Customer Reviews

Red Dead Redemption

5 star:		(361)
4 star:		(99)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Please ignore the reviewer that stated (repeatedly) that "this game is just like GTA IV... If you hated that you will definitely hate this." That could not be further from the truth!!

Red Dead Redemption is Rockstar's newest sandbox game, and it is a very good change up on the already popular GTA series. Let me start off by saying I have always been a huge fan of GTA games... until GTA IV. Tried and tried to play it, just could not get into it. Everything about it was wrong for me, and I know a lot of others felt the same. Sure RDR is very similar to GTA IV, yet everything about it is so much better.

Graphics are amazing, game play is easy to pick up and hard to put down, shooting system is improved, horse riding is intuitive, and hunting is a blast, just to name a few. This is GTA on steroids. Don't get me wrong, the huge cities and fancy sports cars were a ton of fun, but this is so much better. Set in the early 20th century, Red Dead Redemption takes place in the ever changing Wild West. Dusty old towns, bustling saloons, and family ranches are presented with such accuracy and clarity, you'd think you are back in the old west yourself!

Red Dead Redemption's scale is beyond HUGE!! The Wild West has never looked so good. There's a fullness to the sunsets that's so breathtaking you almost forget about the task at hand. The characters play a role nearly as big as the landscape, if not more. The dialog is smooth and witty, and the hometown feel of McFarlanes ranch only adds to the beauty.

There are so many side missions and quests, it's tough to get bored. From helping a stranded women on the side of the road, to tracking and shooting trophy bucks, there is truly something for everyone. Don't feel like shooting or riding around on your horse? Play some cards! Drink a shot!

Your thinking what I'm thinking aren't you? GTA on horses. Yes, but as you play on through the game you will quickly realize it is so much more than that. It's a nice change up in the video game world, and quite a surprise in the western genre.

Now I know this was a very short, somewhat random review, but I hope it provided enough insight to help you decide on the purchase.

***********UPDATE**********
I have gotten a few comments about my review. Some feeling that I have not experienced all the game has to offer, and should wait until I'm further along and write a detailed review. My review was an attempt to give a quick firsthand look, and to knock dead a few misconceptions. I believe all first time buyers need an initial review to help them decide to buy it or not. The game experience should be left up to each individual.

I'll admit, I had some reservations about Red Dead Redemption. The studio that released it (Rockstar) hadn't done too much to distinguish it from GTA with horses. Within the first 2 hours, however, I was blown away. The story starts with our hero John Marston attempting to track down his former gang leader Bill Williamson and bring him to justice. After a short cut scene, he's shot and left for dead. The game opens up after some dialogue and tutorials, leaving you to your devices in 1912's Texas and Mexico. The first thing you'll notice is the beautiful visuals. Everything has an incredible amount of detail and draw distance, and the character models animate wonderfully. Watching the sunset on horseback is a truly visceral video game experience, and won't soon be forgotten. Combat works in a very fun, gritty way. You have a large variety of period weapons to deal the bad guys (or good guys). Quests can appear by talking to certain NPCs essential to the story. They can also appear at random, forcing you to act quickly or watch an innocent die. What really surprised me was how well the minigames were made. Poker could be sold as a separate game in of itself, with AI "tells" and bluffing. Five-finger-fillet is pretty funny to watch if you make a blunder. Horseshoes and bar fights provide some enjoyable distractions. You can waltz over to a local movie theater and watch some very funny silent films that convey the mindset of the times. Red Dead Redemption has the most believable open world I've ever played, with every feature one would expect. The atmosphere is simply unmatched in terms of immersion and realism. I haven't even mentioned multiplayer yet. RDR supports up to 16 players over Xbox Live or PSN for full-on gunfights and skirmishes. Game types can range from free-for-alls to CTF-structured team based modes. There is also a separate mode called "Free Roam" that lets you and your friends form a posse and explore the entire single player map. You can slaughter gangs, hunt down wild game, and duke it out with other posses over an enormous map. There's a fully featured ranking system that tracks your progress throughout your online exploits. Multiplayer should keep you hooked for weeks on end as you shoot up the West. Overall, Read Dead Redemption is an incredibly good game that can't be missed. Pretty much everything is perfectly polished and consistent, and you'll find yourself loving the Wild West's final days. Go buy it now.


PROS
+ Awesome, deep combat
+ Breathtaking visuals
+ Addictive multiplayer
+ Strong voice acting and writing
+ Best open world in a video game to date

Cons
- Occasional animation glitches
- Some network problems, especially in Free Roam
- Could be a little more difficult

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QUICK REVIEW (LESS READING)
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Graphics- 9.5 Excellent details and textures, everything from the wool jackets, to the animal pelts you collect is highly detailed and gorgeous in HD. I did have a few hiccups and a freeze up during a cut scene, it happened one time, and could very well be my Xbox.

