Gun (video game)

This article is about the video game. For other uses, see Gun (disambiguation).

GUN
File:GUN cover xbox360.jpg
Developer(s)	Neversoft
Publisher(s)	Activision
Platform(s)	GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP
Release	November 8, 2005 (GC, PS2, Xbox) November 9, 2005 (PC) November 16, 2005 (Xbox 360) October 13, 2006 (Steam)
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player

GUN is an Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, PC, PSP and PlayStation 2. It is set in the American Old West in the early 1880s. The protagonist, Colton White, is a hunter who turns into a gunslinger when his murdered father, Ned, instructs him to go to Dodge City.

GUN features a free-roaming environment, including side-missions and other such touches. It was released in North America on November 8, 2005 and in mid-to late November in Europe. Since October 13 2006, the game has also been available to buy on Valve's content delivery platform, Steam.

A port of the game for PlayStation Portable, titled GUN Showdown, was released on October 10th, 2006. It features new side-missions, a multiplayer mode, and other additions to the console versions. According to Joystiq.com, publisher Activision has apparently hinted during a financial conference that a sequel may be in production. Taking note that sales were less than originally predicted, GUN sold the best among new game property leading some to believe that Activision will turn the title into a franchise.

Storyline

Colton 'Cole' White, a freelancer hunting game with his father Ned along the Missouri River, board a steamboat called the Morning Star. Ned meets up with a prostitute named Sadie, who leads him to a room with a safe where she shows him an item, hidden from view. While Ned is in the hidden room, Colton is approached by a mysterious preacher named Reverend Josiah Reed. Its then that Ned emerges from the room with Sadie, and Reed walks away in the same direction as the prostitute. Colton, suspicious of Reed, follows him and sees him threatening Sadie.

The "reverend" says "Give me the item and you will spare the lives of everyone on this ship!" The prostitute instead slaps Reed, and Reed responds by exclaiming "Thy will be done" and then killing her. A group of renegade soldiers attacks the steamer, killing most of the passengers on board. Ned and Colton, with the few remaining passengers, hold off the attack until the boilers become unstable. Ned then gives Colton a token for the Alhambra and tells him to look for Jenny. Ned then tosses Colton off the ship, but not before revealing that he is not his father. The ship explodes, taking Ned, the renegades and the rest of the passengers with it.

After washing ashore, Colton realizes he cannot get to Dodge City, the location of the Alhambra, without a horse. He bets a man who goes by the name Honest Tom he can beat him in a horse race, three laps around the gorge. If Colton wins he gets to keep the horse, if Tom wins he gets the token to the Alhambra. Colton ultimately wins the race, but Tom's two companions come out of hiding with guns aimed at Cole. Tom reveals he was never planning on letting Colton take his horse, and the three bandits attack the main character.

After an intense shootout, Cole leaves the three marauders for dead and heads for Dodge City on his new horse, where he meets up with a prostitute named Jenny. After a brief kidnapping, the two head for Empire City, a bustling new town in the New Mexico Territory. After they arrive, they meet up with Mayor "Hoodoo" Brown, who says that he can help find Reed. Brown deputizes Colton and sends him off to deal with local resistance fighter with his two other deputies, Rudabaugh & Webb. After following a resistance member by the name of Chavez y Chavez to a local barn, Colton and the two deputies find an unarmed couple cowering in the barn.

Rudabaugh and Webb execute the two, and Colton threatens to run them in to Hoodoo. They retort "Who do you think we take orders from?" and reveal that Hoodoo has double-crossed Colton and Jenny. After killing them, Colton heads back to Empire and confronts Hoodoo, but Hoodoo states that Reed is upstairs and he was just coming to get Colton. Colton doesn't believe him, but hears Jenny scream and runs upstairs to witness Reed slit Jenny's throat. Hoodoo knocks Cole unconscious, and when he awakens, he is faced with a one-eyed man named Thomas Magruder, who claims to have known Ned White. He orders that Cole be hanged in the morning for the murder of Jenny. Cole is then tossed in a jail cell overnight.

