Red Dead Revolver (2004)

Red Dead Revolver was the first game in the Red Dead series and pre-dated Gun by a year.  And while Gun was able to improve upon what Red Dead Revolver did, RDR certainly deserves praise for what it did for the proliferation of old-west gunfighter games. Starting with it’s first person shooter dynamics to it’s focused targeting mode, Revolver showed what was possible in the arena for old west gunfighters.

It’s strongest attributes were the gunfights, in which you could take cover, and/or temporarily enter a slow-motion view. Once you cleared an area, or were in some other way able to make sure there were no more bad-guys lurking to ruin your day, you could advance forward to the next important area. Some of the areas made a little more sense than some of the others, but that leads to the next significant observation.

Red Dead Revolver borders precariously on the edge of being a vaudevillian weird-west story. Many of the characters are extreme caricatures of western tropes, utilizing names such as Bloody Tom, Ugly Chris, Pig Josh, Jack Swift, and Shadow Wolf. The game often times gives the feeling that the game creators were inspired by Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns, and then they got high to complete the final touches.

The real significance to RDR is that after almost being abandoned for good, it was picked up by a new developer and finally released. This then led to the improvements in the genre, including Gun, released the next year, and then the Red Dead sequel Red Dead Redemption coming out five years later and blowing away video gamers everywhere. Which will, in turn, lead to the soon-to-be-released sequel and part three in the Red Dead series, Red Dead Redemption 2. Based on the progression of western gunslinger games so far, Red Dead Revolver deserves a nod for what it’s brought to fans of both gaming and the old west.

Gun (2005)

I won’t be trying to include every old west gunfighter game that was ever produced, since, unlike board games, they get dated pretty quick and become irrelevant, but Gun was a pretty cool title and still has some fun replay-ability. It was originally launched on PlayStation 2 and the Xbox original, but was also made available on the new Xbox 360’s. However, it was never up to snuff against Red Dead Redemption, for which its gameplay was a bit of a precursor.

At the time that Gun was released it was really pretty groundbreaking. It was the first time you could actually mount up, load your guns, and make your own decisions about where you wanted to go. In short, you could finally simulate free-roaming through the old west. Previous competitive titles had some nice features, but none offered the opportunity to simply wander the open ranges. With Gun you could roam and explore to your hearts content, with no directive that had to be adhered to.

Voice talent was one of the cooler investments in this game, featuring Thomas Jane as the main character Colton White, and Kris Kristofferson as his father Ned. Additionally, Ron Pearlman, Lance Henrickson, and Tom Skerrit each voice characters. Some of which are loosely based on actual old westerners. Along the way you’ll run into Clay Allison, Luke Short, Hoodoo Brown, and Dave Rudabaugh (may be some others I’m not remembering). It’s nice that they borrowed from reality, but the in-game versions are not strong in their resemblances.

All-in-all it’s a great game and if you don’t mind a game that isn’t the latest in graphics quality, this is definitely worth the time to play. You’ll engage in many shoot-outs, Indian fights, buffalo hunts, gold mining, and hero work in general.