Gun (video game)

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Gun
Developer(s)	Neversoft
Publisher(s)	Activision
Platform(s)	GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP
Release date	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
Rating(s)	BBFC: 18 ESRB: Mature (M) PEGI: 18+ USK: 16
Media	CD, DVD, or Steam download
System requirements	PC OS:Windows 2000/XP CPU: 1.8 GHz or Athlon XP 1800+ or higher processor or equivalent RAM: 256 MB HDD: 2.8 GB Resolution: 480p DirectX v9.0c Graphics card: 100% percent DirectX 9.0c compliant 32 MB Hardware T&L capable and latest gfx drivers CD-ROM: 100% Windows 2000/XP compatible 4x CD-ROM drive (600 kbit/s sustained transfer rate) with latest drivers

Gun is a Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft, who also created the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. It was published by Activision for the Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, PC, PSP and PlayStation 2. Gun 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 console version was released for PlayStation Portable on October 10, 2006. It features new side-missions, a multiplayer mode, and other additions to the console versions.

Gun is set in the American Old West in the mid 1880s.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Characters 1.2 Weaponry Featured 2 Gameplay and Marketing 3 Sales and critical response 4 Controversy 5 Sequel 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Story

Prologue: in a scene titled "Coronado's Second Expedition", a small weary group of Spanish soldiers are set upon by Apaches during a sandstorm. The last to die is an elderly priest, clutching a golden cross.

300 Years Later: in 1887, the protagonist is Colton "Cole" White, who hunts game along with his father Ned in the wilds of Montana, supplying food and hides to the steamboats traveling the Missouri River.

Ned and Cole board a steamboat called the Morning Star. Ned meets with a prostitute named Sadie, who shows him something inside the ship's safe. When Ned emerges, an unctuous man dressed as a preacher, Reverend Josiah Reed, introduces himself. Suspicious of Reed, Cole follows him. Reed threatens Sadie, ordering her to tell him where "it" is. When she tries to run, he kills her and signals to a group of ambushers, who open fire on the passengers and board the boat. Ned and Cole hold them off, until the boilers become unstable. Quickly, Ned gives Colton a token for The Alhambra, a brothel in Dodge City, telling him to ask for Jenny. When Colton refuses to leave his father, Ned reveals he has been lying to Colton all his life, and he is not his real father, then pushes Colton overboard. The ship explodes, killing everyone aboard.

Reed reports back to his employer, one-eyed railroad baron Thomas Magruder. Reed reports that the "item" inside the safe sank with the boat. In punishment, Magruder slices his ear off.

Three days later, Colton awakes on the riverbank to find a bandit named "Honest" Tom about to pick his pocket. Colton asks to buy Tom's spare horse, and Tom proposes a wager. Colton wins, but Tom reneges and calls two thugs to help him kill Colton. After dispatching them, Colton takes off for Dodge City.

At the Alhambra, Colton meets Jenny, also a prostitute and a friend of Sadie's. A disagreement with a patron at the saloon over her leads to Jenny being kidnapped by the Red Hand Gang, which Colton rescues. Witnessing his handiness with a gun, the local sheriff recruits Colton to help protect workers on a nearby bridge from a band of renegade Apaches. Cole kills the band's leader, Quick Killer, then accompanies Jenny to 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 and his two other deputies, Rudabaugh and Webb to deal with some local outlaws.

Soon, however, Colton finds out he has been set up. Rudabaugh and Webb follow a suspected outlaw to a farm, where they find an unarmed couple hiding in the barn. To Colton's horror, they kill the couple and place guns in their hands to frame them for recent outlaw activity. They reveal they are acting on Hoodoo's orders, and turn on Colton. He kills them and runs back to Empire. As he confronts Brown, he hears Jenny scream, and runs upstairs just in time to see Reed cut her throat. Before Cole can attack Reed, Brown knocks him unconscious.

When Cole awakens, he meets Magruder, who claims to have known Ned. Magruder orders that Cole be hanged in the morning for murdering Jenny.

