Red Dead Redemption

This week I had planned on finishing F.E.A.R 2, but honestly, something much better came up. Red Dead Redemption has been called Grand Theft Horse by many, and with the same developers and game type, they may be on to something. But I found that this game was so much more than GTA 1911 after playing through its magnificent story and thrilling multiplayer.

Red Dead Redemption is a Open-world Action/Adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego, and produced by Rockstar Games. It puts an Old West spin on the sandbox games that Rockstar so skillfully produce, and adds a whole new level of depth to the open world you're set loose in.

STORY
Rockstar games have continued their skillful writing from GTA4 into Red Dead Redemption; giving players a believable but still interesting story, conveyed through likable and relatable characters.
RDR puts players in the boots and hat of John Marston; a retired outlaw being blackmailed by the government to hunt down his former friends and gang members, to ensure the safety of his wife and son. Unfortunately, you don't ACTUALLY find this out for some time, unless you're a smarty-pants and read the back of the game case. In which case congratu-fucking-lations.
The game takes place in American Old West Territory in 1911; at what could be called "the end of the Old West", which can be seen through the availability of semi automatic weapons, as well as the first cars.

PRESENTATION
The open world of Red Dead Redemption is one of the best looking game settings that I've seen in recent years. Environments range from expansive western deserts to civil-war torn Mexican villages, lush forests to snow-capped mountains.
The wilderness feels rather empty, until you realise that it's not just humans and horses in this world, but a plethora of wild and (some) potentially dangerous animals.

The voice acting and dialogue is of a particularly high quality; but that doesn't mean Red Dead is without its flaws. More often than not, you may walk past an NPC; and hear them talk in an atrocious, stereotypical western accent.
Though, this is only a rare occurrence.
Otherwise, the voice acting is impressive, and really made me (as the player) feel like i knew these people; despite them being computer generated models.

The soundtrack to RDR consists mainly of ambient music, to set the mood for the lonely, far reaching land that you find yourself in. Lots of guitar and occasional piano to make you feel truly immersed in the environment. Then at some points, you hear actual songs, which really fit the mood perfectly. For example, during John's first steps in Mexico, "Far Away" by José González begins to play; and it really conveys the emotion of being miles away from home, in a strange and unfamiliar land.

GAMEPLAY
If you've played GTA 4, then the majority of Red Dead's gameplay will be familiar. As John Marston, players can take part in combat, as well as ride horses and play various mini-games.
Combat controls are pretty much just like GTA4; John can lock on to targets, as well as free target; take cover behind walls, and use a variety of weapons from the era. These include pistols and revolvers, rifles and repeaters, sniper rifles, shotguns, explosives and throwing knives.
A new feature to combat is the Dead Eye system, which basically works like bullet time at first. At its second level, moving the reticule over targets will mark them to be shot and during its third level, players can mark automatically, adding an extra layer of precision to the gunplay in RDR.

Horses control well (on the most part), and speed varies depending on the breed. They can gallop faster for short periods of time, as well as leap obstacles and run down people on foot. A neat feature is the ability to call to your horse, allowing it to find you no matter where you are. This is convenient when you find yourself stranded in the desert.
Though horses control pretty well, some bugs do exist, such as their eagerness to jump any fences or into any rivers than may be nearby, despite only walking slowly towards these hazards.

When players merge the two aspects of horseback riding and gunplay, it makes for some intense action sequences. Mounted combat works surprisingly better than I expected, and alot of the time, i found myself opting to stay on my horse than to drop and take cover.

As well as these features, RDR also lets players take part in various gambling games like Blackjack, Poker and Liars Dice. They can also roam the open world and hunt the wildlife to gain money and complete challenges.

Minor glitches popped up during my time with the game, but the majority of the bugs have been patched out; and what we're left with is a lot of solid gameplay in one game. A minor gameplay feature also confused me a little. The "honor" system seemed really out of place to me, and really has no effect on gameplay or story. The game would not have been any worse off without it.

REPLAYABILITY
There is alot to do in RDR's single player mode. With such a wide open world, dozens upon dozens of stranger challenges to complete, hundreds of animals just asking for a bullet between the eyes, millions of flowers to be picked, and all the fun in the west to be had; RDR will keep you coming back for more. Even after you hit the elusive 100% mark, theres the multiplayer aspect.

Players start off in the free roam world, which is really the game's lobby. From there, players can journey to cities to take part in online shootouts if they so choose. Or they can form a posse and go take out a gang hideout. The possibilities truly do seem endless.
However, i do have a big problem with it. With such limitless possibilities, i find it hard to believe that only 3 times in 5 days did i run into anyone online. And that one encounter ended with me leaving his corpse for a bear to feast upon. Perhaps that's why no one will play with me?

OVERVIEW
Red Dead Redemption is a visually stunning, beautifully written game with solid gameplay that is subject to a few bugs. These bugs are by no means a deal breaker, but can get a bit annoying more than a few times. It will keep calling you back to the vast environments over and over again, if only to try your luck against a bear, using only a knife.
Oh, also, one more thing. The difficulty level isn't as high as I personally would have liked. It really allowed me to breeze through the game, but it was a problem I'm willing to overlook because despite it not being MUCH of a challenge, there were indeed some challenging moments.

So that's another week, another review. Next week may be F.E.A.R.2, it may be a week off due to my being in Canberra. We shall see. Until then, everyone, leave comments and feedback =)