Red Dead Redemption

Reviews for RDR, mine is included below.

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Score: 9.5/10

Rockstar surprise us once again, with not only their best game so far - but also one of the greatest games ever made.

Difficulty: Just Right
Time Spent: 40 to 100 Hours
The Bottom Line: "All it's cracked up to be"
Platform: PlayStation 3

Rockstar Games are a very respected and influential company in the video game development industry. They are known for classic games such as the Grand Theft Auto series or Lemmings. A division of Rockstar Games, Rockstar San Diego, released a game called Red Dead Revolver (back in 2004) for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Revolver was set in the Old West, late 1880s. Six years later, Rockstar San Diego create a new entry in the series - Red Dead Redemption, a spiritual successor to Red Dead Revolver. This game's setting is the border between Mexico and the United States of America. Redemption takes place in the years of 1911-1914; during the last days of the dying Old West. Red Dead Redemption has received fantastic scores from many critics all over the world. Many gamers compare it to Rockstar's "masterpiece": Grand Theft Auto IV. So, is this game as good as the critics say and can it match GTA IV? Definitely yes! Want to know the reasons behind my answer, then feel free to read on…

I will start off with the game's story. You play as John Marston, a reformed outlaw whose wife and child's lives are at stake after they are kidnapped by the U.S. government. Marston is forced to cooperate with the Bureau agents and has to kill all members of the gang he used to run with, one by one. Some of the people targeted are his former close friends and the man who took him in when nobody else would, taught him how to read & write as well as how to handle a six-shooter. As soon as you sit down to play this game, you will be hooked into an amazing story, right till the end of this western adventure. The narrative features many unexpected plot twists, thrills, moments of pure, epic awesomeness and tens of unique and interesting characters. John Marston is a very likeable protagonist, but his most important & valuable assets are his character and personality that resemble a real, human being! Not some mindless, machinegun-firing grunt that feels no remorse, pain, loneliness or sorrow; but a badass gunslinger with proper emotions, interesting views about society, a cool revolver and a trusty steed at his side. The things that make Redemption's story so incredible are plot twists that come at you like assassins wielding hidden wrist-blades, some of the most believable characters in a video game and great dialogue between them and the protagonist.

On the visual side, Red Dead Redemption is just as impressive as is its story. Surprisingly, for a "western" game, there is plenty of environmental variety. Each of the three main locations is large, unique, fun to explore and looks stunning. Shadows, high resolution textures and advanced models are only some of the great factors that add up to make Redemption an ace when it comes down to graphics. Other components, such as impressive weather effects, a fully operational day/night cycle, beautiful water and fantastic lighting effects are worthy of mention too. But the greatest visual features of this game are animation and physics. Character facial and body animations = phenomenal. Horse animations are truly outstanding also. The physics, ranging from the way a character reacts to an injury or how he drops down dead, to the breaking of glass in a window when you shoot at it or how a clay vase breaks up into pieces when destroyed. Riding on a horse in the wild west, while staring into the glaring sunset in a video game has never before been so spectacular!

In the audio department, Red Dead nails it once again. With so many ear-gasmic soundtracks that suit each and every occasion in the game's story and setting, it is hard to resist sitting in front of the TV and doing nothing, just so you can listen to the music. Other audio components, such as the sounds of firing a gun as well as your noisy horse, along with many other breeds of wildlife in the game are well done too. To ensure that the personalities of NPCs are well presented (along with the written dialogue), there is top-notch voice acting for each and every one of them. Marston himself is probably one of the best voiced characters in video games.

To cover all of this game's gameplay elements, it would take ages. That's why I'm only going to talk about some of them. Gameplay is split into two main parts - shooting hats off people's heads… or shooting the heads themselves… and riding your horse. To ensure that the player never gets bored of the usual combat, many twists have been applied to the formula that Rockstar Games used in GTA IV. There are many weapons to choose from, such as pistols, revolvers, a melee hunting knife, rifles, repeaters, dynamite sticks, fire bottles, throwing knives, shotguns and I could really go on for a while here, so there's plenty of variety in the selection of weapons available. Two major gameplay features during gunfights which were already present in Grand Theft Auto IV, and have been greatly improved upon, is the lock-on aiming and the cover system. In Red Dead Redemption, whenever you draw a weapon - it locks onto the nearest enemy and then allows you to target specific body parts for some gruesome combos. This lock-on feature is very friendly to newcomers, especially those that don't do so well in shooters, but it can sometimes prove to be even too helpful. However, it can be turned off in the options section of the pause menu at any time. The improved cover system allows the player to take cover behind any object that is big enough for Marston to crouch behind, and this is very important, because shooting from cover plays a major part in Redemption's combat. Also, a very cool feature utilized during combat is the Dead Eye targeting mode that allows the player to slow time and paint targets all over the opponents' bodies. This feature appeared in Red Dead Revolver before, but in Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar San Diego have greatly expanded on it.

