“The crickets and the rust-beetles scuttled among the nettles of the sage thicket. ‘Vámonos, amigos,’ he whispered, and threw the busted leather flintcraw over the loose weave of the saddlecock. And they rode on in the friscalating dusk light.” Ah, the wild west has such an air of old-timey romance to it. But, fortunately, Activision is pushing that to the side in favor of tough and dirty gunfights, hot-tempered card mavericks, and sassy tarts in their new open-world western, Gun. We recently drew an Xbox 360 controller from the holster for some in-depth hands-on time to check out the core gameplay and also see if it looks that much better than the current-gen versions.
The Gun story starts a good 300 years before the main plot with a pastor and a group of soldiers getting ambushed by a group of wild Indians (back then the term “Native American” didn’t exist yet, okay?). With no explanation or clear link, we are fast forwarded to 1880 to a father-son bonding moment out in the woods. Colton White and his dad, Ned, are hunting to earn money from the animal pelts. Here Papa White will show you everything you need to know about gun slinging. Gun uses the standard dual analog setup with shots mapped to the right trigger. In an obvious homage to the classic light gun game, Duck Hunt, Ned rustles up the brush to scare up some birds as you quickly pick them out of the sky.
The PS2 version...
That’s one minor thing I don’t really get about the story. Ned’s already an old man at this point while Colton seems like he’s in his thirties. Wouldn’t Ned have already showed his boy the ropes when he was, like, fourteen? Maybe this would have been more effective as a flashback or something. But I suppose the direction developer Neversoft choose keeps the story progressing at a nice quick pace.
Well, it turns out the next patch of high grass conceals a lot more ducks and Pa rightly suggests you use the ole family quick draw technique. Hitting the right bumper will take your six-gun into a slow motion first person view where the ease of accuracy is dramatically increased and head shots reign supreme. But if everything’s in bullet time, won’t switching between targets be a huge spur in the ass? Just flick the left analog stick in the general direction of your next target and your reticule will automatically aim at it. Your quick draw meter will speedily drain out, though, and you’ll be thrown back into regular mode eventually. Refilling the meter isn’t as easy as waiting for a gradual regeneration. You’ll have to combo kills together and score plenty of head shots to gain quick draw powers back. I really liked how this is tied to shooting skill rather than a player’s ability to wait it out.
The nice afternoon hunting trip is cut short when a giant grizzly bear claws Ned and leaves it up to you to take down this angry beast -- and our first boss battle officially begins. Dodge the bear’s charges and meaty paws while unloading endless rounds into its tough hide. If it does manage to take a bite out of you, take a big swig of whiskey by pressing up on the D-pad to regain some health. Smokey really isn’t too much of a challenge, but he’s a fun way kick off the action and gets you some respect from your good-natured hardass of a dad.
The first opportunity to trade some lead comes as the steam boat you’re taking into town gets ambushed by a band of shirtless outlaws. Pop ‘em in the head as they’re climbing up the side of the boat and un-jam the engine to fend off the first wave. Next, a fleet of keel boats and canoes comes to finish the job. Man the Morning Star’s cannon to sink them before they make it to your hull or put too many holes in it. It turns out this is more than a simple robbery as the goons are after some mysterious object your father has been hiding with one of his regular prostitutes. Despite your best efforts, the rapscallions overtake the ship and in a moment of urgency Ned admits he’s not Colton’s father, hands him a token to give to a hooker named Jenny in Dodge City. Ned then shoves you off the deck before any questions can be asked, and you can only watch helplessly as the steamboat explodes and sinks to the bottom of the river. It's enticing mysteries like this, and the cinematic style of storytelling, that will keep players hooked into Gun.
... and Xbox 360.