In jail, Cole meets Port, a wounded member of the resistance fighting against Brown's corrupt rule, and "Soapy" Jennings, an expert safecracker. Together they escape the jail. Soapy goes his separate way while Cole follows Port to the resistance's base camp in the mountains. There Cole meets the head of the resistance, Clay Allison, and agrees to help him bring down Magruder. After ambushing one of Magruder's trains, the group steals a gatling gun and frees Apache chief Many Wounds. During the celebration afterward, Allison reveals that he also knew Ned, and tells Colton one part of his back story:

During the Civil War, Clay and Ned were both soldiers in the Confederate Army, and Magruder was their commanding officer. Magruder tried to convince the Confederate hierarchy that the war could be won if they could find Quivira, an ancient city of gold. Ned, acting as a scout, led Magruder and a group of his men to a small Apache village, looking for a golden cross that could lead them to the city. A white doctor ministering to the Apaches expressed ignorance of what Magruder was looking for, but Magruder ordered Clay to search the houses. When another Apache confronted Magruder, telling him that his quest would prove his undoing, Magruder shot him in cold blood. Horrified, Ned began to protest, only to have Magruder shoot him as well. The doctor tried to minister to the fallen Apache, but Magruder decapitated him. Clay came out with the cross and threw it to his commander, but the doctor's Apache wife fired a rifle shot that took out Magruder's eye and broke the cross into pieces. In rage, Magruder ordered his men to slaughter the villagers.

After Clay finishes the story, a group of Brown'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 subdues Hoodoo and interrogates him. Hoodoo replies that Sadie stole something from Magruder and hid it aboard the steamer. Hoodoo swears that he doesn't know what it was, but says Colton will never find it, since it sank with the boat. Colton tosses one of Hoodoo's pistols back to him and finishes him in a firefight. Clay's forces take over the running of Empire City.

Knowing that the river's level drops during winter, Colton believes he can retrieve the safe, and heads for Dodge to get Soapy's assistance. When he arrives, 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 wreck of the ship, but find it guarded by the same renegade soldiers who attacked the Morning Star.

The two are captured and introduced to their leader, the psychopathic Sergeant Hollister. Cole, Soapy, and several Apaches braves escape the camp and return later with a band of Blackfoot braves to take the fort, but Hollister manages to escape. Soapy, Cole and the Blackfoot chief head for the shore holding the steamboat and are confronted by Hollister, who wounds the Chief. Colton and Hollister duel on the beach. Near death, Hollister makes a suicidal run for Cole, with his clothes stuffed with lit sticks of dynamite, but blows up without hurting him. Cole recovers Ned's Ferguson 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 mounted on an armoured horse, 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 defeats him. Reed pleads for his life, swearing that any man who kills a priest will be damned himself. Cole ignores him and kills Reed, saying, "this is for Jenny."

Knowing Chief Many Wounds has the other part of the cross, Soapy and Cole then head for the Apache camp, only to find a gruesome tableau of mutilated men. They are captured by the Apaches and taken to Many Wounds.

The Apache leader finishes the story that Clay began: Colton is actually the son of Dr. Campell, the white doctor, and his Apache wife, who gave her baby to the young Many Wounds for safekeeping during the attack on the village. After the attack, Many Wounds found his own father's body and swore revenge. Then Ned crawled up, wounded by Magruder and begging for forgiveness. (Both Magruder and Clay believed that Ned had died from his wound) Many Wounds gave him the baby to raise.

Soapy, Cole, Many Wounds, and some other Apaches head to a hill-top, where the cross is meant to be placed to point to Quivira's location. Cole notices a mining operation that Magruder has in the area, and sees that Magruder got the location right, but has been mistakenly digging down into a mountain, when it is actually located above. Magruder's bodyguard, Dutchie, sees sunlight reflecting off the cross and Magruder's men attack. Soapy falls down the cliff and is captured. Cole fights his way down-hill, finding Soapy at the bottom of the hill, who confesses that he told Magruder where Quivira was. Cole leaves Soapy behind, telling him to tell Clay and Many Wounds to meet him at the mine.

