jimmyb

When I first head about Red Dead Redemption a month or two ago, I just shrugged it off and put it towards the bottom of my games list. However about two weeks ago or so, I popped it into my Xbox just to try it out. Almost instantly I became hooked. Previous to playing it, people would explain and describe to me the game and said it was like Grand Theft Auto but in the Wild West. I would certainly agree to this, but I think Red Dead Redemption has something more then what Grand Theft Auto has to offer. To me there seems to be more meaning and depth and emotion in Red Dead Dead Redemption.

The game itself plays very similarly to Grand Theft Auto. As John Marston you’ll meet new people and run through various missions. Even the controls in the game are just about the same as those found in the GTA series. One big difference in the controls is how you access your weapons. In RDR you hit the Left Button and you can see an overview of the weapons you have as well as you’re able to select which one to you. I find the fact that Rockstar kept the control scheme the same really nice as it’s just one less thing which I need to learn and remember (and to likely confuse with another game I’m playing at the moment).

Red Dead Redemption doesn’t have an exceptionally amazing, super outstanding story-line, but I really enjoyed it. Even though it followed the same outline that most GTA games use, the fact that it was in a completely different setting then most any games I’ve played made it really fun and enjoyable to play through. The last western game I remember playing was GUN which I too really enjoyed. The biggest thing about Red Dead Redemption that I liked was the fact that I could just hop on my horse and just ride out into the middle of nowhere; a personal real life dream that I hold and hope I can do one day. Riding out under the stars in the middle of the desert was absolutely amazing and looked beautiful on my 1080p projector. The sound and graphics in this game are top-notch and really sucked me in and make me feel like I was really there riding alongside John.

The game itself focuses on getting your family back from the grip of the US government. They’ve basically taken them hostage (John’s wife, Abigail and son, Jack). They ask that you take out your former gang-mates to clear your name. 95% of the game you spend tracking them down and killing them (there’s only 3 of them) and for the last bit you get to spend with your family working on a couple fun missions with them. I think the fact that they included these end missions instead of ending it when you finish off the last of John’s gang is great. You feel even closer to John and it solidifies the bond you have with him as a person. To be honest, this actually feels like it could be a true story. I really felt like I spent time with John out in the wild west, fighting off badies, breaking horses, hunting animals, helping people in need.

The game did have a few frustrating moments. My horses tended to jump over fences or low walls when I really didn’t want them too. The crouching position and hiding behind a crate or wall had some weird effects and got me killed a few times. John also seemed to have delayed actions when I wanted him to popup from hiding to shoot at an enemy resulting in almost death multiple times. I also had some issues with hogtying enemies. He would rope them but they would just stand up and proceed to shoot at me quicker then I could rope them again or switch weapons resulting in death a few times. I also found a few of the missions to be a bit tedious and some of them really left me quite a long way off from the next mission. I definitely found myself wondering why John continued help people in the game when they would be obviously no help to him. I wish it would have been possible to tell them to piss off while still being able to proceed further in the game.

The range and variety of places you can go in this game astound me. Everything from the hot deserts of Mexico up into what seem to be the cold snowy Rockie mountains. The way they ease you into each temperate zone is really well done too. It’s smooth and realistic even though it’s rather quick when you think about it. I am very impressed with the graphics in the game. The textures are really well done. I should mention I did run into a couple instances where some textures were not rendered leaving a pretty bland looking building or landscape.

I think one of my most favorite things besides just riding out under the night skies was to break horses. I really felt a sense of accomplishment after breaking a wild horse and taking it as my own. Overall Red Dead Redemption is an outstanding game. This is one game you definitely want to try at least once. I’m actually looking forward to playing some of the free roam mode as well as the new downloadable missions. While I won’t go into details to how the game ended, I must say, I think I would like to see a sequel. Rockstar really did a fantastic job with this game.