In jail, Cole meets Port, a wounded member of the resistance, and Soapy Jennings, an expert safecracker. After escaping Empire, Soapy parts ways and Port and Cole head to the resistance's base camp in the mountains. It is there Cole meets the head of the resistance, Clay Allison, and Cole resolves to kill Magruder and anyone working for him. After ambushing one of Hoodoo's trains, the group steals a gatling gun. In the celebration afterwards, Allison reveals several things to Cole. He says that he knew Ned, and that Magruder was their commanding officer during the Civil War. Allison says that Magruder tried to convince the Confederate hierarchy that the war could be won if they found Quivira, an ancient city of gold.

A group of Magruder's men, Ned and Clay among them, descend on a small Apache village looking for a cross that could lead them to Quivira. A Native American doctor in the village greets them. After an Indian confronts Magruder, Magruder shoots him in the face. Ned takes exception, but Magruder responds by shooting Ned, though not killing him. Magruder then decapitates the doctor with his saber. Allison finds the cross and tosses it to Magruder, and afterwards, an Apache woman, fires a rifle at Magruder, shooting his eye out and blowing the cross apart in the process. The rest of the soldiers proceed to execute the Apaches. After Clay finishes the story, a group of Hoodoo's men attack the base. The resistance manages to hold them off, and capture a Howitzer in the process, but Clay is captured by Hoodoo's men and taken back to Empire.

The resistance stages a daring rescue, and Cole manages to free Clay, but only after he had been tortured by Hoodoo. After an extended gunfight, Cole shoots Hoodoo, who falls backwards through a third story window.

File:Gunscreen2.jpg

Colton on horseback in Dodge City

Cole heads for Dodge to get Soapy to help him recover the piece of the cross stowed in the ship's safe. When he arrives, he finds out that Soapy is about to be lynched for cheating at cards. With the help of Sheriff Denton, Cole frees Soapy and the two head for the ship, but find it guarded by the same renegade soldiers who attacked the Morning Star.

The two are captured and introduced to Sergeant Hollister, who runs the camp. Cole, Soapy, and several Indian braves escape the fort and return later with a band of Blackfeet to take the fort, but Hollister manages to escape. Soapy, Cole and the Blackfeet chief head for the shore holding the steamboat and are confronted by Hollister, who wounds the Chief. Colton and Hollister duel on the beach. Nearing death, Hollister hides behind a rock and shoves several sticks of dynamite into his uniform and lights them. He makes a suicidal run for Cole, but fails and blows up. Cole recovers Ned's rifle that Hollister stole and, after parting with the Blackfoot Chief, he and Soapy head for the steamer.

Soapy opens the safe, and they find half of the cross, but they are confronted by Reed, who thanks them for saving him the trouble. Instead, Cole tosses the cross back into the safe and slams it shut. Cole battles Reed, and, after shooting him in the leg, jams Ned's rifle into his mouth, ignores his pleas for mercy, and kills him, saying "This is for Jenny." Soapy and Cole then head for the Apache camp to reunite the pieces of the cross, only to find a gruesome ward made of men who had been skinned and hung upside down. They are captured by the Apaches and taken to their chief, Many Wounds.

The Apache leader shows Cole some things and the story continues from where the village massacre left off. The Indian woman gives young Many Wounds a baby and tells him to hide. Meanwhile, the baby's father, Dr. Campbell, is decapitated and the rest of the village slaughtered. When everyone is dead, Many Wounds finds his dead father and states he will take revenge. Ned then shambles up and begs forgiveness. Many Wounds says that Ned will be forgiven if he takes the baby into his care. The baby is Colton. Colton finds out that he's Native American.

