Guns, whores, violence, gambling and not a single skateboard insight, welcome to Gun. The new, simply named western game from Neversoft is making its way to a Gamecube near you soon. Are you ready for the thrill of a lifetime?

Well who would have thought it, Neversoft making a game that doesn't feature Tony Hawk or a single one of his baggy jean-wearing friends? I was sure all we were ever going to see was a constant stream of never ending skating games form the Bird man until he grew too old and tired for the sport. Thankfully though, it would seem the clever people at Neversoft have been itching to try their hands at a new game, not too soon some would say. Where as Tony Hawk was a fun punk music filled, skateboard ride, Gun is quite the opposite. It defiantly allows us an inside view to the more serious side of their team.

The story of Gun isn't as simple as the title would suggest. Colton White (our hero/lead character) is a simple Mountain Man who takes a trip with his father, Ned White. Aboard a steamboat and all seems well until a fight begins wherein a not so happy preacher kills a friend of Colton's father. Rushing out, the dad gives him a rather strange medallion and just before the steamboat explodes, pushes him over board and tells him some rather unfortunate news, “I'm not your father”. Medallion in hand, Colton finds himself in Dodge City where he meets a lady of the night named Jenny, he soon finds himself deeply involved in a spat of good ol' fisticuffs.

At this point the player takes control, just as a large gunfight begins. Of course to be able to join in such a colossal shoot out it is always best to know what moves the character can perform before facing any enemies. Otherwise what chance have you got at all?! Obviously there is the standard shoot function but what is it that Colton can do to avoid being shot? Well how about dodge, duck, dip, dive and erm, dodge some more. If not he can always hide behind cover, take a quick peek then roll out and start shooting again. If it comes to it there is always the excitement that can be had in throwing a stick of dynamite into a crowd of people. Seeing a mass of limp bodies being thrown around can provide anybody with even the faintest of hearts to produce a sly smile.

Now this brings me onto the new physics system Neversoft have created. It can be seen in its glory when using your dynamite, shotgun or arrow attached to a stick of dynamite, how much more fun can you ask for? People on horses can be blown up to 10ft away. The guys are quite proud of that one apparently.

The blood and gore doesn't stop there. In-fact it can get much worse. There may come times in which players will have to resort to using a tomahawk to take men down in hand to hand combat, not for the faint hearted. It is also possible to use the tomahawk to scalp your enemies after a kill and collect it, cant see any reason for doing so but I guess it's quite amusing in a sick American West kinda way. It's safe to presume that this is a very different side to the Neversoft we know and love. Although it does feel as though they are trying to bring the actual experience of the old Wild West to peoples homes, showing how corrupt, violent and unlawful people could be. It proves to be a good thing as it works so well.

The great appeal of Gun is that it is presented in a beautiful third-person view that allows you to freely roam around Dodge City and much further a-field. Interestingly this game has a function that allows you to enter a first-person mode. To open up the 'Quick Draw' mode as it is known, you have to hit numerous headshots and fill up a special meter that will allow you to enter the said mode. There are side missions that will allow you to fill up the meter a bit quicker than normal, more on this later. Upon entering this mode it is possible to slow down time and allow you the opportunity to draw quickly against an enemy in kind of a Matrix style, just without the crazy jumping and super fast Kung Fu.

[pagebreak]

There are more reasons to use quick draw than to just simply shoot people. In-fact there are several more fun things that can be done. Have you ever seen in a western where they shoot at a poor young fools feet and make him dance for their entertainment? Well now you can do the very same thing. Fair enough it won't be the can-can but I could keep doing it all day. What's also extremely cool is that if you keep looking for more things to do you will find that you can also shoot a gun out of somebody's hands and keep shooting it across the floor as they chase it. Suckers.

The full effectiveness of Quick Draw is when you are on horseback. While facing a gaggle of enemies storming towards you, enter Quick Draw mode and pick of those ugly sons of mules off of their horses and onto the ground. To make sure they're out for the count, run them over a little with your horse. It is amazing to see such crushing power coming from your very own stallion.

Inclusive of the compelling story mode are the ever functional and horribly distracting side missions. When in Dodge City you are free to enter any of these missions at whichever time you may choose. They provide you with such useful character points as horse, health, gun handling, melee, and most importantly quick draw. The city folk will have you doing such things as hunting wolves, bear, cougars, bison, coyotes and rams. You can even ride a train or canoe to help develop some of those hard-earned skill points as well as panning for gold, defending horses from rustlers and a spot of clearing up of opium dens. Rather odd but all in good fun.

At this moment in time Neversoft are working extremely hard to iron out the controls to be as perfect as possible for release. The better the controls, the better the accuracy of the player, this built in with the free targeting system will allow players to shoot at any part of the enemies body they so desire. Just don't have too much fun with this function ladies and gentlemen.

As if there isn't already enough in this game to do, the good people at Neversoft have provided the players with a grand selection of weapons. The .44 handgun being the standard of all the guns thought it is upgradeable to be wielded in both hands. You can also try out a rifle or a nice meaty shotgun, how about some set turrets or maybe an effective cannon. Then there is always the option of the aforementioned dynamite or tomahawk.

In addition to all of this, Neversoft have managed to bag themselves a tasty list of voice talent featuring Thomas Jane as everybody's favourite gunslinger Colton White; Kris Kristofferson as Colton's mountain man father, Ned; Tom Skerritt as Resistance Fighter Clay Allison; Brad Dourif as evil preacher Josiah Reed; Ron Perlman as Mayor Hoodoo Brown of Empire, New Mexico; and Lance Henriksen as the obsessive tyrant Thomas MacGruder.

In total this looks to be one solid storyline built together with a fistful of gore and blood toped up by a splash of crazy weapon usage and some fun and distracting side missions. There seems to be an immersive world here to do as you please to great extents and with that kind of freedom being executed really well combining varying types of genres you can safely say Gun has the potential to be warming your Cube up a lot this Christmas. Make sure you all check this one out; it's going to be big and will fill the void of the Zelda delay nicely.