Let’s face it, ever since video games became a mainstream source of entertainment and leisure, you could find games dealing with everything from killer bunnies from outer space to green dinosaurs you could ride around while they ate turtles. With all the types of games that have become popular over the years, there are few and far between western games and the ones that are in existence are far from spectacular or even memorable. Human Head Studios has decided to take the under developed genre and try to give it a swift kick into today’s gaming world.

Dead Man’s Hand seems to have all the right ingredients in it that you would expect to find in a great western game like prostitutes with shotguns, cow pokes that hoot and holler, Indians with knives, drunken banditos and of course cannibals. Ok, well not everything you would expect in a western but just about. The game starts off as you take the role of El Tejon, a member of a group of criminals known as the Nine who is lead by a bad seed named Tennessee Vic. You let the other eight know your plans of leaving the gang for greener pastures but they have different ideas. After shooting you and leaving you for dead, the Nine go without another thought of you. Little do they know that you have been rescued and you are hot on their trail and hunting them one by one. Similar to a Kill Bill type of storyline, each mission takes you through one of the 25 or so rather short missions which include a bonus mission or two in your hunt for the remaining members of The Nine.

Most of the missions are unfortunately very linear and very straightforward. There is only one way through each mission and that’s always with guns blazing. Each mission is go from point A to point B and kill everyone along the way with the exception of one or two missions where you need to hold your ground and all the enemies come to you while you slaughter them. Although being a FPS shooter this shouldn’t count against it except for the fact that the aiming is so awful. There was more than a few times where two enemies would be coming at you and you aim at one on the right and you will hit the one on the left. It makes you scratch your head but the same goes for all the objects that you can destroy as well. Just about everything through each level can be shot. Lamps, food, windows, whatever, they can all be shot but when you aim for one, chances are you will end up hitting something you weren’t even close to aiming for. Although this can be either a down fall or a helpful glitch depending how you look at it. For each shot that you hit something without missing, it chains the shots together and adds to your power meter and allows your weapons to take advantage of the secondary fire. You have the choice of one of three different rifles, pistols and shotguns at the start of every level, each with there own weakness and strengths. Along with weapons, you can also pick up dynamite and even a knife to skewer the unfortunate folks you are taking your revenge on.

The graphics are done pretty well although there wasn’t much to praise or complain about all the same. The cut scenes between missions are done like old black and white films and give a great feel to keep the theme of the game going. There definitely are some nice additions to this game that would have made it a lot less interesting without being added. Things like the icons that appear when you pull off a trick shot. Such as a giant weight that appears if you bring down an object to crush an enemy or a giant hat that appears when you pop someone’s hat off their head. Another nice addition is the poker games in between missions. At the start of each mission you have the chance to play as many rounds of poker as you choose to win you more ammo and power-ups. But if you get too greedy and lose one hand, you lose it all.

For some reason Dead Man’s Hand kept feeling like it may have been much better if it had been a light gun game like Time Crisis or House of the Dead rather than a First Person Shooter. Although it does include multiplayer modes for Xbox Live in the form of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Posse and Bounty where everyone is against one player, the game just doesn’t have enough diversity in the single player to make you want to play the multiplayer. Being a western game it took a chance being different and being priced cheaper than most games for the Xbox, it isn’t too bad for some mindless killing, but if you are looking for something with a lot of depth and a great story to rejuvenate the Western Game genre, looks like we’re going to have to keep waiting a bit longer.