Soapy, Cole, Many Wounds, and some other Apaches head to the spot where the cross can be placed to find Quivira. Cole notices that while Magruder did get the spot right, he was digging down when Quivira was right above his head. Magruder's bodyguard Dutchie sees the light shine off the cross and fires a cannon at the hillside. Soapy falls down the cliff and is captured by Dutchie. Cole fights his way down the mountain, finding Soapy in the middle of the traintracks at the bottom of the hill, with two of his fingers shot off. He says he told Magruder where the mine was. Cole leaves Soapy behind, telling him to tell Allison and Many Wounds to meet him at the mine, stops Magruder's train and kills Dutchie. After stealing the train, he and Allison begin stoking the fire in the engine and ram the steel doors of Magruder's mine.

After a long battle penetrating deep into the mine, the roof starts caving in as a result of shoddy mining. Cole tells Clay to pull back while he follows Magruder. Cole finds Magruder in the middle of Quivira, amazed by the beauty. However, they fight, and eventually Magruder retreats to higher ground, throwing packs of dynamite at Cole. Cole shoots the dynamite, causing a rock to collapse and crush Magruder's leg. Instead of torturing Magruder, the cave starts to collapse and Cole makes it out with Many Wounds' help. A large rock dislodges, crushing and killing Magruder. Many Wounds and Cole barely make it out and as they watch Quivira collapse within the mountain, Cole says to Many Wounds, "Now our fathers can rest in peace."

Characters

(It should be noted that many of these characters were real people though the game may portray them slightly differently than they actually were)

• Colton "Cole" White (Thomas Jane) - The protagonist and player character of the story. He grew up learning the way of the outdoors from his father, Ned White. The two made their living hunting game for the steamboats traveling the Missouri River. While aboard one of the local steamboats, Colton and Ned are forced to defend the ship against a band of marauders, where Colton learns Ned is not his biological father, and is thrown overboard just before the boat explodes killing everybody aboard, including Ned. With Ned dead, Colton's quest to find out about his true past begins. Cole meets many characters during his adventure, some become his allies while others turn out to be the utmost of enemies. Colton is a skilled marksman, and is always willing to stand up for what is right.

• Soapy (Dave Wittenberg) - A safe cracker and more than likely Colton's closest ally during his journey. Soapy is a little too smart and cocky for his own good. Though he's a smooth talker, he is weak physically and tends to get himself into trouble, where as Cole is constantly bailing him out. Soapy's two specialties are cracking safes and cheating in poker; two major strikes against him somewhere like the Old West.

• Thomas Magruder (Lance Henriksen) - The main antagonist of the story. He is the unofficial "boss" of the Old West. He is in charge of the railroads being installed right smack dab in the middle of Apache Indian territory. Magruder was a general during the Civil War and led a group of soldiers, which included Ned White and Clay Allison, to find the mythical city of gold, Quivira. The war ended, but Magruder's mission did not. He has made it his ultimate goal in life to find the lost city of gold and is willing to do anything to accomplish it.

• Ned White (Kris Kristofferson) - Colton's adoptive father. He raised the boy to be a man under the false pretense of Cole being his flesh and blood. Right before his death, he is given just enough time to explain to Colton, that he is not his real father, and passes the rest of the burden onto a mysterious prostitute by the name of Jenny. Ned is a well-trained outdoorsman. He makes his living selling animal skins and animal carcasses to the local riverboats sailing down the Missouri River.

• Reverend Josiah Reed (Brad Dourif) - A preacher, who is in actuality an extremely evil man. He uses the guise of being a man of the cloth to gain trust of those he wishes to betray or take advantage of. He also uses being a holy man as a sort of defense, claiming that if anybody tries to hurt him, their soul will burn in hell. Reed is physically intimidating as well, being he is very tall and muscular. The "reverend" works for Thomas Magruder, and is a merely a puppet in Magruder's game to take control of the west.

• Jenny (Kath Soucie) - A mysterious prostitute and the main attraction of the Alhambra Saloon in Dodge City. Jenny is tired of the small-town life and is anxiously waiting the completion of the bridge in town so she can travel south to New Mexico to the large Empire City. Colton is instructed by Ned right before he dies, to go to the Alhambra and ask for Jenny. She is later killed by Reed.

