Red Dead Revolver

Allison 'get your gun' Reynolds whips out the spurs.

Yeeeehaw! *insert gunfire soundeffect* Sit a spell and listen up about this newfangled game Red Dead Revolver (RDR) that's out on the PS2 gaming machiney.

Start with the quintessential cowboy revenge story of a man who has turned to bounty hunting after seeing his parents killed when he was just a boy. Add grainy film effects, perpetual dusty sunset lighting, and a cast of oddball but deadly characters and you have the basic outline of what RDR is all about.

But this third person shoot 'em up is more than a cheesy spaghetti western rip-off. While you learn the various ways to move and handle weapons as Red, the linear storyline has you gaining clues about the whereabouts of the man that killed your parents.

But you don't stay as Red all the way through. Slipping into the skin of other characters, you learn and play with their strengths and weaknesses as well as diverting from the main storyline.

At the end of each chapter is a boss character that requires some inventive gameplay to defeat. Though this is where one of the game's shortcomings comes to light. There is no consistency to the amount of damage each character can take, some one headshot, some several, and this often leads to frustration.

The game's difficulty level swings between easy and damn hard, but you are assisted along the way with access to some awesome old-style rifles, revolvers and the ability to ride horses and livestock.

Also helpful, bullet-time has been adapted to aid in shootouts with 'Dead Eye' aiming. Dead Eye gives pinpoint accuracy in slow motion, and is deadly once you've mastered it.

Although the single player mode does not allow for much straying off the beaten track, multiplayer gives three more types of game mode. Two are shoot and run, but the third is a cowboy game must have - the quick draw showdown!

This game was another that nearly didn't see the light of day after a couple of false starts. The lighting, quirky speech and gameplay could even see RDR earn a sequel.