Now, I don't normally review DLC; but just like The Episodes from Liberty City; RDR's Undead Nightmare is more-or-less another stand alone, single-player game from Rockstar Games. And considering that it's Halloween, i figured "What the hell, I'll do something special".
Anyone who was looking forward to my Fallout: New Vegas review, I apologize.
STORY
Undead Nightmare takes place during the story of Red Dead, following John Marston as he fights off hordes of the walking dead while he tries to find a cure. If you've finished RDR, you may ask, "Where would that happen in the main story?"; and the answer to that is as follows.
Undead Nightmare takes place during the Homestead section of Red Dead Redemption. For those of you who haven't completed the game, look away now!
SPOILERS
After John did away with his former gang members, he returns home to his wife and son to start working on his ranch. The "Undead Nightmare" takes place sometime between then and the end of the game.
END SPOILERS
Now, John's loved ones have caught the strange sickness, and its up to him to solve this mystery. Because everyone else is drunk... its the West!!
While not being the solid, often emotional story from the original game, Red Undead Redemption retains alot of the humour it had; and the game plays out alot like a good Horror B-movie.
PRESENTATION
The landscape of RDR will be familiar to many, with its sprawling plains, endless snowy forests and sun dried desert vistas. While all of this is indeed present in Undead Nightmare, everything that may have seemed familiar once, is now creepy and a little bit off.
The once clear skies above the prairie have been replaced with murky clouds with a green tinge, piles of corpses lie burning on the roadside, and the whole land looks more desolate than ever.
Fires burn across once lively cities, as citizens retreat to the rooftops until help finally arrives in the form of Marstons bullet through a decaying brain.
The music of Undead Nightmare is also really creepy, and as high quality as it was in the original title.
The moans and groans of zombies are a constant reminder of the bleak world you find yourself in, and the crack of thunder can be heard through the clouds as you ride for your life.
Many characters from the main game are featured in undead nightmare, and have been voiced once again by their awesome voice actors. A lot of work has been put into this DLC pack.
GAMEPLAY
While Red Dead Redemption's core gameplay was based around cover-based gunfights and riding your stallion from point a to b; Undead Nightmare takes the more survival horror route, giving you a near unstoppable foe that completely ignores cover, and has hundreds of friends to back him up.
Your only defense against the undead, is a Dead Eye meter, and as many bullets as you can get your hands on.
Headshots are preferred, as ammunition is a valuable commodity in this apocalyptic landscape; and unloading into a zombie may take down a zombie, but theres always going to be more than one. New weapons have been added to the mix, to tip the scales in the gunslingers favour; and the demonic hordes will find themselves on the fiery ends of the explosive rifle and blunderbuss. The more tactile zombie hunter will find zombie bait and holy water to lob at their enemies.
While new enemies and guns are awesome, Undead Nightmare brings more to the table than that. New game mechanics include saving towns from the horde, and trying to cleanse graveyards. Graveyards are Undead Nightmares version of gang hideouts, and players might recognize some of the "Boss" zombies that appear. Saving towns on the other hand serves a slightly more practical purpose, as a bed to save at and ammunition are scarce when the world goes to hell.
My biggest complaint about Undead Nightmare is that they took out the fast travel system. That said, it makes sense that Mr. Marston wouldn't camp out in a wilderness infested with anything more than cougars and bears.
Also, theres zombie cougars and bears. Most of (if not all of) the dangerous animals in Red Dead make a return, but you'll find that half their faces are missing. Or they're stained with blood. Little things like that really hit this one home for me.
Last thing, and this really made me love Undead Nightmare; the inclusion of Mythical Beasts. While the buffalo aren't mythical (just rare.. and can be hunted to extinction), and Jackalopes are find and dandy (so long as you have the Master Hunter outfit), nothing quite compares to riding through an undead horde on the back of the flaming horse of War. One of my favourite moments in gaming to date.
SPOILERS
Oh and Sasquatch appears, with a funny in-joke titled trophy/achievement "Six years in the making", (LOL San Andreas, how we loved you so).
END SPOILERS
REPLAYABILITY
As I mentioned briefly before, Undead Nightmare has many more challenges for players; some involving taming a certain 4 mythical horses, some involving the hunt for zombiefied critters. Along with this, more trophies are included, as well as two new multiplayer modes and many new skins. This is bang for your buck; THIS is what DLC should be!
Rockstar are possibly the best DLC providers I've ever seen, and should be applauded.
OVERVIEW
For $16 Australian, you could do a whole lot worse than Red Undead Redemption. Its about 6 hours long, which is almost the length of a standard full length game (Not counting your Fallout's or standard Red Dead Redemption style games.). If you loved Red Dead, Undead may be for you, but only if you aren't looking for more of its mostly serious story. If you wouldn't mind a bit more quirk with your Marston, go ahead and buy this add-on.
For those of you without access to PS Store or the XBL Marketplace, don't fret! This game, plus all of the add-ons to date should be coming out on a physical disc. Have fun with that!
Once again, I'm sorry to anyone who was waiting for my Fallout: New Vegas review. Next week, I promise! Heres a sneak peek. It pretty good. Real Buggy.
See you next time!
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