It is pretty hard to screw up the Half-Life engine. The graphics, the sound, the controls...everything about Half-Life seems classic. But Gunman Chronicles is definitely not going down in the history books. Is it that bad? Did they do the unthinkable and screw up the Half-Life engine? No, it isn't that...the game is just so...average.

If there is one thing the world doesn't need more of, it's lawyers. But if there are two things, then they are lawyers and first-person shooters. Ever since someone had the bright idea of sticking a gun in front of the screen and having you walk around mazes blasting baddies, gamers have been captivated. And for good reason. The submersiveness and excitement of the FPS has been hard to top. Unfortunately, Gunman Chronicles becomes just another FPS in the bargain bin pile.

As far as graphics, sound, and controls...well, it's Half-Life. So you know that at least those are decent. But everything else that could possibly be changed - and I mean everything - is changed for the worse. Instead of being a highly trained scientist in a Hazmat suit fighting off grunts and aliens, you are some strange Cowboy/Spaceman hybrid. In the future, I guess I just never figured astronauts would wear cowboy hats and chaps. Instead of awesome and diverse weapons, you have a small weapons package...but they are customizable for infinite possibilities, right? Err...ok, so I can set my blaster to "Kill", "Eliminate", or "Slay." Maybe I am exaggerating, but my point is that the customizable weapons aren't all that different. The differences aren't that big, and you end up just not caring whether your machinegun fires 3 or 5 bullets per second. You get a sniper rifle, a blaster, a laser-type rifle, a machinegun, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, and a few other trinkets. Am I the only one who finds that a little uninspired? We had these guns in Quake 1!

What was it that we loved so much about Half-Life? I know for me it was the character interaction and storyline. In this game you talk to some crazy bald robot chick a few times concerning how this genetic engineering plant went awry. Sounds like a bad Sci-fi movie to me. Oh and another thing? This game is SHORT. We're talking Opposing Force short. I beat it in one weekend.

The multiplayer is worthless. Who is going to play Gunman Chronicles online when you can play UT, Q3, or Half-Life? The maps are uninspired, the weapons are boring, and the gameplay is severely limited.

The game does have its plusses. You get to fight raptors; that's fun, right? You get to drive a tank...you get to fight huge alien droids. It really isn't a bad game. If it had been released for free, like originally intended, maybe it would have been a fan favorite afterall. Besides, it is on the Half-Life engine, so it would take serious effort to make it un-fun. But for $40...all I can say is "Ho-hum." I predict it will be in the bargain bin before too long...if you see it for $10 or below, grab it. It will kill a slow weekend.

Recommended: No