Rockstar Games is known as one of the most innovative and creative studios in the gaming industry. While Take Two Interactive's lucrative development hub is responsible for hits such as Max Payne, Midnight Club, and the (in)famous Grand Theft Auto series; Rockstar also produced a game in 2004 for the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 called Red Dead Revolver. The property, purchased from Capcom in 2002, was moderately successful and opened up a new area for the San Diego-based development team to explore: turn-of-the-century American frontier.
The original Red Dead Revolver, according to what I know, was a fairly linear shoot-em-up game taking place in the late-19th Century when the West was still untamed. It did not feature Rockstars' flair for open-world environments and was received moderately well by critics and fans (Metacritic gives the game an aggregate rating of 73 out of 100). But give Rockstar six years, build on the engine that made Grand Theft Auto IV a success, hype the hell out of it, and you'll have a pretty good game on your hands.
While sharing a title with Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption is more of a spiritual successor to the original game than an actual sequel. The story takes place in 1911 as the old West is making way for the new West. This is done symbolically by the first automobile being offloaded from the riverboat which brings our main character to the start of his journey. John Marston is a troubled fella--sent on a shady mission by a shady government organization to hunt down shady characters; John's gunned down before his story barely begins... and that's where it gets interesting. Red Dead Redemption is an immense game with a story as big as the countries (yes, countries, plural) that it explores. A single player campaign can last anywhere from 15 to 25 hours depending on whether you want to partake in quests from strangers, collect bounties, play some cards, or just explore the Wild West. The game world can seem immense and empty, but despite the vast stretches of desert around you, it is packed with things to do.
And what a world it is. In my previous review I remarked on the detail of Arkham Asylum and how the developers made every piece of the small island feel unique and extraordinary. Rockstar see's your detail, and turns the dial to 11. The world of Red Dead Redemption is so fully realized, you won't want to leave your console. Each area of the map has its own unique features and characters. And exploring the extensive map will only lead to the discovery of one amazing vista after another. Just take a stroll on your Hungarian Half-Breed out into the hills of Cholla Springs and watch the sunset over the vast desert before you, you'll quickly realize that this game is as much a delight to the eyes as it is to the trigger-finger.
You'll be working that trigger-finger quite often though if you stick to the roundabout story missions. The majority of missions through the middle part of the game involve some heavy gunplay, which should be familiar to anyone who has played the Grand Theft Auto IV or any of its iterations. The shooting mechanics work quite similarly with the L2 trigger aiming and R2 firing. One of the main components of Red Dead Revolver did make the leap to the current gen "sequel" is the Dead Eye aiming. Using R3 (pressing down on the Right analog stick) allows you to, in effect, slow down time and 'paint' your targets which allows you the quick-fire shooting that was so glorified in classic spaghetti westerns of the 60's. Dead Eye can make quick work of your opponents, of which there are many throughout the game, but with the auto-aim mechanic engaged it isn't a necessary tool in your arsenal; just a very, very useful one.
Speaking of spaghetti westerns, I cannot finish this review without mentioning the sounds of Red Dead Redemption. This game is, hands-down, one of the most well cast and effectively composed video games I've played. It was hard to find a weak spot in the voice acting throughout any part of the game. Though if I had to choose, one of the characters you meet at the very end of the game can tend to wear a little thin, especially after you've completed the campaign. Also, each main character has their time to shine. It helps that the dialogue in the story is well-crafted and doesn't try to be showy or overwrought with unnecessary exposition. But the real treat of the game, and one that goes easily unnoticed, is the music. Drawing from the music cues of Ennio Morricone's classic work, the music is the unsung (no pun intended) hero of this game.
Multiplayer has been a major function of Rockstar's arsenal and Red Dead Redemption is no different. Rather than limiting your map from the get-go as the single player campaign does, Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer opens up the entire game map from word one. This allows it to serve as your multiplayer lobby from which you can launch traditional multiplayer staples like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and adding new twists like Gold Rush (a unique take on Capture the Flag). The "free roam" lobby also has its own challenges and quests you can explore, with more on the way through free and payable DLC. The ability to explore the map in free roam before getting to certain areas in single player is definitely welcome and allows players to get a feel for where they'll be heading in the future. But the multiplayer provides a completely different game that is worth the price of purchase on its own.
The game is not without its flaws however. The "driving" mechanics, a staple for games from the developer of Grand Theft Auto, are tricky, touchy, and take some time to get used to if you're familiar with Rockstars' previous outings. In side-by-side comparisons, the PS3 version does seem to be a little bit softer on the graphics side of things when compared to the 360 edition. And in both versions there are some unfortunate bugs that, among other things, have caused horses to fly, entire towns to spring up out of nowhere when you're riding around, and (in my own personal experience) turning a full table of poker players inside out. But these occurrences are not frequent, and Rockstar has patched the game to cut down on the few times they do happen.
If you've never played an open-world game before, Red Dead Redemption might be the game for you. It is far from the crowded and cramped feel of city-worlds like GTA4 and inFamous. Red Dead Redemption takes you on a journey to a simpler time, when the men were men and damsels needed saving--unless you chose to hogtie them, put them on the back of your horse, and put them on a train track to earn one of the most horrifying Trophies/Achievements I have ever heard of. This game has everything you could have wanted in a western, and with controls that are easy to use and characters that you will find yourself invested in, I have no qualms recommending that you pick this game up for whatever console you might happen to own. Red Dead Redemption is, so far, my favorite game of 2010.
