Gun — When Neversoft Entertainment Traded a Skateboard For a Six-Shooter
Back in the early 2000s, Neversoft Entertainment had made a name for itself alongside Activision, thanks to its amazing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, as well as its adaptation of the first Spider-Man game. But, oddly enough, it would have a chance to go in a different direction in 2005 with a Western game that left its mark well before Red Dead Redemption had a chance to.
That game was Gun, and it stood out surprisingly well for its time. Not only was it chock full of rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ action, but it had plenty of side quests — including poker! — and an interesting town morale system that forced you to be good. You know, or else.
The game revolves around Colton “Cole” White, a man with an Apache past who finds himself becoming a sudden hero against all sorts of adversaries. He’s got a few friends helping him out, along with some noteworthy foes. I won’t go into too much detail, as the story is quite layered — and pretty good, actually.
What follows, however, is a mission that’s going to spill a lot of blood. It does take a bit to get accustomed to Gun’s gameplay. However, once you do, you’ll find yourself surviving shootouts and completing tasks with your marksman skills. And then there’s Quickdraw.
This acts as a “slo mo” technique, not unlike Max Payne, where everything slows down and you have a chance to perform some brutal kills, depending on what you’re in the mood for. Obviously you’ll want to use it sparingly, but it does come in handy against particular enemies.
For a 2005 release, the game actually looks really good. It shows Neversoft’s touches for dipping back into the old West, while at the same time doing some quality work (well, for mid-2000s standards) with character models. The animations are good too, albeit slightly stiff with some enemies. You probably won’t mind though.
On that note, the voice acting is excellent as well. There’s an all-star cast here, including Thomas Jane — the original Punisher! — as Colton, along with Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Brad Dourif and Lance Henriksen. It’s not every day you get Chucky and Hellboy in your cast, so when they show up, you damn well appreciate them.
As I mentioned, the game does take some getting used to with movement. But it’s a complete blast, especially as you use ingenuity and quick shooting to plow bullets into those baddies. And the story keeps moving right along as well with some interesting twists — including a bit of Apache history.
The optional tasks are fun as well. Poker, of course, hits the spot, but did you know you can do cattle herding in this game? Not to mention that it introduced bounty hunting before Red Dead Redemption made it such a thing just years later. Law enforcement can be fun as well, just be aware that you’ll have to earn your badge here.
The game released for Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox 360 back in 2005, and came out for PlayStation Portable a year later. It did surprisingly well for Neversoft, selling over 1.4 million units and earning quite a few accolades and awards.
Unfortunately, Activision, being Activision, lost any sort of interest in doing a sequel, even though one was discussed at one point. Maybe the company was just nervous that Gun had gotten a bit of negative attention for the way it portrayed certain Indian types. I thought it was fine myself, but of course, people can take the story in different ways.
I just think it’s a curious approach for a company that had already established itself with a hit brand. Neversoft was made at the time with its Pro Skater games, but it seized the opportunity to do something new with Gun. I’m glad they did, because it’s still a neat game after all these years, even if some aspects haven’t aged as well as others. Still, it set the stage for bigger Western epics to come, so we’ll always have that.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, y’all!
