Ah, the Wild West. A place of majesty, ruthlessness, and endless wonder. The only way it can be relived today is in the form of creative media, like with movies, the occasional TV show, and the less occasional video game. Last year, Neversoft brought a more brutal but effective side of the Wild West to life with the story of Gun, which was released for various consoles. The game remains a raw and gritty masterpiece to this day, and a real value at $20 ($40 for the Xbox 360 version). Now Activision's gone riding into town with a new edition for the PSPcalled Gun Showdown, and it's just as fast on the draw as the console versions.
In the game, players control Colton White, a usually quiet man who's spending most of his days hunting animals with his father and living a good life. One day the two hop aboard a steamboat, only to find it loaded with hoodlums and a rather emotional priest. It's here that the story begins to take shape, and Colton soon learns some horrifying truths that involve a powerful magnate and a strange golden cross. The story unfolds over several missions, and involves all kinds of characters, ranging from friendly saloon girls to ruthless natives who want nothing more than to keep the sanctity of their land.
With Gun, players don't always have to follow the beaten path. They can take part in a number of sub-missions to help get Colton in better financial status, such as bank robberies, bounty hunting, and other little tasks to help out the townsfolk. Most of this is present in the console version, though there are a couple of additional missions worth exploring, even if the town isn't quite as active as it was before.
Most of these missions rely on the use of the Quick Draw control scheme. This is where time basically slows down, and Colton enters a first-person view to fire off bullets into numerous bad guys and objects. The way the controls are laid out are a little awkward for the PSP, as you control Colton's movements with the analog nub while using the D-pad to activate the Quick Draw and switch weapons. It just takes time to get comfortable with it. The rest of the gameplay is very good, especially if it's Colton riding on horseback in the middle of a frantic chase or stopping a locomotive dead in its tracks to gain access to its contents.
Rebellion, the developr, has tried to squeeze all the power of the original Neversoft game into the PSP. The game moves pretty well, with swift animations and a wide-open view of the Western terrain, all perfectly captured from Neversoft's original console design. There are some issues with camera control, especially in Quick Draw, but it comes back to just needing minor adjustment. The sound is also superb, thanks to a rough-and-ready voice cast that includes the likes of Thomas Jane (the Punisher), Kris Kristofferson (from the Blade movies) and Lance Henriksen (from Aliens). However, the lip-syncing during the cut scenes can be off at times, drenching the drama just a bit.
Aside from some new side missions, Gun Showdown also includes a bountiful amount of mini-games and multiplayer-supported match-ups, and this gives it some much-needed weight. The mini-games start out slow at first, with Colton having to shoot a certain amount of quail in an allotted time limit, but soon there are other games to take part in, which become unlocked as players progress. Multiplayer supports up to six players via AdHoc (not infrastructure, unfortunately), and there are two main games to choose from. One is a Golden Cross keeping game that works in a similar fashion to Capture the Flag, and the second is good old Deathmatch. Players can also deal the cards in Texas Hold 'Em, although a deck of cards and chips in real life is a better alternative.
The best part about these multiplayer modes is that solo players can take part in them by setting up AI bots. The AI isn't the sharpest in the West, but they're suitable for quick matches. It's just a shame that Quick Draw couldn't have been used in these modes. It would have been interesting to set up some headshots in first-person, even without the slowing down of time.
Gun Showdown won't impress everybody. The story mode finishes too quickly (in only a few hours), and the cumbersome control will leave some players frustrated. However, Activision and Rebellion have kept the Western tradition alive and well in bringing the game to the handheld. Draw, pilgrim!
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