Hey, pardner. You look like you're mighty exhausted after running to that game store and trying to reserve your Xbox 360. Why don't you sit down for a spell and have yourself a drink of water? And while you do so, I'll go ahead and begin to tell you the story of a legacy. The legacy of Neversoft.

See, Neversoft is this company that formed many years ago, working under the tutelage of the folks at Activision. They started off small with only a few products to their name, including this one for the PlayStation called Apocalypse starring that Die Hard fella, Willis somethin'. Anyway, their world gets turned upside down when they're introduced to this dude named Tony Hawk, and begin making these skateboarding games with him all over them. The rest is pretty much history- they begin producing sequel after sequel, impressing the fans and creating quite a namesake for Activision.

But there was still a fire burning inside of them folks at Neversoft, and this fire came about into a new product that just came around. You might've heard of it, son. It's called Gun. It's basically the latest in a line of Wild West-related action games, following up on Atari's Dead Man's Hand and Rockstar Games' Red Dead Revolver. But it's better than either of them two, only because it shows the heart of the developer and their every intention to deliver just as good an experience as they ever did with Mr. Hawk or Mr. Die Hard. They truly succeeded, I believe. *spits in spitoon*

The game tells the story of this kid named Colton White, who's hunting animals with his pa, Ned White. They go to collect their bounty on this riverboat, see, after taking down a few of them elk. But soon the riverboat gets ambushed by a strange group of men, led by a mad preacher whose words spew of great evil. He's looking for some kind of artifact. Soon, Colton and Ned are separated, but not before Ned notifies this boy that he's not really his son. And soon, after the explosion of the riverboat and the disappearance of the preacher, Colton's journey begins, and it all starts with a beautiful girl named Jenny and a strange, shadowy figure known as Thomas Magruder.

That's about all I'll tell you from the story, son, as there's a few swerves along the way that keep it moving right along. It's really a deep, wonderful story, the kind of which you don't really see in them games anymore. They're usually all about "jumping in" and "killing everything" and all that hogwash, but not with Gun. My only problem is that it ends too soon, wrapping up in just under about ten hours. Good thing for us, though, is that Neversoft has added some side missions into the game to keep us plenty busy, such as being able to deliver for the Pony Express, taking up some work as a ranch hand, doing a little mining, playing a little poker (them cards'll kill you if you ain't careful though), and even handling some deputy work. This adds some length to the game, although I would've liked to get online with that Internet thingy and take on a friend. Sadly, that option isn't here.

The game features wonderful graphics, which are awful purty to look at. Sure, they run into the occasional glitch like with a weapon or with some terrain issues, and the frame rate isn't always solid, but the genuine look is still there, with brooding character designs (that Magruder character is one ugly son of a snake) and wonderful level details. Riding around in the desert and kicking up dirt is a nice look, as it gives kind of a dust effect that's wonderful. The game also has no real camera issues, and even allows you to zoom into first-person for better accuracy courtesy of the Quick Draw mode.