All guns blazing

Shoot-em up: Guns, a good game that’s light on content.

The game: You are Colton White, a gunslinger, living in the old west the way it should have been – violent and short. After White’s mentor, Ned, is killed, he makes his way to Dodge City to fulfil Ned’s dying wish – and settles a few scores along the way.

The play: Gun is fast paced and unfortunately over before you know it – this is a rainy afternoon waster – the plot is good but too short needing a few more twists and turns in order to lengthen the gameplay. There are plenty of enemies and you’ll play both sides of the law to achieve your missions, and of course there are side missions that allow you to earn more cash to upgrade your weapons – letting you to kill faster. Run around on foot or grab a horse and shoot, trample or blow your enemies into their wooden boxes using your quickdraw, which enables a slow motion feature where you can fire at normal speed against your slowed opponents.

A nice addition to the game is the free-play format allowing you the ability to interact with the environment, for instance you can ride into a town and just shoot somebody without reason bringing the town patience meter into play. Empty the meter and you’ll have a local posse chasing you, which is actually quite funny.

The terrain: The graphics are good, the sound effects are good and the voice-overs are good – not exceptional, but all are of a good quality. The soundtrack plays more like an action-packed epic, which is a little odd considering it only took five and a half hours (on normal) to finish the game. The cut scenes are impressive, adding value to finishing each level and leading to White’s next challenge. Fighting on horseback, on foot or on a wagon, the terrain-changing is smooth and there’s a reasonable array of weapons – pistols (unlimited ammo), rifles, shotguns, bows, dynamite, Molotov cocktails , cannons, hatchets and knives – you can actually scalp your victims but I’m still not sure why, for there’s no benefit in terms of the gameplay for doing it and it’s not recorded as a stat.

The experience: A good game that’s too light on content – nevertheless it’s worthy of a look if you’re keen on this era.

– Sqn-Ldr Nick Hogan

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