PS2 GAME – GUN (PREOWNED)

In a nutshell: It’s Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West as you take on every varmint in the state, battle cattle rustlers, outlaws, evil business men and figure out the conspiracy behind who your real father was. Simply put, this is an ultra violent tale of the old frontier. The lowdown: Swap the cars for horses, San Andreas for the big country and a Uzi for a good old six shooter and suddenly GTA becomes GUN. It’s not quite that exact a copy though: the story missions are much more important here, with the side quests proving to be fairly short lived, and there’s relatively little reward available for exploring the game world. The actual business of gun fighting and horse riding looks and feels great, with accurate, intuitive controls and surprisingly violent showdowns. Grand Theft Auto is a better game and Red Dead Revolver is a better Western, but this is still a decent effort at navigating a path between the two. Most exciting moment: Failing to take care of business in a horseback gunfight, then using your dead mount for cover! Since you ask: Developers Neversoft are the same studio behind the Tony Hawk’s games – as you might have guessed from the familiar looking combo messages. The bottom line: Doesn’t quite reach its full potential but a fun cowboy simulator all the same. Harrison Dent