"Great shooter.... not too hard, not too easy.... yet full of action -- all with a great Western theme!"

Firstly, I would point out that while playing this game at an arcade recently, a conservative friend of mine told me that a game with such openly racist depictions of Native Americans would not be released today -- and probably (and hopefully), he's right. I couldn't write a review of this game without mentioning the racism found in the game, as it plays to stereotypes of Native Americans as being violent warmongering beasts...

For some, or maybe many, this alone might be enough to turn people away from this game.

Perhaps because I am cold hearted, or perhaps because I am just a total gaming freak, I love the game anyway, and it's one of my all time favorites.

One of the key aspects to any good shooter, is the speed of your character in relation to the speed of the enemies' bullets. Gunsmoke has a balance that to me feels absolutely perfect. The player-controlled character feels neither too slow, which can be extremely frustrating, nor is he so fast that the player will be out of control.

Because I'm into history in general, this game gets a lot of extra points, as this game takes place in the mid to late 1800s old American West.

Again, this game seems to have pulled off the theme perfectly. It does not have a cartoony or childish feel, like that of Sunset Riders (which is a very fun game); Gunsmoke is a slightly more mature take on the old West.

Somewhat unique to this game is the control of the player-controlled character's gunfire. Gunsmoke is a 2D, vertically scrolling shooter with a rather narrow screen, and the control of gunfire is handled by having one button shoot to the left, another to the right, and the third straight ahead. Pressed together, your firing angle will be between the three main choices, thus giving the player a tremendous amount of control.

Gunsmoke will send a non-stop flow of enemies at you from various angles. You'll have pistol-toting baddies come at you from all sides (including from behind you) and you'll also have to deal with snipers trying to take you out from building windows and the like on the right and left edges of the screen. The non-boss enemies are varied enough to present different challenges, which is a big part of this game's appeal.

Graphics: 10/10

First released in 1985, this game must have had some of the very best graphics of its time.

The game is quite colorful, and all backgrounds, characters, and items are clearly visible and identifiable.

Sound: 5/10

Both the sound effects and music for this game add nothing to the game. They also take away nothing, as the sound effects are clear and crisp. Unfortunately, they are also extremely simplistic bleeps and bloops and silly sounding gunshots and explosions.

Also, the music is incredibly lame. Some more historical tunes, perhaps some rag-time or some even older tunes by Steven Foster could have been used instead of canned video game music. This would have added a lot to the theme.

Control: 10/10

For a straight up, no holds barred shooter, this game has phenomenal control. The player-controlled character moves around at a brisk yet manageable speed, and also possesses a wide array of firing angles which are executed at the touch of a button or buttons, without requiring the player to have to waste time and/or motion rotating the character to the proper direction. There is no "point-and-fire" in this game, a la Contra or Commando, nor is there "rotate and fire" a la Ikari Warriors, Guerrilla War, or Heavy Barrel. Simply press a button or buttons and your character will shoot in the appropriate direction.

Challenge: 10/10

This game is extremely difficult without being frustrating. Perhaps because I like the historical theme, or perhaps because of the control and speed of the game, I find this game to be rewarding to get good at rather than being so difficult and frustrating that I would rather not bother.

Replay: 10/10

I think that this is such a high quality game that every now and then I go back to it and try to beat my old high score.

Overall and in conclusion: 10/10

While the sound effects and music are not great, they do not detract, in my opinion, from the feel and fun factor of the game. While the racist stereotypes found in the game must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, as a shooter, Gunsmoke is incredibly fun, fast paced, adrenaline heavy, historically themed, and extremely challenging, without being frustrating.

For anyone who is into 2D shooters and has a taste for things historical, this is an absolute must play game. For anyone who is into shooters that are adrenaline heavy yet have fantastic control and a reasonable difficulty level, this is an absolute must play game.

For those who are into shooters that feature a wide variety of weapons and outrageous amounts of eye candy, you're not gonna like this game, but you should probably play it anyway as the outstanding controls and pace of the game-play make this game timeless.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/06, Updated 05/02/07