Red Dead Redemption Reviewed

Rockstar Games introduces you to the Wild West in their latest game Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption starts you off as John Marston looking for an old friend. But finding him and getting to him is not going to be an easy journey. Beyond the main story missions of you tracking down your old friend(s) and helping out those that become close to you, is a massive open roam world that only Rockstar Games could do. The games storyline is very rich in context and makes you feel at times like what are you doing and are you really making a difference or just helping in the destruction of certain regions of the game. Can you really change? Can you ever be freed from your past? All questions the game asks you, and in the end you learn the truth of the matter and then you truly get the meaning of the word Redemption.

The gameplay takes a moment or more to get used, as you will have several ways to handle certain things or tasks in the game. Getting to know your controllers accurately is critical in later parts of the game along with accuracy. After you learn your controls you will experience a lot to do in all three areas of the game from New Austin, Mexico and West Elizabeth. The open roam feel of the game will be normal for players of any of the Grand Theft Auto games in the past, but in Red Dead you will spent a lot of time searching around and exploring the elements of your environment. Searching your environment and getting to know it well is very important to later challenges and adventures you will be on. Outside of the main storyline missions are a lot of addition challenges and rewards to do. There are Tailors’, Doctors, Gunsmiths and General stores. Remember to check them out periodically as new weapons, clothes and items do come available as you make progress thought the game. Additionally you will be able to switch your outfits in the game, as you do certain missions you will be able to unlock new outfits that will give you advantages in the game. As a matter of fact here is a full list of things you can do outside of just the story missions.

Bounty hunting - A bounty is placed on a man’s head and you can accept to go for it, catch him alive or dead. Alive bounty fetches more than a dead one.

Horse breaking Jobs -At different ranches you can accept to break in new horses, trick is to keep your balance without getting bucked off.

Horseshoes – Simple game of horseshoes, get close enough to make a ringer.

Arm wrestling – Test your strength and win some money against others in a simple arm wrestling.

Poker – Play Texas Hold’em style rules poker.

Blackjack – Good old blackjack.

Liar’s Dice – Each player as a cup with five die in them, you job is to bet how many of a certain die are on the table and to call out the bluffs. Trick is to not lose all your dice or else you are out.

Hunting – There is plenty of wild animals and they fetch some good prices they do, trick here to sell certain animals in different regions for higher prices.

Duel – Well in every town there is someone to challenge you to a duel, pick your timing and placement and show them who the fastest gun in the west is.

Five Finger Fillet – Put your hand on the table and try not to cut it.

Gang Hideout Clearing – There is gang hideouts though out the game, clearing them out rewards you with new weapons and money.

Stranger Missions – Were there is a wide range of different people you will meet in the game; you can complete these missions at any time during the game. The missions can be as simple as gathering flowers or tracking down pieces of a map or horse.

In addition to all those challenges, come the ambient challenges to master to become a true legend of the west. These challenges are Survivalist, Master Hunter, Sharpshooter, Treasure Hunter to master them you must rank them up to level 10. The early challenges for them are simple and very easy and grow tougher and tougher, for insentience the treasure hunter challenge you gather maps in the first few maps it almost spells out where the treasure is, later on you will have to almost to guess as the clues get very few. All four of these challenges unlock more stuff for you and makes your gameplay experience easier too. Another thing you will have to watch is your honor and fame rank, as you honor raises the more people will respect you and things will cost less and with your fame rank your name will get more and more known. The higher these levels are the more law enforcement and regular folk will just look away to your minor crimes like horse stealing and so on. Your honor rank is impacted by how you act in missions, meaning if you do the right thing and not kill innocents or steal you rank will grow positivity as if you do something wrong or decide to go into business for yourself.

With all that and a very rich multiplayer that is packed with up and coming challenges via Rockstar Game’s Social Club makes the single and multiplayer version of this game a must pick up for any gamer. The multiplayer modes include Free Roam, Free for all, Shootout, and capture the bag.

Graphically speaking the game is awesome with getting the time period and landscape to look so rich and beautiful at times, like when the sun just rises over the crest and breaks the horizon makes you feel like you’re almost there. The character design is quite rich too, getting the cuts on faces and the look of despite or despair on others is quite rich. The game does not handle in a full HD resolution but it seems not to hurt the game at all. In fact it helps makes the game feel more of a rough and rugged feel but still play just as smooth. If you watch your screen as you are following a train or being shot at you will see as debris will cover your screen at times and impact your vision. The level of detail is even noticeable on the animals, if you look closely at them you can see as they look almost realistic and the sounds they give off even can make the hair on your neck stand up as if a wild cougar is in the house with you. Graphics and sound is spot on for this game makes the experience ever richer for the gamer.

Over all this game is awarded a 9 out of 10 score, a great game with minor glitches and errors here and there but nothing that can’t be fixed with a simple patch. The game allows players a wide range to do and offers a wide replay value with the option to re-play any mission again to get a higher rank as well. The minor glitches and technical issues that do come up here and there keep it from reaching a full ten out of ten score. Lots of room for addition DLC (Downloadable Content) for both the single player and multiplayer along with the social club challenges makes this game so rich that playing it over and over is a joy.