Ah, the spaghetti Western. Where would we be without them? No Clint Eastwood, no John Wayne, no Deadwood. Yet, the videogame industry has all but ignored this most American of American icons. Strange, considering how unoriginality and sequelitus plagues the industry - what with all the World War II, gang bang drive-bys, and Sci-Fi rip-offs. Consequently, we have to give kudos to both Activision and Neversoft (makers of the Tony Hawk skateboarding games) for taking a huge chance on an unproven, original idea.

Sadly, what could have been a seminal game falls flat with the PC version of this shooter. All the blame for this travesty can be laid at the dusty boots of one simple, and disturbing trend: this is a direct port from its console kin. We're not sure why this has become more prevalent of late, but it's something that should be a hanging offense. Especially in instances where a game (like Gun) that could be great, is shot down in the street before it gets a chance to ride into the sunset because a company is full of lazy scalawags. Every one of the technical glitches here - which shouldn't exist given the horsepower PCs are saddled with, can be directly related to the shoddy port job.

There are enough graphic and performance issues here to fill a spittoon. There were a few instances where the lag was so bad (usually on horseback) that it made the game look more like a slideshow than a moving game. There are long load times for no apparent reason, and the default controls were obviously designed with a gamepad in mind, not a keyboard. Combine that with the fact that there is absolutely no multiplayer feature of any kind all points to the obvious: this game was designed for consoles. A fact made all the more clear by an ad we saw in the latest ESPN magazine which listed all the available console versions - and left out the PC all together.

But let's get to the things that are good about this game, and there are plenty of them that save this game in spite of itself. Like a whorehouse in the middle of Injun Territory. Did we just say "injun" and "whorehouse" in this politically correct world we live in? You betcha! One of the main characters of this Western yarn is an employee of the Alhambra, a highfalutin' cathouse in Dodge City. Needless to say, this Western game is more akin to the HBO series Deadwood than Silverado. Kiddies ain't welcome here... so git!

The story that drives the game is written by Randall Jahnson, a professional scriptwriter who wrote the scripts for Mask of Zoro and The Doors. The fact that there actually is a tangible, immersive storyline in a shooter is enough to make ya order up a sarsaparilla and celebrate with all your friends down at the local saloon. A slew of well-known Hollywood actors were enlisted to carry out the voice acting. Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Kris Kristofferson (Blade), Brad Dourif (Deadwood), Ron Pearlman (Hellboy), Thomas Jane (The Punisher), and Tom Skerrit (Top Gun all do such exceptional jobs in their roles that it really lends a heavy dose of Hollywood glitz to the entire production. This could easily be made into a fine film.

You play as Colton White (voiced by Jane), a hunter-turned-gunslinger. The game starts with Colton and his father, Ned White (Kristofferson), hunting elk in the woods. This opening scene also seconds as a tutorial to get you comfortable with all the gunplay that will follow. The game lives up to its name. The training segment segues neatly into the story, with the two going aboard a riverboat to collect their hunting fee. Soon after, the boat comes under attack by a mangy good-for-nothing named Reverend Reed and his band of marauders. Like most of the other varmints, the Reverend is only a puppet for the true mastermind, Thomas Magruder (extraordinarily voiced by Henriksen) - a Confederate Civil War veteran, now powerful railway and mining magnate. During the ensuing battle Ned gives Colton a token to a whorehouse in Dodge City, and tells him to go see a prostitute named Jenny. Ned informs Colton that he's really not his dad, just as he has Colton jump overboard... just before the ship explodes. Needless to say, ole Ned blows up real good with the riverboat, leaving Colton alone in the Wild West with a mystery to unravel, ne'er-do-wells to kill and plenty of side quests to earn money, increase abilities, and explore.