As Western shooters go, GUN is a pretty solid endeavor offering a solid storyline, some gory shooting, well designed horse riding mechanics, decent graphics and solid voice acting featuring a stable Hollywood Stars. As a next-generation title, gun doesn't aspire to do much beyond what the Xbox and PS2 versions of the game do, but it's still nonetheless a solid affair for gamers that like the whole concept of shooting cowboys and Indians. GUN's only real shortcoming is that it could have been a bit longer, and though you can continue to wander the wilds of the West after the main plot is complete, it's not quite as satisfying (there's around 10 - 12 hours of gameplay to be had).

GUN tells the story of Colton White, a mountain man type who hunts and traps game with his father, Ned. After fate intervenes on a riverboat and Colton's father is marked down as dead, Colton goes on a journey to find the man who killed him - a reverend that is less than pious and working for a railroad baron who is on the hunt for an ancient treasure.

After Colton makes his way to the fabled city of Dodge, he begins to be challenged by all sorts of ruffians, Indians and cowboy scum to follow the path to the reverend. There will be a lot of blood, a lot of betrayal and a lot of alliances made as Colton searches out the truth and exacts the kind of justice that you'd only find in a classic Western film.

The gameplay mechanics in Gun are a lot of fun, and can be picked up and learned pretty easily with a little tiny bit of practice. The first mission of the game lets players learn the ropes pretty quickly, schooling Colton in the use of the rifle, the knife for close range combat and shotguns and -- of course -- your revolver. A little later on in the game, Colton learns how to ride a horse, shoot from a mounted position and use his horse as a weapon. The combat in the game is the most satisfying part, and there are lots of different ways to get the job done - from shotguns, to revolvers and from bows to rifles with scopes. Gun uses two components to make the game offer some unique perspectives. The first is the quick draw, which slows down the action to make killing multiple targets easier. Combined with a simple and quick targeting method, a skilled player could easily down a group of baddies in very little time. The quick draw component is timed, so using it right is very important. The other interesting mechanic is the rifle scope, which allows you to zoom into targets and pick them off from a long range. Of course, players can also jump, crouch and lean around corners, making the use of cover important and effective. The gameplay is GUN is fun, viscerally bloody and well put together no matter how you slice it.

The missions in GUN range from cleaning out areas filled with thugs to escorting stage coaches and prisoners to safety. There's a lot of variety to these missions, and many of the are difficult to accomplish until you get the hang of exactly what you are supposed to do. Players will also find themselves facing off against some pretty tough hombres that serve as hired guns or head up groups - these guys are slightly m0ore challenging than the gallery of rogues you'll be shooting, and usually reward the player with some extra weapons or other goodies.

The game also features a lot of neat mini-games and activities like hunting, collecting cash for wanted outlaws, working on a ranch, filling in for or helping the law with various crimes being committed and mining for gold. While some of the side missions and act9ivities aren't deep they are fun and help the player to make money to buy various weapon and stat upgrades - and there are lots to choose from as you travel from town to town.

If there's any real flaw in GUN it is that it is just too short. You're only going to get a maximum of 12 hours out of the main plotline - and that's including a lot of the side quests you take on. While we've seen games that are a lot shorter and a whole lot less interesting in our time, we just wish GUN was a lot longer. There's also no multiplayer in the game - not even split screen - which would have added a lot of value to the game. Finally, there's not a lot of difference between the Xbox 360 version and the other version of the game, save high definition television support.

All that aside, GUN is a solid game on any platform and a lot of fun to boot. It's the best Western shooter to come out in a long time and it offers gameplay that offers a lot of variety while making the actual gameplay mechanics easy to understand and use. If you like western themed shooters like Dead Man's Hand and Red Dead Revolver then you should make GUN your next purchase.