Colton stops Magruder's train and kills Dutchie. Clay and other resistance fighters board the train and use it as a ram to break down doors of Magruder's mine.

Because of Magruder's haste, the mine has been shoddily excavated and is in danger of collapsing. Cole tells Clay to pull back while he goes in alone. Cole finds Magruder in the middle of Quivira, dazzled by its richness. A fight ensues, and Magruder throws dynamite at Cole, inadvertently causing a small cave-in that traps Magruder's leg. Cole would prefer to take his time killing Magruder, but decides to let the mine do it for him. Cole escapes with Many Wounds' help, as the mine caves in, crushing Magruder.

From outside, Many Wounds and Cole watch as Quivira collapses within the mountain, Cole says to Many Wounds, "Now our fathers can rest in peace."

[edit] Characters

Many of these characters were real historical figures, 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 adoptive 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 Jennings (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 in a place like the Old West. In a cutscene, he confides to Cole the origin of his nickname: he was cornered in a lady friend's bedroom by her husband, and was forced to hide inside the shaft of her water closet - after which he had to scrub for three days before he felt clean again.

• Thomas Magruder (Lance Henriksen) - The main antagonist of the story. He is the unofficial boss of the West, in charge of the railroads being installed right in the middle of Apache Indian territory. Magruder was a Confederate major during the Civil War and led a group of soldiers, which included 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 manhood under the false pretense of being his real father. Right before his death, he confesses part of the truth to Colton and sends him on his quest to find out the truth. Ned is a well-trained outdoorsman and makes his living selling animal skins and carcasses to the local riverboats sailing down the Missouri River.

• Reverend Josiah Reed (Brad Dourif) - A hired killer and an extremely evil man, Reed masquerades as a man of the cloth to gain the trust of those he wishes to betray or take advantage of. Reed is skilled with all manner of bladed weapons and rides a horse dressed in heavy armor. Employed by Magruder, he is a merely a puppet in Magruder's game to take control of the area.

• Jenny (Kath Soucie) - A 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 Empire City. She proves to be a valuable ally to Colton, but is killed by Reed. (In the mission immediately afterward, there are multiple groups of enemies that Colton must sneak up on. Some of them, when you get close enough to them, will sing a song called "Old Jenny," with the opening lines "There once was a Dodge City Maid, who was a whore by trade...")

• Clay Allison (Tom Skerritt) - The leader of the resistance group fighting against Hoodoo Brown's corrupt reign over Empire City. He and his followers work closely with the Apache Indians, dedicated to keeping Magruder and his men out of the frontier and 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. (Historically, the real Clay Allison was a gunfighter whose reputation seemed to be, unusually, not exaggerated)

• Hollister (Marc Graue) - More than likely the most skilled and feared cowboy in the Old West. Hollister commands a small group of mercenary ex-soldiers in Magruder's pay. Hollister led the raid on the steamboat in which 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. He ultimately kills himself in a suicide bombing attempt against Cole, when he fails to reach him in time.

• Fights-At-Dawn (Eric Schweig) - The Blackfoot chief and a proud warrior. He is deeply concerned for the future of his tribe and 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 nurse Colton back to health. Colton was said to be stronger and faster after this.

• Port (Bryce Johnson) - A member of the Resistance. Port introduces Colton to Clay and the other members of the anti-Magruder coalition. Port is an avid horseman and an excellent sharpshooter 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 make a plan to escape on the night they spent in jail, and did so before the first sign of dawn. Port is last seen helping Cole fight off Magruder's men at the turn table in the mine.

• Mayor Hoodoo Brown (Ron Perlman) - The fast-talking mayor of Empire City. Hoodoo takes orders from Thomas Magruder, although his true goal is to make his city great rather than simply to line his own pockets. 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. He himself is a skilled gunfighter. The mayor pretends to hire Colton as another bodyguard, but in fact intends to set him up. (Historically, the real Hoodoo Brown was a gang leader and gunfighter, not a crooked politician)

• Patrick Denton - The optimistic sheriff of Dodge City. He hires Colton to protect the local bridge 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 lynch 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.

