Voor men bij Neversoft aan de Tony Hawk reeks begon had men reeds twee actietitels gemaakt. Nu zeven jaar later waagt men zich nogmaals aan een originele actietitel met Gun dat op PlayStation 2, GC, PSP, Xbox en Xbox 360 zal verschijnen. We hadden de kans om enkele vragen te stellen aan Irwin Chen, de producer van Gun. Op de eerste pagina vind je de originele, Engelse versie; pagina 2 bevat een integrale vertaling.

Gamed: Not many Western games have been made in recent years, Red Dead Revolver and Darkwatch have tried it but they came up short. Why do you think Gun will be succesful? Is there anything that sets it apart from other games in the genre?

Irwin Chen: Freedom. We give you the freedom to climb onto the saddle and explore a massive living streaming world. We drop you into the west and let you feel everything but the dust in your eyes. You have the freedom to experience first hand how brutal and lawless the west really was. You play Colton White, and he isn't your traditional good guy John Wayne style cowboy. In GUN, the villain doesn't always wear the black hat and the cavalry doesn't show up in the nick of time to save the day. Colton lives by his own laws as he travels across our massive streaming world that really brings the west alive. The west is an amazing setting for a game. You've got everything you could possibly want in that one place and time. We are talking about a world on the edge of civilization filled with brutality, lust and greed. You've got the freedom of the time and the lawlessness that went along with it. When you also figure that these ideas hadn't been captured that well in a video game yet, we knew what game we had to make.

Gamed: We and probably most of our readers didn't have the chance yet to play the game, I can only assume the controls are fairly straightforward when walking around but how about when you're riding on the horse. Will you need to control both the horse and your guns at the same time like in 187 Ride or Die or will the game become more like a on-rail shooter?

We focused a lot of attention on the horse in GUN. When mounted you use the left analog stick to control your horse, and the right analog stick to control Colton's cross hair. This allows you complete control of both the horse and rider. You can look any direction, circle your enemies, and even open fire on the gang of outlaws riding up behind you. Your horse really is a living breathing animal and we did everything we could to make it feel that way. They react if they are hurt, they fatigue as you ride them too hard and even run when they are spooked by gunfire or explosions. It's a truly amazing sight to ride into battle surrounded by allies all on horseback and just watch the chaos happen. Horses are throwing riders as there legs buckle, outlaws slumping dead off a still panicked mount and even both being killed in one powerful explosion of dynamite. The animations for all aspects are simply beautiful and a lot of time and effort went into making them as realistic as possible.



Your horse is your main mode of transportation throughout the world. You use it to ride from town to town, hunt bounties, and even search for gold. If your horse is killed you can steal another from the town or even find wild ponies riding in the badlands. Any horse can be ridden so if your opponents are on horseback you can blast them off and steal his mount.

Gamed: A couple of years ago, Grand Theft Auto III started a trend of giving the players time to roam the city, walk around, do a couple of extra missions. Does Gun follow this trend and what kind of side-missions can we expect?

The story is there to guide you through this massive world but you can take it at your own pace. Feel free to explore the world, hunt, gamble, ranch, mine for gold, fight off bandit attacks or ride for the pony express and then go back the main storyline when you feel like it. With these sandbox style elements, you'll earn money to buy upgrades as well as earn stat increases.

Gamed: For a Western game, we haven't seen many Indians. Are they all dead or will you be able to interact with some Indian tribes?

Native Americans play a large role in GUN both as enemies and allies. You'll survive bloody skirmishes with hordes of deadly Native warriors as well as ride into battle with a handful of braves on your side against overwhelming odds. Their exact role we can't divulge because we don't want to give up to much of the story. You'll just have to play the game to find out the rest.



Gamed: How did you find out about Randall Johnson? We hadn't heard of him before Gun in all honesty and I suppose not many people watch the credits to discover who wrote the script of a movie or game.

We read one of Randall's Western scripts that he had done in the past for a Hollywood studio. Unfortunately, that script never made it to the screen but Randall's passion and vast knowledge base about this period of American history makes GUN that much more of a memorable experience.

Gamed: We also have a little question about the music. In all those old westerns, you'll see the hero walking into a bar and there will be a piano playing when someone shoots at it. Will we be hearing that kind of music in this game too?

Good music reflects the style of game being played. Christopher Lennertz has created an amazing score that really evokes the epic nature of GUN. Of course, when you walk into the Alhambra saloon expect to here a little piano music from the corner.

Gamed: How was it working on Xbox 360 hardware compared to the good old Xbox? Are you happy with the amount of power you are squeezing out of the machine? Why should Xbox owners go for the 360 version instead of the Xbox version, why should they spend an extra $10?

The game looks amazing on the 360. Normal mapped textures, higher resolution models, and more characters on screen all at 720p resolution make it truly next gen. The game doesn't just look better but feels much more alive as you traverse the game world at a higher frame rate.



Gamed: How was it to work on an Action game after making so many extreme sports games?

The setting for the game is a personal passion of Joel Jewett president of Neversoft and other influential teams members. As the idea grew and more research was put into it they knew it was perfect for a game. We needed to capture the real brutality, greed and lawlessness of the time because it makes great such intense and compelling gameplay. This was a time when people had access to every vice, took what they wanted and there was no real order. You ended up with every type of person coming together on the edge of civilization. You had outlaws, cattle ranchers, railroad tycoons, whores, immigrants, Native Americans, prospectors, and gunslingers. Add to the mix that everyone, and I do mean everyone, carried a gun.

Gamed: Any other plans after Gun or is the Gun Team going to merge with the Tony Hawk team again? Or can we expect a follow-up to Gun on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Revolution? Especially the last one would make quick drawing a revolver nice.

We definitely have many amazing plans for the future of this franchise but they are currently under wraps. You'll just have to wait to see what we've come up with.