• Clay Allison (Tom Skerritt) - The leader of the group known as the "Resistance". He and his followers are dedicated to working with the Apache Indians and keeping Magruder and his men out of the frontier in order to restore some dignity to the Old West. Clay is a man with good intentions but a dark past. After Colton joins the Resistance, he learns that Clay fought alongside both Ned and Magruder during the Civil War, and Clay thought that Magruder had killed Ned several years before.

• Hollister (Marc Graue) - More than likely the most skilled and feared cowboy in the Old West. Hollister was the commander of the raid of the steamboat, the Morning Star, where Ned was killed. He runs a fort alongside the Missouri River, and is big, strong, and extremely intimidating. Hollister's followers worship him like a god, as they are too afraid to question his authority. Hollister is a heavy drinker and has a love for women, but he also has an inexplicable hatred for the Native Americans, whose land he enjoys stealing.

• Fights-At-Dawn (Eric Schweig) - The Blackfoot chief and proud warriors. He has a deep concern for the future of his tribe and is saddened by the white man's arbitrary murder and theft. He befriends Colton, and recalls a time when Cole was younger, when he was attacked by a cougar. It was a shaman of Fights-At-Dawn's tribe who helped heal Colton back to health. Colton was said to be stronger and faster after the Indian nursed him back to health.

• Port (Bryce Johnson) - A member of the Resistance, led by Clay Allison. Port is the one who introduces Colton to Clay and the other members of the anti-Magruder coalition. Port is an avid horseman and an excellent sharp shooter with a pistol. He is often the first person to volunteer for all of Clay's crazy plans. He torched a printing press in Empire City, and got thrown in the local prison, which is where he met Cole and Soapy. The three forged a plan to escape on the night they spent in jail, and did so before the first sign of dawn.

• Mayor Hoodoo Brown (Ron Perlman) - The fast-talking mayor of Empire City. Hoodoo takes orders from Thomas Magruder, although he is more worried about leading his city to prominence over receiving abundant amounts of money. Due to his dirty practices, Hoodoo has many enemies and therefore has hired two professional gunslingers, J.J. Webb and Dave Rudabaugh, as personal bodyguards. The mayor pretends to hire Colton as another bodyguard, but truly has another goal in mind.

• Patrick Denton - The optimistic sheriff of Dodge City. He hires Colton to protect the bridge in town from renegade Apache while imported carpenters from China finish building it. Later in the story, Denton is tied up and placed by the railroad tracks while Soapy is taken to the gallows to be hanged. Colton arrives in town just in time to free Denton and head to the top of the water tower to snipe out the men attempting to kill Soapy.

• Dutchie - An extremely muscular man and Magruder's personal bodyguard. He rarely speaks and is often shown doing all the dirty work for Magruder, like kidnapping Soapy and cutting the ears off Maguder's followers who fail in the tasks given to them.

• Many Wounds (Eric Schweig) - An Apache Indian who gave Colton to Ned when he was only a baby. Many Wounds was put in control of the baby, by Cole's biological parents who looked after the Apache in the area. Later in the story, Many Wounds, becomes a trusted ally of Colton and helps him out in many sticky situations.

• J.J. Webb (John Getz) - A professional gunfighter hired by Hoodoo Brown to be one of his personal bodyguards. He along with Brown's other right-hand-man, Dave Rudabaugh, serve not only as bodyguards, but also as a pair of unnofficial sheriffs for Empire City. He and Rudabaugh trick Colton into following them to a farm on the outskirts of Empire City, and engage him in a gun showdown of two vs. one.

• Dirty Dave Rudabaugh (Wade Williams) - A professional gunfighter hired by Hoodoo Brown to be one of his personal bodyguards. He along with Brown's other right-hand-man, J.J. Webb, serve not only as bodyguards, but also as a pair of unnofficial sheriffs for Empire City. He and Webb trick Colton into following them to a farm on the outskirts of Empire City, and engage him in a gun showdown of two vs. one.