As you first enter Dodge City, you can choose to proceed with the main mission or mess around with a few side quests. The first batch of side quests is rightly limited, but you’ll eventually be able do things like competing in poker tournaments (don’t be afraid to cheat), making deliveries for the Pony Express, hunting animals and bounties, digging for gold, lending a hand on the ranch, or helping out the Sheriff/Marshall with town justice. These missions will not only earn you cash, but will also provide stat boosts. Throughout the game you’ll be able to raise gun power and melee strength, and increase the length of your quick draw and health meters. You can also power up your horse, but Gun’s horseplay is a whole different bag of bullets.
When you mount a horse, your ride gets its own health meter of sorts. This will obviously deplete as the horse is attacked, but every time you give it a spur the horse will take damage as well. But as long as you’re not kicking the crap out of it you don’t have to worry much about riding your horse to death. Give the horse some time to rest and it’ll regain its strength. Hitting the X button will cause your horse to put on the breaks and is a handy way to slide into and kill several enemies in one fell swoop.
Throughout the game you’ll also come across a full array of pistols, shotguns, rifles, shotguns, long-range rifles, melee weapons, throwable weapons (think tomahawks), and bows. And these can all be upgraded to hold additional ammo or take off more damage at the local shop.
Combat in Gun feels totally polished and smooth. Aiming takes all of the skill of a first person shooter and leaves the clunky targeting system of Grand Theft Auto in the dust. And for close quarters combat you can seamlessly whip out your buck knife, slice up enemies, and go back to the gunplay. Quick draw powers are a hell of a lot of fun to use, but they’re limited enough to keep things fair and challenging. One of my favorite moments in my initial time with the game was blasting some tool in the face while he was using my friend as a human shield. Where Gun really shines is the on-horse shooting mechanic. This is the kind of thing that could have easily gone down the toilet. But it always feels like you have full control of the horse, while at the same time utilizing that trademark clean aiming.
I used this quite frequently, in fact, during an actually entertaining escort mission. Colton must protect a stagecoach as it rides through canyons and dry desert from Dodge to Empire City. Ride ahead to take out any aggressive Indians equipped with a full supply of shotguns and flaming arrows. It all goes pretty smoothly until the coach busts a wheel and you’re left to defend it as waves of enemies move in for the kill on foot and horseback. Blasting dudes off their horses and taking out horses underneath them are probably some of the most satisfying death animations in the game. The escort mission also includes an on-rails section where you ride on top of the coach and blow away Indians shooting from the cliffs and riding up next to you.
3-6-0
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to play a whole lot of the open world aspects of Gun so the “western GTA” comparisons will have to wait. From the two towns we’ve seen it seems that Neversoft isn’t trying to compete with Rockstar’s sprawling cities. But old west towns really weren’t all that big in the first place. We’ve heard estimates that the full story mode can be completed within 8 to 10 hours with obviously several more hours tacked on when going for 100% completion. So you won’t be playing this game for months like a GTA title, but I think developers are shooting for more of the action genre than a full-on sandbox game.
But how does the 360 version look in comparison to current generation consoles? Well we saw 360 Gun literally side by side the PS2 version, and it honestly wasn’t that much of a gap. Character models are a little more crisp, their clothes move a little more, and overall resolution is sharper, but it’s just not the drastic jump that everyone was hoping for. It was disappointing to see the same flat ground textures we’re used to on the regular Xbox. I was hoping to be blown away by the pretty graphics and it just didn’t happen. And the 360 version of Gun doesn’t include any added features or gameplay to distinguish it from current-gen titles either.
Graphical gripes aside, I had a great time being a cowboy. In addition to the exciting combat, Gun’s characterization is top notch. Bucking up and scoring real Hollywood actors for the voices like Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Kris Kristofferson (Blade Trilogy), and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) really paid off. This, in combination with impressive motion captured digital acting, even makes a random hobo or ferry operator come to life with endearing realism. If Neversoft manages to maintain the level of gameplay variety and excitement, and keeps players guessing about the plot they could have a standout title not only in the 360 launch, but also in the heavily crowded holiday season as well.