Sound- 10 The surround sound is top notch in Red Dead Revolver, from a steam engine barreling down the tracks, a cougar growling from the bushes, to the small things like birds chirping and wind blowing...the sound envelops you and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Gameplay- 10 Excellent control setup (GTA vets will be right at home) the only thing that took a bit of getting used to was riding a horse, its not bad, just a bit different than a car in terms of handling. Plenty of story/mission hours to waste away, followed by double the hours you'll spend just exploring and causing havoc (or helping the kind settlers).

Re-playability-9 Just going home and being able to run around the Wild West is enough for me, Rockstar included a solid story, but you can make your own as you go, helping damsels in distress, or massacring an entire settlement, its all up to you. This is gonna be a great game for a bit of relaxation...or some stress relief.

Multi-player- 9.5 I only played a bit of MP, since the rest of my "posse" hadn't received the game yet (or were struggling to get one at the store) The premise seems really interesting though, and the game of death match I played was a real nice change from the normal FPS death matches I've been playing lately. The open world MP game has always been something I wanted to see more of, and I'm sure once this game gets into more peoples hands its gonna be a real treat for the gaming world.

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I've been a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series since it had a top down view, so when this was announced by Rockstar I was pretty interested.

The first thing I must say is Rockstar has really outdone themselves, this game takes GTA to the next level, while taking it back a hundred years on the time line. The first thing you notice is the vast area you get to call "home". The colors and sand blowing and swirling is truly beautiful eye candy. I hate to compare this game to GTA, but the undertones are all there.

I don't wanna share any of the story, and honestly that's icing on the cake for this game. The graphics are simply gorgeous, from the leather straps, and jackets, to the grizzly beards on the characters...all very well done. One thing I must say is not being in the big city setting is a breath of fresh air, no car horns blaring, police sirens at every corner, just the wide open Western range...at times I thought I could taste the fresh air.

As far as game play goes, its hard to beat. You can do anything, and I mean anything (*Ill give a example at the end of this) The stores and shops are fantastic, and walking into a new town just makes you feel like a real gunslinger! Again I don't wanna get into the story to much, but the voice acting and cut scenes are almost Hollywood movie grade, its always nice when you feel for the characters, and this game does an outstanding job of delving into their history and stories!

As another reviewer said the game takes about 20 hours to play through the main story, however getting 100% completion will take you some extra time. The problem is playing through the game, no matter how hard I tried to go to the next mission, I ended up going way off track, killing a bear, saving a stage coach, or just getting a bunch of horses together to test a dynamite stick on. No matter what path you choose, your in for a surprise...Red Dead Redemption really delivers.

If you haven't picked this gem up yet I would highly suggest it, I said I'd give an example of doing whatever you want and here it is: Find some poor townsfolk, give em a round from your six shooter in the kneecap, hogtie them, drag them behind your horse to the nearest railroad...and leave em on the track, sit back and wait for the train to come through, nothing better to relieve the stress of those long days at work/school.

Red Dead Redemption far exceeds anything you've played before, pick up this game, and I'll see you behind the saloon at high noon!

I heard about Red Dead Redemption just after it was released and was immediately intrigued. I saw here the potential to fix the flaws of GTAIV-the opportunity to take GTAIV and craft from it a more refined experience: a tighter storyline, improved controls, and a more focused world. The Western setting seemed perfect for the task. Not to mention the Western theme is, for some unknown reason, generally unused in video games. (I suspect that will now change.)

In the end, RDR improves on some aspects of the GTAIV formula but falls short on a few other aspects.

The world is much more refined and focused in RDR. Almost all buildings can be entered. NPCs have genuine conversations with one another. In general the world is better. Most impressive is the way the developers simultaneously allow the player to take in the loneliness of the empty deserts while still making the world feel alive and inhabited. This is accomplished by adding in a lot of wildlife (all of which can be hunted; you can even go catch and tame wild horses!), a system that introduces the player to random but dynamic encounters (for instance, you may find while riding along a road in the middle of nowhere that a gang is lynching someone on a nearby tree; you can choose to save the person or move on), and the stranger system (these are NPCs marked with a special icon on the minimap who provide Marston with special tasks to complete--simple, nonessential missions).

The controls are still just as unresponsive as they were in GTAIV. When playing RDR it sometimes feels less like I'm controlling Marston and more like I'm just giving him a nudge in the right direction. That said, combat controls are quite improved--the indoor combat mechanics are now quite functional and significantly better than those of GTAIV. Also, the controls are certainly not bad, and you will master them after a few hours of play. But for me at least the nagging feeling created by the general unresponsiveness has never went away.