• Chavez y Chavez (Armando Valdes-Kennedy) - A Mexican cowboy and a member of the Resistance. He, along with Port serve right behind Clay Allsion as second-in-command.

• Sadie - A prostitute aboard the steamboat, the Morning Star. She takes Ned into a secret room containing a safe, and closes the door so Colton can not see inside. She is killed in the ambush of the riverboat. Her past is revealed when Cole meets up with Jenny at the Alhambra in Dodge City.

• Honest Tom (Frank Collison) - A Bandit traveling the banks of the Missouri River. He wages his horse that he can beat Colton in a race on horseback. When he loses he pretends to let Colton keep the horse without any struggle, but when Cole's back is turned he raises his gun and his two followers come out from hiding to engage Colton in combat.

• Quick Killer - The leader of the band of renegade Apache Indians attacking the bridge in Dodge City. His weapon of choice is his trusted tomahawk, and he and his fellow tribe members engage Colton and Denton in combat atop the constructed bridge.

Gameplay

GUN is played by controlling Colton from a third person perspective, playing much like a generic third-person shooter. Players can wield a revolver and switch between rifles, shotguns, various handheld explosives, and bows. Throwing Knives are available in Gun Showdown, but are often seen as a hasty and meaningless addition. Attacking and killing enemies fills up a "Quickdraw" gauge, which when activated slows down time, switches to a first-person perspective, and gives the player unlimited ammunition for a short duration, allowing the player to take on a significant number of enemies.

The player is free to roam the game world on foot or riding a horse, taking optional missions as one pleases as a typical sandbox game. As the player progresses through the game, they can opt to complete side-missions, including poker tournaments, cattle herding, law enforcement and bounty hunting. Using money obtained from these side-missions and finding gold veins, players can purchase upgrades to their items.

Unlockables

In all versions of the game, several items become unlocked as the player progresses through the game. Once the player kills Magruder, he receives his experimental shotgun. After the player achieves 100% for the side missions, another new shotgun is unlocked along with Reed's horse. Unfortunately, there is no one left to use them on, except the occasional highwaymen (bandits), the innocent people of Dodge and Empire city or any left over enemies at the Black Foot Camp.

Sales and critical response

The game sold 225,000 units across the four systems it was initially released for. Though these sales were prior of Dec. 14, 2005, a total of current (Oct. 2007) sold copies is unknown. While this was less than expected, Activision has noted that GUN did sell the best among new video game properties and has hinted at the possibility of a sequel, which remains unconfirmed as of August 2007. Much information regarding the title should be taken as speculation.

Xbox360:

• Gamepro: 9.0

• IGN: (4 Stars) (Best Story)

• Gamespy: (4 Stars) (Action Game Of The Year)

• Gaming Illustrated: 8.8

Xbox:

• Gamespy: (4 Stars)

• Rottentomatoes.com: Fresh Rating of 75%

Ps2:

• PSX Extreme: 8.7

• IGN: 8.0

GameCube:

• Rottentomatoes.com: Fresh Rating of 80%

Controversy

Activision has responded to The Association for American Indian Development's petition, which demands a recall (and edit) of GUN on the grounds that the game inaccurately depicts the Apache people using degrading and harmful content. The publisher issued this brief statement:

"Activision does not condone or advocate any of the atrocities that occurred in the American West during the 1800s. GUN was designed to reflect the harshness of life on the American frontier at that time. It was not Activision’s intention to offend any race or ethnic group with GUN, and we apologize to any who might have been offended by the game’s depiction of historical events which have been conveyed not only through video games but through films, television programming, books and other media."

Possible Sequel

Rumours of a sequel to the game started in February 2006 when publishers Activision hinted that a sequel may be on the way. More rumours began in September 2007 when a poster for "GUN: Magruder's Ghost" was spotted in a demo for Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, a fellow Activision and Neversoft title.

See also

• Old West
• Neversoft
• Activision

External links

• Official site
• Trailers and gameplay footage on GameTrailers
• GUN at MobyGames