Games

Gun

Publisher: Activision
Price: £39.99
Platform: PS2
Buy it now from Amazon.co.uk

Ever since Grand Theft Auto exploded into 3D, the free-roaming action adventure has become a common sight. Most pretenders to the throne simply ape GTA's urban ambience and fall short of anything new. It's a shame, since the framework could theoretically be applied to any number of cool ideas.

That's the thinking behind Gun, the minimally titled western from Neversoft, the people behind the Tony Hawk skateboarding games and one of the first developers to pioneer to the open-plan 3D game environment in the first Spider-Man PlayStation game, way back in 1999.

You play as Colton White, a rugged cowboy hero on the trail of the bad folks who killed his father. Or, at least, the man he thought was his father. As is traditional, story missions drive things forward but you're free to wander - on foot or on horseback - from the tiny outpost town of Dodge to the larger environs of Empire City, taking on herding work for ranchers, helping local lawmen keep the peace, or tracking down outlaws for cold, hard cash.

Gun doesn't have the sheer variety of things to do that GTA boasts, but the frontier setting offsets this by keeping otherwise standard missions fresh and exciting. By their nature, the dusty wastelands of the Wild West are hardly packed with features, so much of the game's initial entertainment comes from enjoying the suitably epic environments - galloping into the sunset and taking down bandits with effortless cool.

Which brings us to the violence. Gun gets an 18 certificate for several reasons. The language is occasionally fruity, and there are a smattering of almost-sexy scenes, but the main reason is the ferocity of the shoot-outs. By hitting the "focus" button, you slip into slow motion mode, allowing you to target and blast multiple enemies in the blink of an eye - heads explode, limbs are blown off, chests burst in gory displays.

The slo-mo idea isn't a new one - everything from Max Payne to last years western offering, the disappointing arcade blaster Red Dead Revolver, has used this concept, but Gun does it better than most, making it both effective and rewarding.

What keeps you playing is the story, which is surprisingly compelling, managing to include every western cliche you'd want to relive, while keeping it feeling fresh, and a superb voice cast adds to the authenticity. Colton is voiced by Thomas Jane (The Punisher), while the other main characters boast actors like Tom Skerrit, Kris Kristofferson and Brad Dourif. Videogame stalwarts Lance Henriksen and Ron Perlman also lend their gravelly tones to the mix.

Gun isn't all it could've been. Outside of the story, there's not really that much to do, but great cowboy games are a rarity and Gun delivers an enjoyably robust adventure in a genre rarely seen in gaming. It won't keep you occupied for long, but the time you do spend with it will be packed with entertainment. Yee-ha, indeed.

Dan Whitehead