautiful relationship Colton and his father have, that is until bandits raid ferry the two are traveling on and the old man reveals he’s not your father. He gives you a set of mysterious instructions before you’re thrown overboard, leaving him alone to be killed by the hostile raiders.

"... the story is the main star of the show."

The story that follows is filled with twists, turns, betrayal, corruption, and plenty of good-ole’ action. It could easily make a movie, but not just because it’s written well. In the world of gaming, great writing can only get you so far-- the story succeeds as well as it does is because of the professional voice acting, the high quality of the cinemas, and the sweeping music. Thomas Jane, and Kris Kristoferson start the voicing off strongly, and performances by Ron Pearlman and Thomas McGruder only make things better. The dialogue is snappy, delivered with precision, and written perfectly for the time with none of the cheesy humor Neversoft is known for. When mixed with well-directed cinemas and a Hollywood-style score, GUN hits a high note few games ever have in terms of storytelling.

If the same amount of care went that went into the presentation went into the gameplay, we’d probably have one of the best third-person shooters ever. While GUN is playable in every way, and even has some great ideas, there is an alarming lack of polish on almost every activity the player can perform. Simply walking around has a goofy feeling to it. It’s not as bad as it was in the Tony Hawk Undergound games, but Colton feels like he’s hovering rather than actually walking. Maybe it’s not a game-ruining trait, but it does ruin some of the feeling set up by the presentation.

Gunplay is for the most part solid, but a few details hold it back from greatness. Of course, Colton has access to a variety of weapons, and some will do better jobs than others in different situations. A melee weapon like a Tomahawk is good for one-on-one close range combat, a shotgun is good when taking on a group closer up, and the rifle is good for distance. GUN’s many bosses will provide new weapons when you defeat them, and given how difficult they are to take down, you’ll feel like you earned them when they’re lying in a pool of their own blood.

For the most part, the third-person gunplay works well. It’s when the player uses QuickDraw mode that problems start to show themselves. QuickDraw is, for all intents and purposes, bullet-time. The game pulls into first-person, and slows everything down so the player is able to line-up shots more accurately. QuickDraw is added to show that Colton has an outstanding shot, but given it’s usual effectiveness, it would probably lead you to think he’s blind.

QuickDraw doesn’t work as well as it should, and it’s mainly because of the targeting reticule’s lack of accuracy. Sure, you may think you have a head-shot lined up perfectly, but the bullet will sometimes go flying over the enemies shoulder. Even if you correct your aim for the proper spot, a head-shot isn’t guaranteed to kill, even though performing them is necessary to keep your QuickDraw meter filled-- if it runs out, you can’t use it. In a game that places emphasis on head-shots, shooting an enemy in the head should kill them-- especially if you see blood splatter from their faces when the bullet connects. Sometimes their heads will explode, but it’s more likely you’ll have enemies with bullets in their heads, inexplicably continuing to march towards you.

It should be noted, that enemies with bullet-proof heads appear when playing the game on Hard, which is the difficulty Neversoft recommends for the true GUN experience. Personally, the game is a little too frustrating for its own good in this mode, not because the game is actually harder this way, but because the enemies seem to have Kevlar skin. Sure, it makes for a challenging experience, but the game is more fun on Normal.

The game succeeds better in terms of level design. GUN is a free-roaming game, so the player can take the adventure at his or her own pace. The main story isn’t where the player will have to spend his or her time, in fact it’s highly recommended that they venture off the beaten path. Side missions boost you characters attributes upon completion, so it’s important to complete them if you want to tackle the games increasingly difficult enemies. Also, the missions can provide a small chunk of change to purchase weapon upgrades and other useful items. The missions range from hunting down wanted criminals, to taking over as sheriff of a town for a day.

After completing a side mission, GUN has no qualms about reminding you what your main objective is; in fact it damn near crams it down your throat by flashing it across the top of the screen every minute or so. The main missions are mostly fun, but inconsistent in difficulty and length. Riding the top of a wagon and fending off attacking Indians was great, but preventing a gang of about forty hooligans from setting fire to a bar all by myself was an overwhelming task, especially when they’re not just inside the bar, but all around it. Missions like that made me wish the flask Colton uses to heal his life bar was real and in my hands.

Going from mission to mission will provide players with the chance to explore GUN’s massive, yet mostly empty environment on horseback. The horse controls are remarkably good, but it doesn’t come as a surprise since the usual Neversoft fare (i.e. a skateboard) employs similar control. Sure, there are some events going on in the open world-- bandits will randomly attack you, or you can take quests from the Indians to locate mythical animals, but ultimately there isn’t anything going on most of the time. You’ll probably spend most of the time riding around looking for gold to mine anyways. If there is a sequel to GUN, the environment should either be scaled down, or more life should be injected into it because as it stands now, there isn’t a whole lot going on.

GUN shows that Neversoft has the potential to be very successful once the Tony Hawk well has run completely dry and they have to move on to other projects. Sure, GUN isn’t without faults -- the gunplay could use some tightening and the environments could be filled in a little better, but those flaws are more than covered by an amazing story and great voicing. GUN is a worthwhile experience that shows that Neversoft’s inevitable future of non-Tony Hawk projects have promise.