*Edited by The Hybrid
The original Red Dead Revolver, according to what I know, was a fairly linear shoot-em-up game taking place in the late-19th Century when the West was still untamed. It did not feature Rockstars' flair for open-world environments and was received moderately well by critics and fans (Metacritic gives the game an aggregate rating of 73 out of 100). But give Rockstar six years, build on the engine that made Grand Theft Auto IV a success, hype the hell out of it, and you'll have a pretty good game on your hands.
While sharing a title with Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption is more of a spiritual successor to the original game than an actual sequel. The story takes place in 1911 as the old West is making way for the new West. This is done symbolically by the first automobile being offloaded from the riverboat which brings our main character to the start of his journey. John Marston is a troubled fella--sent on a shady mission by a shady government organization to hunt down shady characters; John's gunned down before his story barely begins... and that's where it gets interesting. Red Dead Redemption is an immense game with a story as big as the countries (yes, countries, plural) that it explores. A single player campaign can last anywhere from 15 to 25 hours depending on whether you want to partake in quests from strangers, collect bounties, play some cards, or just explore the Wild West. The game world can seem immense and empty, but despite the vast stretches of desert around you, it is packed with things to do.
And what a world it is. In my previous review I remarked on the detail of Arkham Asylum and how the developers made every piece of the small island feel unique and extraordinary. Rockstar see's your detail, and turns the dial to 11. The world of Red Dead Redemption is so fully realized, you won't want to leave your console. Each area of the map has its own unique features and characters. And exploring the extensive map will only lead to the discovery of one amazing vista after another. Just take a stroll on your Hungarian Half-Breed out into the hills of Cholla Springs and watch the sunset over the vast desert before you, you'll quickly realize that this game is as much a delight to the eyes as it is to the trigger-finger.
You'll be working that trigger-finger quite often though if you stick to the roundabout story missions. The majority of missions through the middle part of the game involve some heavy gunplay, which should be familiar to anyone who has played the Grand Theft Auto IV or any of its iterations. The shooting mechanics work quite similarly with the L2 trigger aiming and R2 firing. One of the main components of Red Dead Revolver did make the leap to the current gen "sequel" is the Dead Eye aiming. Using R3 (pressing down on the Right analog stick) allows you to, in effect, slow down time and 'paint' your targets which allows you the quick-fire shooting that was so glorified in classic spaghetti westerns of the 60's. Dead Eye can make quick work of your opponents, of which there are many throughout the game, but with the auto-aim mechanic engaged it isn't a necessary tool in your arsenal; just a very, very useful one.
Speaking of spaghetti westerns, I cannot finish this review without mentioning the sounds of Red Dead Redemption. This game is, hands-down, one of the most well cast and effectively composed video games I've played. It was hard to find a weak spot in the voice acting throughout any part of the game. Though if I had to choose, one of the characters you meet at the very end of the game can tend to wear a little thin, especially after you've completed the campaign. Also, each main character has their time to shine. It helps that the dialogue in the story is well-crafted and doesn't try to be showy or overwrought with unnecessary exposition. But the real treat of the game, and one that goes easily unnoticed, is the music. Drawing from the music cues of Ennio Morricone's classic work, the music is the unsung (no pun intended) hero of this game.
Multiplayer has been a major function of Rockstar's arsenal and Red Dead Redemption is no different. Rather than limiting your map from the get-go as the single player campaign does, Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer opens up the entire game map from word one. This allows it to serve as your multiplayer lobby from which you can launch traditional multiplayer staples like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and adding new twists like Gold Rush (a unique take on Capture the Flag). The "free roam" lobby also has its own challenges and quests you can explore, with more on the way through free and payable DLC. The ability to explore the map in free roam before getting to certain areas in single player is definitely welcome and allows players to get a feel for where they'll be heading in the future. But the multiplayer provides a completely different game that is worth the price of purchase on its own.
The game is not without its flaws however. The "driving" mechanics, a staple for games from the developer of Grand Theft Auto, are tricky, touchy, and take some time to get used to if you're familiar with Rockstars' previous outings. In side-by-side comparisons, the PS3 version does seem to be a little bit softer on the graphics side of things when compared to the 360 edition. And in both versions there are some unfortunate bugs that, among other things, have caused horses to fly, entire towns to spring up out of nowhere when you're riding around, and (in my own personal experience) turning a full table of poker players inside out. But these occurrences are not frequent, and Rockstar has patched the game to cut down on the few times they do happen.
If you've never played an open-world game before, Red Dead Redemption might be the game for you. It is far from the crowded and cramped feel of city-worlds like GTA4 and inFamous. Red Dead Redemption takes you on a journey to a simpler time, when the men were men and damsels needed saving--unless you chose to hogtie them, put them on the back of your horse, and put them on a train track to earn one of the most horrifying Trophies/Achievements I have ever heard of. This game has everything you could have wanted in a western, and with controls that are easy to use and characters that you will find yourself invested in, I have no qualms recommending that you pick this game up for whatever console you might happen to own. Red Dead Redemption is, so far, my favorite game of 2010.
*Edited by The Hybrid
