Gun Showdown

"Much needed western"

GUN SHOWDOWN (PSP)

Western type games are few and mostly crap. Wild Arms the RPG was great then went down hill, then there was a western drought. GUN originally was released for the Playstation 2 and Xbox, and now on the PSP as GUN SHOWDOWN. This game is almost the best it can be on the PSP, but that does not mean is a perfect game.

The story is very western, something you would suspect to see on some old black and white western. You start off as Colton White and his “Pa”, Ned, hunting some game to sell. They hitch a ride on a fairy, where you meet your nemesis, whom is a preacher. Ned and his “girl” privately take care of some sort of business when the fairy is jumped by the preacher's men. Colt and Ned defend the fairy, when Ned gives Colt a coin and tell him to jump off the ship, and said that “I am not your Pa.” Colt gets pushed over bored, and starts his journey to solve the mystery behind himself and why the fairy was overrun.

The game is broken up into missions which are, for the most part, very short and simple. You can follow the storyline, or accept missions from people around town. You gain new weapons and stat bonuses for completing missions. The game takes place on foot, on horse, on carriage, and things you would expect a western to be taken place in. You fight bandits and those nasty savages, while relying on your vast arsenal of weaponry. When I mean vast, I mean vast. Knives, tomahawk, whiskey bombs, throwing knives, shotgun, rifle, pistols, and other fun weapons are at your finger tips.

The controls are perfect, well, for the PSP that is. You move with the analog nub, and aim with the face buttons, which is clunky, but works. You draw and shoot your weapon with the right shoulder button. A key feature that pulls the aiming out of the dirt is the quickdraw function. By tapping the up button, you pull out your pistol and your surroundings go into slow motion for a small period of time. While in quickdraw mode, you can hit the analog nub to switch targets faster. The quickdraw drains a bar, and it slowly fills up over time.

The graphics are close to the PS2 version, but it does suffer from frame rate issues and slowdown in the cut scene. Another complaint is that the towns are pretty dead and barren. The voice overs are excellent, and the music is very familiar to the western fan. For PSP standards, both are top notch.

Multiplayer has a few fun modes. In Ad-hoc mode, you can play a free for all deathmatch (1-6 players), a hold the fort style “Golden Cross” mode (1-6 players), and a good ole' game of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker (1-5 players). Besides the multiplayer, you are also offered a quickplay option that let you play seven different mini games by yourself.

Overall, GUN SHOWDOWN is a solid game, and a much needed western genre game. The controls feel clunky, but the quickdraw function makes up for it. There is slowdown and frame rate issues with the cut scenes, but graphics are top notch for the PSP. The voice overs and sounds are also great. The game is very short, and I really recommend it as a renter, as it can be beaten in a few days.

Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 8/10
Worth: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/07