GUN Showdown

GUN Showdown brings Activision’s western action-adventure to the PlayStation Portable, placing gunslinger Colton White on a violent trail across an imagined late-19th-century frontier. The original GUN was created by Neversoft, while this PSP edition was developed with Rebellion Developments and released by Activision in 2006. Colton’s search for the truth behind a personal loss leads him through towns, forts, deserts and mountain country where outlaws, corrupt officials and rival forces all have their own stake in the conflict. It is a revenge story built around sudden betrayals, competing loyalties and a West presented as harsh, opportunistic and dangerous.

The campaign mixes third-person exploration with fast, forceful shootouts. Colton can draw a revolver, swap to longer-range rifles and shotguns, carry a bow, and use thrown weapons or explosives when a direct exchange of fire is not enough. Fighting fills the Quickdraw meter; activating it slows the action and shifts the view for a short burst of highly controlled shooting. That mechanic turns crowded ambushes into brief tests of target selection, while horseback encounters add another rhythm as Colton fires while riding through open terrain. The result is less a strict corridor shooter than a string of western set pieces linked by a world that invites detours.

Travel is part of the appeal. Between story assignments, players can ride from settlement to settlement and take on activities that broaden the gunslinger fantasy: bounty work, cattle herding, races and poker sit alongside hunting and gold mining. Money earned on the trail can be spent on upgrades, giving optional jobs a practical reason to matter. Trouble can also find Colton while he is on the road, as attacks interrupt a journey and demand either escape or a quick defense. In towns, reckless violence carries consequences; provoking civilians and lawmen can turn a visit into a showdown of its own.

The main missions vary the situation rather than relying on one kind of firefight. Colton confronts armed gangs, boards or battles around trains, rides into conflicts, and faces enemies who make use of cover and numbers. The arsenal supports different approaches: rifles reward distance, shotguns dominate close quarters, and dynamite or incendiary attacks can flush enemies from a position. Hunting animals and traversing the frontier give the adventure a wider sense of place, while the campaign’s confrontations keep the narrative moving. GUN Showdown is interested in the spectacle of classic western action—horses, saloons, railways and high-stakes duels—but gives the player several tools for surviving it.

This PSP version is more than a simple portable conversion. It retains the central adventure while adding five missions that expand the story with new characters, weapons and mechanics. Throwing knives and mines are among the additions associated with the handheld release, and its new tasks give returning players reasons to revisit Colton’s journey. Quickplay modes offer shorter sessions tailored to the PSP, providing a route into its shooting and western activities without committing immediately to the longer campaign. Those additions help the game fit both a sustained playthrough and brief portable sessions.

Showdown mode brings wireless Ad Hoc multiplayer to the package. Players can cooperate or compete locally through the PSP system, with Deathmatch, Golden Cross and Texas Hold’em poker among the available modes. The feature changes the emphasis from Colton’s solitary story to shared or competitive sessions, whether the aim is simply to outshoot another player or to take a chance at the card table. Together with the extra missions and Quickplay selection, the multiplayer support makes GUN Showdown a distinct PSP release rather than merely the console game on a smaller screen.

For players looking for a western adventure on PSP, GUN Showdown combines a revenge-driven campaign with open-area riding, combat on foot and horseback, optional jobs and handheld-specific modes. Its world is built around the push and pull between following Colton’s next lead and wandering off to collect a bounty, race a horse or search for an upgrade. The PSP edition preserves the broad strokes of GUN’s frontier journey, then extends them with exclusive material and local wireless play. It is a compact but wide-ranging ride through a fictional West where every trail can lead to another gunfight.