on the downside, if you haven't already gotten that big ticket item (360) you probably won't. if you have, there aren't any new games until dead or alive 4, and that's been pushed back to the year's end. you can always get them a nintendo ds in their favorite color with a copy of bust a move ds. will not disappoint. i'd get you something, but you'd shoot your eye out kid.

gun is one of those games that rides in on its salt and pepper mustang, grabs you round the waist, and rides off into the sunset, and you don't scream rape. i might be biased when reviewing gun; my love of westerns, my respect for art, my desire for a well rounded and genuinely fun video game that provides a magnificent story and 3 dimensional characters is just my bag.

some might wonder the big difference between the xbox and 360 versions. screenshots simply don't do justice to gun on the xbox 360. every texture is rich, every vista is grand, and the entire game is in glorious widescreen. when you pull into empire city, dust blows a tumbleweed across the street. when you enter a building, it wraps around you, changing the climate, light, and sounds. at the beginning of the game, your father ned wakes you to go hunting. kris kristofferson does a great job with this character, and the scene is as brilliant as the rest of the game. you follow his cue through the forest. light trickles through the treetops, and he tells you to stay low and keep quiet as to not spook the quails in the grass. in this sequence, you learn quickdraw. this organic gameplay is present in later missions as well, like the prisonbreak where you wait for the drunken guard to walk close enough for you to grab his badge, kill him, then use it to pick the lock.

a brilliant color pallette saturates the entire game, but the biggest immersive factor is the sound. with a 5.1 setup, the game truly shines. an original soundtrack composed specifically for gun changes with whatever is happening in game. if you are simply riding along, the score is a mellow one, the kind you would expect when trotting through a canyon on horseback. when you are being attacked, the music becomes frantic, and when you are victorious, the score is triumphant and satisfying.

when you mount a horse, it controls better than any other game i've played. it pivots, gallops, trots, and jumps all on a dime. the right thumbstick is free to adjust the camera angle or aim the gun. every character moves and dies realistically. shoot them in the head, and the back of their skull along with some brain chunks fly out. shoot them in the stomach, they double over. shoot their horse, and it will go down headfirst, both throwing and crushing them. every shot can be pinpointed with quickdraw, which is a shoulder button press away. this is extremely easy to use, and feels like a zoomed, slow motion first person view. shots and kills are documented with unintrusive onscreen cues, such as "body shot," "headshot," and "shot off horse". they all report with a satisfying "ping" that resembles a bullet hitting a spittoon.

overall, gun 360 feels more next gen than most of the other games in the launch lineup. organic gameplay, immersive design, and well developed characters make gun a game that will not be forgotten.

verdict: 09/10; buy it for 360, well worth the pricetag.