PixlBit

Transport yourself back to the wild, wild west. Imagine, just sitting down at your town saloon, looking for a drink and a game of cards with some friends, and a man walks in. He has an old, weathered look about him-you can tell he spent many a hard day riding in the sun. As he pulls up a chair and orders a whiskey, you start to get a sort of...feeling about him, and you suddenly knew why...that man is Silas Greaves, bounty hunter. Renowned for his exploits and run-ins with infamous outlaws, you push him to tell you of his life.

That's where you become Silas Greaves.

Ubisoft's western-style first person shooter is centered on Silas Greaves. Our troubled protagonist weaves an intricate story, changing everything you thought you knew about cowboys, outlaws, and the history behind each character. You get to relive Silas' memories, as he sits in the saloon and tells the the saloon's small number of patrons about his exploits. The group he has gathered questions his stories, because they read about each outlaw's death, and so they know what actually happened. Silas is there to set them straight and secure his legend.

First off, I really ended up enjoying this game. I've never played any of the western-style shooters, but I really enjoyed being a cowboy. You get to duel-wield your revolvers, or take out enemies with a powerful rifle. Of course, since you were around during the miner's times, you get to grab a few sticks of dynamite as well. Each episode in Silas' story leads from him as a young cowboy, to growing older and into a bounty hunter. A lot of outlaws hurt Silas, and so bounty hunting is a good way to make a living, and a good way to get revenge on those who wronged him. There are quite a few key moments in the game, so I won't give anything away if you have yet to play it.

The art is a lot of fun, having a comic-book feel to it, and I like the gaming mechanics, for the most part...but I will get to that later. The gun controls seemed pretty good, but I wish there was a way to fine-tune some of your controls, but that's just for me personally. I always feel like I was swinging way too wide with my gun, even when I barely nudged the joystick. This happened a lot-especially in duels. I know the object was to slowly control your focus and draw speed, but I felt like I could never quite get to an ideal match. I did like the concentration aspect when you're engaged in regular shootout against your adversaries. It slowed down time and allowed to you focus for a better shot. I generally used this to increase my headshot scores, and increase awards, which are awarded on how you kill someone, and how fast. Earning skill points and adding them to each tree was essential-a lot of the skills dealt with concentration, and a few skills dealt with you being able to carry more ammo and gun expertise. I always enjoy Ubisoft's skill trees, and I think the skills they choose to add in are always helpful to the actual gameplay.

As always, another aspect of the game that I enjoyed was the history that was incorporated into the game. You fought against real outlaws, not just characters that they made up for the game. There was Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, Jesse James, among others that were mentioned. I always enjoy the history that is often included in Ubisoft games; I like mixing incorporating real-world events in to the virtual one (within reason-I don't want to relive a war, but meeting important people is kind of interesting). The loading screen offered little tidbits of historical information about your enemies, or they offered tips on how to defeat them. After a duel, if you failed, the loading screen would tell you your focus speed and draw speed, and tips on how to improve. Which was helpful, because staring down your rival, trying to focus, draw your weapon right when he drew his, re-adjust your aim and fire, sometimes was a little daunting when you facing down one of the fastest gunslingers around.

There are two other modes available in the game: arcade and duel.

Arcade mode takes you back through each level in the game, but this time, you choose a loadout at the beginning of the level (more of which will become unlocked as you progress through the levels.). The object of this mode is to earn the highest score for kills and combos-the more, the better. Run through it as fast as possible while gunning everyone down in the quickest and most elaborate way. More eyeblink headshots, the better.

Duel mode, is, as you may have already deduced, is you and your opponent staring each other down at high noon, fingers itching to draw and fire. The object of this mode is to dispatch your opponent in the least amount of time with a high focus and draw speed. You also want to try and earn honorable kills-meaning you are second to draw your gun. Dishonorable kills will knock points off your total score, you coward, so just don't do it. Each opponent is a boss in the game, in the order that they appear. Get to ready to face down the fastest gunslingers in the west. And a sheriff or two.

Both of the modes are fun (arcade is probably my favorite), and are nice to go through after finishing the story. Although, if you like, you can always go through New Game Plus, with the skills unlocked and reduced HUD. Only recommended for the true cowboys! Once you beat the story, the hardest mode is unlocked as well.

One thing I didn't really like about the game was the fact that it felt rushed. At first, I didn't have a problem with it, because I wanted to hear the end of Silas's story. I wanted to find out if he got revenge, and how he outsmarted all those outlaws. Reflecting back on it though, I would have liked to nose around a bit more. There was always a defined path. It was easy to see where you were going at all times, even when you had to run through a town or across a canyon. I really like open world games-I love to explore everything. Maybe I missed something, or I'll see some secret or funny message the developer threw in there. I was able to look for the secrets during each level, but it just wasn't the same as having full rein to explore. Like I already stated, I wish the gun control was not so sensitive! It was horrible sometimes, and I often got very frustrated during the duels. Which happened quite frequently, being a cowboy. Sometimes there just is no other way to settle things. “Tears” in the screen appeared to indicate the direction you were shot from, but sometimes this got overwhelming when you were in the middle of an ambush. It's hard to locate the greatest source of danger to eliminate first (there is a skill that you can learn that will indicate enemies out of your field of vision, which helped out later). Sometimes things just seemed a bit off as well. I felt like Silas wasn't looking far enough for me to be able to see everything I needed to. Yes, I know, it is a first person shooter, but still. I just needed him to see just a little bit more.

Silas' quest for revenge is a long one, and it is fun to experience all the cowboy legends through his eyes...and as he tells it, the people who are listening start to question him as he goes through his conquests. There's just no way one man took down all these outlaws single-handed! Silas corrects them on certain areas of history that he actually was a part of, even if people don't remember it that way. It's always fun when that happens, because the story gets to rewind, so you play through different situations for certain episodes. There really isn't a way to refute or prove Greaves's claims-the only way you will know for certain is if you choose to take up Silas's guns.