• Image: Activision*

Ever feel like getting your video game cowboy on, but Red Dead Redemption and its kinda bloated sequel, as good as they are, just take way too long to bed into?

You know what I mean. Rockstar’s epics are the obvious go-to choices in this scenario. However, sometimes I just want to shoot stuff in the cowboy style, almost immediately if possible, and I don’t want to waste time with hugely intricate plots and overwhelming world aspects that drag a playthrough out to a triple-digit hour count. Who has time for that in this economy? (Me, but that’s probably best kept for another article on a different website.)

There are a few options for a faster six-shooter fix. Indeed, Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver is much more in line with what I’m thinking. But you’ve more than likely played that, either at launch or once you’d made your way through Red Dead Redemption.

Enter GUN *kicks swinging saloon doors open*, Neversoft’s 2005 Western action effort, which is 20 years old today! Here’s an oft-overlooked gem of a game that still has the capacity to serve you up exactly what you’re after. Heck, it even still looks real purdy.

Now, we didn’t review GUN back in the day, which is a shame [The website was only a day old! - Ed.], but it reviewed well across the board, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. With the passing of time, you could actually consider one of the biggest criticisms at release — a very empty and smallish open world — as one of its stronger points nowadays. Especially if, like me, you never want to see another sprawling, icon-laden world map in your life. Well, not for a few weeks anyway.

Let’s start with my favourite bit of this one: the cast.

We’ve got Thomas Jane, Lance Henriksen, Ron Perlman, Brad Dourif, and none other than Kris “sort of a god” Kristofferson showing up in this Western tale, and they’ve not just shown up, either. They’re not phoning it in and hightailing it out of there with their bag of swag. No. There’s some solid acting going on, and as a result, the whole thing is given a completely unnecessary level of gravitas. The story here, written by Randall Jahnsen (of The Doors movie fame), is no match for Red Dead’s hugely serious tale, make no mistake, but it isn’t aiming for that. It’s going for old-school tension, shocks, and twists that are more immediate in nature.

Jahnsen opted for a tale of revenge that plays it cold and ruthless in the classic Unforgiven vein. It revolves around Colton White (Jane) and his dad (Kristofferson) as they head off in search of Colton’s dear Jenny (Rugrats alumni, Kath Souchie) who’s been kidnapped by the murderous Reverend Reed (Dourif). Across the campaign, we’re treated to violent shootouts, horseback action sequences and sweet on-rails sections that still play great today. I’m not just saying that either, I’m playing it right now, and it looks and feels very nice, thanks.

In fact, it plays much better than I remember, and the GameCube version is no slouch, running at a super smooth clip and looking every bit as nice as other ports. As I mentioned, the open world here is slight in its size and activities, a criticism in 2005, but now it means it’s a much more straightforward and time-respectful sort of thing. There’s no need to spend 100 hours picking flowers here, and you get to shoot stuff in the first couple of minutes. A win for common sense!

The shooting, which incorporates a de rigueur slo-mo six-shooter mechanic (here called QuickDraw), also comes off much better these days, I reckon. It was criticised — outside of those focused slo-mo parts — for being a little too tough to aim. However, I’m of the opinion that it’s more authentic than tightly auto-aimed nonsense. You need to concentrate a bit and place your shots, and that works for me.

There’s also a cracking lineup of era-authentic guns to collect from dead bosses and such along the way. Winchesters, Colts, Schofield rifles that blow heads into bloody pulp when aimed just so. You even get to do a little bit of archery, firing great big cannons. Have I mentioned that it’s very bloody? Good.

So, the third-person pew-pew action, and the flow of the world, come off pretty great to this day, and it’s a world that, despite its small scale, provides plenty of suitably epic vistas, alongside some impressive urban areas, whilst still managing to look fine in 2025. This is one of those ‘early-noughties beige’ numbers. You know, dusty and rusted in an attempt to seem adult, and as a result, it’s got it where it counts in terms of atmosphere. It’s very jaggy round the edges, for sure, but there’s a level of detail and some proper cinematography going on, so it gets away with it.

Once the story kicks into gear, once Colton is on his way to Empire City to meet the likes of Mayor Hoodoo Brown (Perlman), and once all hell subsequently breaks loose, we’re then treated to a lovely mix of shootouts, proper no-messing hard cowboy dialogue, and levels, such as a fantastic stagecoach one, that don’t outstay their welcome. You also gotta turn up just to hear some classic gruff cowboy lines delivered with the swagger of this all-star cast, too.

GUN also benefits from a very edgy and ‘of its time’ attitude in some respects. It’s a little subversive here and there (I won’t spoil), and it even draws in some story influences from places you might not expect. It gets a bit...supernatural. So it’s got a whole off-kilter thing going on, backed up by the weird awesomeness of that cast.

There is an attempt to make the world feel bigger through the ability to track down a few wanted criminals, hunting animals, or doing a spot of ranching, but these are the parts where GUN falls down. No, it’s in the crazy assembly of amazingly talented actors, in that uniquely rust-tinged noughties atmosphere, and in some incredibly violent and pleasing shootouts that GUN excels.

At 20 years of age, plenty of video game cowboys have long since hung up their holsters. GUN, though, if you’re willing to give it a shot, still has it all where it counts. If you’re hankerin’ for some straightforward cowboy roleplaying, with no need for 100 hours to spare, or a therapist to get you through Arthur Morgan’s trauma, you’ll have a fairly tough time finding many games that fill the role better than Neversoft’s crack at America’s Wild West.

Who’d have thought that the Tony Hawks dev team would serve so hard in this particular genre?

Have you played GUN? Let us know if you remember it quite so fondly!