Red Dead Redemption, Game of the Year for 2010?

After playing through titles such as Gun and Red Dead Revolver I was a bit skeptical about buying another western shooting title. I didn't mind Red Dead Revolver. Gun, however, I felt was lackluster. When I saw Rockstar Games was producing another Red Dead title, I thought it would be a decent title. I was wrong. It's way better than a decent title. I've bought many games in the past year. Not all of them have impressed me. Red Dead Redemption has impressed me greatly.

Red Dead Redemption is an open world, old west, action adventure, shooter game published by Rockstar Games. It is a sequel to Red Dead Revolver, published by the same company. It is not a direct sequel however, you don't have to worry about the plot of Red Dead Revolver.

When you put Red Dead Redemption in for the first time, and select Single Player, you're greeted with a cutscene showcasing the Industrial Revolution's birth. American's on a train heading somewhere, discussing how they have to take the savage's land. The main character, John Marston, is silently listening to the conversations. Following this you slowly learn of the plot. Marston is looking for someone from an old gang, and he's hunting him dead or alive.

The characters and music are all incredibly fitting. It shouldn't come as a shock to see how well Rockstar Games has developed this world. The characters all feel like individuals with their own reactions and thoughts. You almost forget they're AI's in a video game.

The graphics at first glance appear to be flash in the pan. However, when you first get on a horse and see the muscles reacting you know it's special. The characters are all well modeled and textured. It is a huge step forward in the world of gaming. The environment is beautiful and breath taking. During the day you can feel the dry and arid world. At night, you feel like you're beneath the stars and the moon all alone. The towns are wonderfully developed, and the population isn't too small or too large.

Obviously a title with the Rockstar Games emblem on it will be compared to the flagship of Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto. While this game does feel similar to GTA IV with an old west theme painted over it, it does it's job by feeling like a completely new world. If you're familiar with GTA IV, you'll be right at home with most of the controls. The horse controls are different from the vehicle ones in GTA, but you'll get used to them.

Finally, the Rockstar Social Club allows connectivity with this title. There are special challenges and a bonus costume for you to unlock by using the Social Club. You can log in with the website and check your stats or upcoming goals. It's a step in the right direction yet again with video gaming.

Rockstar Games has outdone itself once again, but the year is only half over. With titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, Halo: Reach, and Fable III right around the corner, it's unlikely to see this game win Game of the Year. However, this game could be a strong contender. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys open world titles or anyone looking to try one. You might feel overwhelmed at first, but you'll take the reigns and feel right at home with Red Dead Redemption.

Red Dead Redemption: Game on!

I like this game because of it's unique genre; westerns are hard to find in today's market of sci-fi shoot 'em ups. Not only does it look like a western, but the developers took the time to make it FEEL like a western. Everything from the environmental sounds to the clever chase music to the behavior of AI characters all boost the immersion factor to the extreme. Content-wise, there's always something to do. There are plenty of missions to complete, each of which is well scripted and rich, but also a nice sandbox experience if you just want to roam the countryside. I really enjoy the main storyline of the game the most--it's like something out of a spaghetti western.

While I find the game is overall great, there's a few minor setbacks in my opinion. One setback, the mountain lions. Oh my gosh. While yes, it seems I die practically instantly from one of their attacks, I can live with that--mountain lions are pretty vicious in real life. What urks me is that they seem to constantly respawn moments after you first kill them, making a journey through their territory quite tough. I just don't think I should need to kill 15+ mountain lions along a 50meter stretch of horse trails in order to get to where I'm going. Engagements with other animals are far less grueling, including coyotes and packs of wolves--they don't seem to respawn quite so fast as the mountain lions do.

Another urk? Dualing is a little hard to learn as it's not really documented anywhere. You just learn it on fly and requires quite a bit of practice. I've had Red Dead Redemption for two months now and I'm still losing a ton of duals because there's still a sense of not knowing what to do and how to do it. A more detailed tutorial would have been helpful.

Lastly, speaking strickly from a realistic point of view, I find it a little silly to be able to have so many different guns that can be used whenever you want to use them. You can equip several different kinds of guns in your weapon wheel AND still be able to swap those out at any time. Why not add a little strategy and do what they did with the different outfits--force you to only change your outfits at a campsite or at your property, only instead of just the outfits, you'd also choose what guns to carry with you there. Don't get me wrong, having instant access to an array of guns is great for the fun factor--there's something for everyone. Personally, all I need is a pistol and a rifle. Done deal :)

Anyways, dispute those minor issues I personally had with the game, Red Dead Redemption is still one of the BEST games I have ever played. I love the strong plots, the fond feeling of pretending to be someone like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne in some classic western, the atmosphere in the game, even galloping on a horse through the dust makes me smile. The game is very satisfying for me, it's a must have for any serious gamer.

