Gun

Title: Gun
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: November 8, 2005
Date Played: August, 2009
Time Played: 20 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5


Opinion:
Let me put it this way, Xbox 360 launched November 22, 2005 (yep 6 years ago, isnt that nuts?). Gun shipped on November 8, 2005.  From looking at it its clear that the game was mostly designed for the last gen of consoles (PS2, Xbox and GameCube). Gun plays like a PS2 title with higher resolution textures that the Xbox 360 allows (most likely the uncompressed PC textures). For its time the game does not look bad at all, since we didnt have the GTA4s, Gears of Wars and Bioshocks to really compare to. You just have to go into it with that mindset.

One genre that has always been lacking in the gaming world is the  westerns genre.  So naturally when one comes along I personally find myself jumping in head first and emercing myself into it.

Story in Gun is surprisingly innovative and engaging, you find yourself uncovering secrets of your past and fighting bandits.  Similar to GTA series you sport a minimap, healthbar and a life bar.  You go on various missions from races to Wanted missions to story progression missions. The game is set in a semi-open world, with a good variety of environments, and interesting places to explore. You can either walk or use a horse to traverse the landscape.

The only problems I had with Gun were its graphics, and when I say that I mostly mean the simple geometry. The game has vast planes that are just a flat texture.  It does not look terrbile, but it makes it aparent that it is a last gen game, where the consoles could not handle the complex geometry.  Buildings and cliffs have sharp box-like visuals to them.  Being a 4 year old game these complaints are minor at best.

Overall I really enjoyed Gun even though I played it for the first time 4 years after its release. There are just not many games that can raise the bar for the cowboy open world genre to make this game obsolete. The only other game that I can think of that is even remotely similar to Gun is Call of Juarez series. That being said, I really enjoyed Gun and would love to see a sequel.