• Many Wounds (Eric Schweig) - An Apache Indian who gave Colton to Ned when he was only a baby. Later in the story, Many Wounds, becomes a trusted ally of Colton and helps him out with Cole's fight against Magruder.

• J.J. Webb (John Getz) & Dirty Dave Rudabaugh (Wade Williams) - Two professional gunfighters hired by Hoodoo Brown as his personal bodyguards. They also serve as 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.

• Chavez y Chavez (Armando Valdes-Kennedy) - A Mexican cowboy and a member of the Resistance. He, along with Port, serves as one of Allison's closest lieutenants. He is last seen helping Cole defend the Resistance camp. He is also seen in the game end credits.

• Sadie - A prostitute aboard the steamboat, the Morning Star, extremely close to Ned. She steals a piece of the Quivara cross from Magruder and takes it to Ned, but is killed by Reed when she refuses to retrieve its location. Jenny mentions that she is the woman in the picture above the bar in the Alhambra.

• 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 the horse go fair and square, but when Cole's back is turned he raises his gun and his two thugs 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. His son is one of the Indians rescued by Colton in the Hollister Fort Mission. He state's that his father was murdered By a gunman while trying to stop a construction that would make a devise run threw his land. He states this if you wait infront of the third rescued Indian after he is Rescued getting beaten by a solder.

[edit] Weaponry Featured

Several of the weapons featured are real:

• Pistols
  • Colt 1851 Navy Revolver
  • Schofield Revolver
  • Volcanic Pistol
  • Colt Peacemaker
• Rifles
  • Winchester Rifle
  • 69. caliber Ferguson Rifle
  • Sharps 1884
  • Remington Sharps
• Shotguns
  • Colt Doublebarrel shotgun
  • Shotgun Model 1887
  • Nock Gun
  • Cannon Nock Gun
• Melee Weapons
  • Bowie Knife
  • Tomahawk
  • Cavalry Sword
• Other
  • Gatling Gun
  • Molotov Cocktail
  • Dynamite
  • Howitzer

[edit] Gameplay and Marketing

Gun features a free-roaming environment, including side-missions that add to the story of the game. 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. Gun was marketed through the use of "Last Call Poker"—an alternate reality game from 42 Entertainment.

[edit] Sales and critical response

The game sold 225,000 units across the four systems it was initially released for.^[1] Though these sales were prior of Dec. 14, 2005, a total of current (Oct. 2007) sold copies is unknown. It was well-received by professional game reviewers and Activision has noted that Gun sold the best among new video game properties and has hinted at the possibility of a Gun sequel, which remains unconfirmed as of December 2007. Much information regarding the title should be taken as speculation.

Game Rankings gave Gun a score of 80%^[2]

Xbox360:

• Gamepro: 9.0^[3]

• IGN: (4 Stars) (Best Story)^[4]

• Gamespy: (4 Stars) (Action Game Of The Year)^[5]

• Gaming Illustrated: 8.8^[6]

Xbox:

• Gamespy: (4 Stars)^[7]

• Rottentomatoes.com: Fresh Rating of 75%^[8]

Ps2:

• PSX Extreme: 8.7^[9]

• IGN: 8.0^[10]

GameCube:

• Rottentomatoes.com: Fresh Rating of 80%^[11]

[edit] Controversy

Activision has responded to The Association for American Indian Development's petition, which demands a product 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."

[edit] Sequel

The game has not officially been announced, but rumors of a sequel to the game started in February 2006 when publisher Activision hinted that a sequel may be on the way.^[12] More rumors began in September 2007 when a poster for "Gun: Magruder's Ghost" was spotted in a demo for Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, also a Neversoft title.^[13] While some have taken the poster as an announcement, most still regard it with some speculation since there has been no formal announcement from Neversoft. IGN has also added the game as "other game by Activision".^[14] According to Joystiq.com, publisher Activision has apparently hinted during a financial conference that a sequel may be in production.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Trailers and gameplay footage on GameTrailers
• Gun at MobyGames