It doesn't get any better than this

The depth and scope of this game is second to none. It's essentially grand theft auto for the first decade of the 20th Century. The Old West was dying and rapid Westward expansion brought with it civilized behavior and organized law enforcement. BORING! You take the reins (literally) as John Marston, a former outlaw turned family man who is being blackmailed by some Feds to take out one of his former partners, Bill Williamson (must've been at least a few meetings to get than name figured out). You'll have to get your hands dirty, and though Marston will tell those he meets how resistant he is to hurt others, his actions don't seem in line with his statements. Good thing too. If you're a fan of the original game, Red Dead Revolver for the last-gen systems, you won't have any difficulty making the transition. The game's basic structure is similar, but the scope has increased tenfold. The only knock I can come up with right now (and I'm probably only 15-20% through the game) is the amount of time you spend riding from mission to mission on horseback. There's no motorcycles or sports cars to be found here (though I'm hoping to happen on a "horseless carriage" at some point) so it takes a lot to travel through to the various settlements that are nice and spread out. The game includes a few ways to make money on wagers like horeshoes and, my fave, Texas Hold 'Em, or you could always pick up a Wanted sign and go after some bounties. Gooood times! This game is freakin' AWESOME. Buy it now, just don't spend more than 35, that's about the max value right now due to its age and supply. Enjoy!

Open world wild west fun

Red Dead Redemption is technically a sequel to Red Dead Revolver, but it actually doesn't have much to do with the 2004 title. In Read Dead Redemption you play as John Marston, during the years of 1908-1914 or so. This is the very end of the wild west, and the game focuses on the changes going on during this time. John is an ex-gangster gone rancher who just wants to start a new life with his family. He isn't allowed to do that when some government agents take his family and force him to take down his old gang mates if he wants to see his family again.

The game is a third person open world action/adventure shooter. The main story missions are interesting and will take a good portion of time to complete. Outside of the story there are tons of other things to do. You can try your hand at 6 different mini games: Horseshoes, Poker, Blackjack, Liar's Dice, Five Finger Fillet, and Arm Wrestling. There are challenges to complete like Master Hunter or Sharpshooter. You can encounter strangers who will ask for your help. And of course you can always just freely roam around the world and encounter all kinds of interesting things going on. You can also customize John in different outfits that you gain by doing certain things during the game.

The gameplay is pretty solid, the guns handle easily and by default have an auto-aim feature enabled. At any time you can enter Dead Eye mode, where time slows and you can aim and shoot your enemies. There are also duels that you can partake in once challenged by someone, these work similar to Dead Eye mode. The horses and wagons handle fairly well although there is sometimes when the horse's AI will not do exactly what you expected. The enemy AI isn't obnoxiously stupid, but will rarely give you a real challenge unless you are greatly outnumbered and don't use the cover system adequately.

The game also features online gameplay. These consist of Free Roam, which is basically a lobby that you get to play in before launching into the competitive game types, but you can have tons of fun in this "lobby" without ever going into a regular match. In free roam you can complete challenges, clear gang hideouts or just cause mayhem with some friends or strangers. The competitive matches consist of deathmatches and capture the flag and king of the hill type of game modes. There is also a free downloadable cooperative game mode on XBOX LIVE.

To sum it all up: If you like GTA:IV (this game handles similarly) and like the wild west setting, this is probably the game for you. The story is great and gets real emotional at some points. The open world is truly alive and even in the vast wildernesses you will find something to entertain you. This game also has a lot of value since you can easily spend 50-100 hours playing it if you don't rush the main story.

Red Dead Redemption (PS3, 2010)

RDR is Wild Wild west meets Grand Thief Auto. The game has the same freedom style in it, do whatever you want, plenty of action, plenty of stranger side quests and you can hunt, collect flowers, buy/sell stuff, go on bounties, play Liar's Dice, Poker, Black Jack, arm wrestle etc. The main storyline is pretty long and even after that is complete there are many other things you can do, especially if you want 100% game completion (I'm at about 95 & and I been playing for weeks.)

General List of Things to do include:

Number of Main Missions: 57
Jobs: Horsebreaking & Night Watch (catch bad guys) at 6 loctions
Houses for purchase: 13
Rentals: 2
Mini Games: Poker, Black Jack, Arm Wrestling, Liar's Dice, Horse Shoes, 5 Finger Fillet
Main Gang Hideut Missions: 8
Stranger Missions: 19
Survivalist Challenges: 10 (flower collecting)
Hunting Challenges:10
Sharpshooter Challenges: 10
Treasure Challenge Loctions: 9
Rare Weapons: 5
Bounties: 37
Outfits to Purchase/Unlock: 13 or so
Maps/Locations to Collect/dicover: 94
Weapons in the Game: 7 Pistols, 3 Projectiles (Dynamite, Fire Bottles and Throwing Knives), 7 Rifles, 4 Shotguns, 2 Sniper Rifles, Laso
Animals in the Game (general count, not including the different kinds/breeds): 39 (roughy)
Hard Trophies/Achievements: 6 Catgories

As you can see there is more than plently to do so you can't say there isn't enough to do! There are a few things I didn't mention in the list but thats most of it.

Overall, I think this is one of the best games ever, if you are a GTA then you will most likely be a fan of this too. This game is made by the same creators of GTA so the controls/gameplay is very similar from GTA.

Only cons in my opinion is the horseriding, it takes a long time to get to far locations, so for those I use a coach (taxi). Sometimes the loading pages take a bit to load.

My ratings

Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Replay Value: 9.5/10
Freedom: 10/10
Storyline: 9.5/10 (I didn't like the ending much).

Overall like I said, Excellent game!!!!

Hope this helps you.