The Playstation

Westerns seem to be back in style in cinema in recent years, showcased in films like the Coen brothers’ True Grit, Ed Harris’s Appaloosa, and even in Sngmoo Lee’s genre-bending The Warrior’s Way. However, even better than watching cowboys on the big screen is stepping into their boots on a small one, and there is a small but select group of games on the PS3 that allow you to do just that.Red Dead Redemption, released in May 2010, is perhaps the best known Western title on the console (it is also available on Xbox 360). The game is developed by Rockstar San Diego and is a quasi-sequel to the 2004 title Red Dead Revolver. True to the expansive nature of big-screen westerns, Redemption offers non-linear gameplay that lets you choose the way the story progresses. Players can even choose to gain positive or negative honor by doing good or bad deeds, respectively, which will affect the way civilians and lawmen respond to them. For those times when combat is the only option, a wide selection of early 20^th-century weapons is available, from shotguns and sniper rifles to knives and lassos.Another option available to PS3, Xbox 360, and PC players is 2009′s Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, developed by Techland and published by Ubisoft. The title is a direct prequel to the 2006 title Call of Juarez. Like its predecessor, Bound in Blood is a first-person shooter set during the Civil War and told from the perspective of two brothers. Players will have to use each character’s special skills to get the whole story: one relies on close-quarters combat and strength while the other uses long-range weapons and a lasso. In addition the main missions, there is a Free World where players will be able to take on bounty hunting or bodyguard jobs.For bargain hunters, Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is a high-class Western title available for download on the Playstation Network. The game is a third-person multiplayer shooter, occasionally compared to Team Fortress 2. As in that game, players choose from a number of classes, each with its own special abilities, and then work either with or against each other to complete objectives. There are four classes in the game: Blaster, Deputy, Gunslinger, and Trapper. Despite its old-time America feel, the game actually comes from developer FatShark through the Stockholm, Sweden-based publisher Paradox Interactive.Unfortunately, those are the primary titles available in the genre for Playstation 3 owners. However, if you look backward to the Playstation 2, you’ll find a few more titles, including several in the sci-fi-western Wild Arms series.