Gun nearly fell into that particular category of gaming hell devoted to good games that have final levels that are stupidly more difficult than the rest of the game – Mech Assault 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mercenaries I’m looking at you. After a protracted assault on Magruder’s fort and then into the mine itself including a lovely section on a mine car with a mounted cannon blowing things up left, right and centre – I finally came face to face with Magruder himself.
Of course, it couldn’t just be a simple shoot out. I died $hilariouslylargemadeupnumber of times even after I worked out that the only way to damage him was to shoot the fumeroles with dynamite arrows as he walked past them. I gave up last night, and tried again today and finally completed it, and was treated to a final scene and then given Magruder’s seven barrel Nock gun as a bonus weapon – yaybo!
Gun was a short game, but that’s no bad thing. It had an excellent storyline with some truly stellar voice talent including Kris Kristofferson, Brad Dourif, Ron Perlman and Lance Henrikson amongst others. The missions featured just about every western movie cliche somewhere along the line – riverboats, cattle drives, hangings, sadistic confederate colonels, noble Indian savages and scenery from the Texas badlands, to the great plains, to the Rockies with gold mines, mesas, buttes and dusty towns crammed into an area not much bigger than Vice City.
To make the comparison with the GTA series, there is not really the same mechanism for free roaming or interaction with the environment, but the story missions are generally better paced with sensible checkpoints so that you don’t have to restart from scratch every time.
The graphics are pretty much top of the range for the current gen consoles, with some lovely vistas to be seen and some good, detailed character models. The quick draw mode (aka bullet time) is nicely done, slowing the action down so that you can see the flying blood and crumpled bodies in a very effective Sam Peckinpah stylee.
The best feature though is the sound – the music is perfectly matched to the action, sweeping and grandiose orchestration, and the incidental sound effects when played through a 5.1 system are spot on – gun shots, hoof beats, jangling spurs and assorted wildlife all add to the atmosphere.
This game comes highly recommended for anyone looking for a good, third person shooter that won’t take you three months to complete.
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