Your most common method of travelling through the west is on horseback. Rockstar made sure that riding horses doesn't become boring, repetitive or tedious fast during long distance journeys, thanks to various breeds of horses that are available in the game. These horses don't differ from each other just by appearance, but stamina, health and speed as well. The more stamina your horse has, the longer it will be able to travel at fast speeds. Braking in a fresh, new, wild horse feels satisfying and looking for a white stallion is a fun distraction. All horses in the game look good. Their textures and models are great, the realistic movements of muscle on each horse is very cool. Combat on horseback is just as satisfying and fun as it is on-foot. Once you get off your horse and you don't know where it has wondered off to (unfortunately, this might happen very often), you can whistle so it will come back to you. If you want to own a horse of the same breed after it dies, you can buy a deed for that specific breed so once your horse dies - you get the same one. I think it would have been cool if you could name your horses, but that's just a personal preference.

Simply the amount of stuff to do in this game is its strongest point. There are many main storyline missions, as well as stranger's tasks that sometimes offer a (limited) amount of choice when it comes down to how the mission ends. To distract you from all of that, there are ambient single player challenges that reward you with new weapons, abilities or items that can be used after you complete them. The challenges range from hunting and skinning animals to accurate shooting and treasure hunting. One challenge consists of gathering various types of herbs. Many people complain that "picking flowers" really isn't the sort of thing that a gunslinger would do - I completely agree. But its all optional, as are all challenges. Other distractions include Five Finger Fillet, Blackjack, Poker, Liar's Dice, arm wrestling, cow herding, horse breaking, night watch jobs, random encounters with strangers looking for help (or a bullet in the brain), bounties that can either be killed or brought in alive for more money and of course, classic western duels which can be won in two different ways: the usual way, the first man that takes the shot kills the other and wins, or by shooting the gun out of the opponent's hand and earning more fame. These attractions are all optional, but they can be so much fun that it would be blasphemy to miss out on all of them.

Red Dead Redemption takes place in three open world areas: New Austin, Nuevo Paraiso and West Elizabeth. Each is different from the other in landscape, wildlife, characters (and character accents), law, plant life etc. In all three territories you can gain fame and honour. Fame is how famous (or infamous) you are for your actions. At first, nobody will know you. But once you reach the very end of your fame bar, strangers will refer to you by your name and people will talk about you. Honour is more like a morality meter. If you start shooting innocents, your honour will go down, but if you start helping strangers, your honour will raise. If your honour is very low, prices will be lower because the shop owners will find you intimidating. On the other hand, if your honour is very high, stores will have lower prices still because the owners will know you are a good person. This also brings up another topic: crimes and consequences. If you commit a crime, you will be wanted in the nearest area (unless you evade the lawmen), but unlike in any of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto games, that bounty on your head won't just go away. It will stay with you until you pay it off or receive a letter of pardon. Also, the bounty will go up every time you commit another crime.

Overall, this game is almost legendary! But like any legend, it isn't perfect. Actually it has many flaws. Some of those include major texture popping issues, a few minor bugs & glitches, graphical hiccups and the occasional frame-rate hit. Thankfully, I encountered no freezes or crashes and the game ran very smoothly most of the time. The thing that had to annoy me the most about this game is the fact that you can't swim. I mean, yeah, there isn't much water in the dry wild west, but that's really no excuse! Even so, with those flaws, Red Dead is still an incredibly enjoyable game with a fantastic narrative, fun gameplay & shooting mechanics and it looks good! Not to mention the incredible replay value and lasting appeal. Speaking of replayability and how many hours you will put into this game, there is also a multiplayer option for anyone who wants more after completing the amazing singleplayer. The game lobby is the whole single player map with gang hideouts to clear and many weapons, mounts and titles to unlock, with probably around fifty playable characters that gradually become available as you earn more XP points and level up. This multiplayer free-roam can be played with 15 other people (for a total of 16 outlaws/lawmen working against each other). However, if you don't like Player vs. Player combat, then you can always enter friendly free roam, where players cannot hurt each other. This is probably one of the most addictive multiplayer features I have ever played in a video game, and working cooperatively with other players to achieve common goals makes it all the more fun. As many critics have said it before me, "the multiplayer itself is worth the price of a full game".

The Good:
+ Gripping story with unexpected plot twists
+ Three main territories to explore and new locations to find
+ Distractions from main storyline like stranger's tasks and ambient challenges
+ Much variety in weapon and enemy types, including various breeds of wildlife
+ Combat feels satisfying & guns feel very powerful
+ Tons of replay value, in both singleplayer and multiplayer
+ Beautiful soundtracks that suit the game's setting and pace
+ Interesting characters with unique personality and great voice acting
+ Being able to explore everything you want in the game at your own pace
+ Horses, textures, characters, shadows, lighting & animations all look stunning
+ Advanced physics engine that allows for extremely realistic-looking events
+ Different outfits that can be unlocked and worn in singleplayer
+ Honour and Fame work well but could have been expanded upon
+ Simple, easy-to-learn and responsive controls
+ No loading times between areas, only before & after missions

The Bad:
- Texture popping issues
- Minor glitches and bugs
- Some graphical hiccups every now and then
- A bit of classic spaghetti western feel is lost due to the game being set in 1911

The Ugly:
- YOU CAN'T SWIM!

Red Dead Redemption is the game that every fan of spaghetti westerns was waiting for and the ultimate, open world experience that should be enjoyed by almost anyone. If you are a true gamer and you still haven't played this game, then get out there and buy it… now!