GTAIV has a severely flawed save system which caused you to have to often repeat entire missions, including driving to the location (taking many minutes sometimes) and listening to the same dialogue many times. RDR has a much improved save system. You can save at safehouses as always, but you can also put up camp anywhere in the wilderness and save there. Furthermore, missions contain well-placed checkpoints at which you can respawn upon failure.

Now we come to the first of Red Dead Redemption's two great faults: the storyline. Like GTAIV, RDR takes its storyline seriously. Very seriously. There are a LOT of cutscenes in this game, and unlike the dialogues in such games as Mass Effect 2 the cutscenes in RDR aren't interactive. That means that I have higher standards for the narratives they present to me.

GTAIV's plot was certainly nowhere near the perfection of The Godfather, but many of the characters were believable, and the most believable among them stayed around for the whole game, allowing for nontrivial relationships to develop. In this way the story was at least effective enough to justify the numerous cutscenes.

Red Dead Redemption has a decent premise (I'll explicitly mark when spoilers might appear). Marston is a former outlaw who, for reasons unknown, grew a conscience, left his gang, and started a family. In events prior to the game the government threatened to hurt Marston's family unless he agreed to hunt down the members of his former gang.

That's a premise that could be made into a fantastic plot. Unfortunately RDR does relatively little with it. For a very long time essentially nothing will happen in the overall plot. And it won't be until the game's conclusion or "epilogue" that you'll meet the family you're supposed to be saving--far too late for you to develop feelings about them and hence really care about saving them.

You'll meet a lot of characters. Nearly all of them will be ridiculous and extremely abnormal in some way. I actually found it nearly intolerable how every single character in the game was almost a parody, a joke. There are very few humans here--Bonnie is one of them, a girl who saves you at the game's start and helps you recover. Unfortunately, Rockstar tosses Bonnie away after the beginning of the game. This is, in fact, the general pattern in RDR: once a real relationship is established with a character, that character will be eliminated from the game--the character will just disappear from existence.

There will be a few sideplots here and there. Most of them will be as ridiculous as the characters. But the overall plot advances shockingly slowly, if at all. Tension is nonexistent. Character development is nonexistent. And even though the premise I gave you above is printed all over the game's box, it takes the game an astoundingly long time to actually present all that information to the player.

Some minor spoilers follow.

The first half of the game is spent tracking down Bill Williamson. The game will come up with all sorts of ridiculous reasons why you can't just go find him. You'll have to do really ridiculous tasks for really ridiculous characters, and it's even more ridiculous that of all the people in the world only the most ridiculous could help you find Williamson. That's the word needed to summarize this part of the game: ridiculous. When you finally confront Bill Williamson, of course he escapes, but not without throwing a veritable army at you. Once more, ridiculous. You spend half the game trying to kill him, putting up with artificial plot device after artificial plot device, and then you fight through a ridiculous army at his fort... and then he escapes. How satisfying. As I said, it's ridiculous.

Spoilers end now.

Ordinarily the plot of RDR would be perfectly suitable for a video game. But most games don't take their plots as seriously as RDR takes its plot.

The ending, though, is just unacceptable in all mediums. It's completely unnecessary and reminds me of the Fallout 3 ending. It feels like it was tacked on just to make the game feel "serious" and "emotional" and to make up for the total lack of tension throughout the entire game.

The second great flaw of RDR is its system of morality and the illusion of choice. RDR, like GTAIV, has a very thorough system built in to make wrongdoing fun and entertaining. So you've got this vast framework to facilitate all these morally questionable activities. But then the game encourages you left and right, at every juncture, constantly to do what we all know is morally right. You almost universally get more rewards for sparing the lives of enemies than for killing them. Very, very, very few of the missions in the game ever require you to do anything considered wrong in the game world, and when they do they often provide some mechanism to avoid taking a hit to your honor if you don't want it to go down.

After having played RDR, it actually comes off as rather preachy to me. You're placed in a world in which you can do good and bad and yet the game tells you to do good pretty much as often as it can. It seems that when writing the story the writers forgot that this is a video game that should be at least minimally reactive to the player. As it is, you--the player--are absolutely irrelevant to the story.

I don't consider this a great flaw like the previous two, but it's worth mentioning that a vast amount of this game feels automated. The Dead Eye component (read: magical aiming) aims and shoots for you. And unless you have it set to "expert" aiming, to shoot somebody this is all you have to do: look somewhere in their general vicinity; hit the left trigger; the game aims for you; fire with right trigger. If you want a head shot, no problem: after the game aims at their torso for you, just slightly nudge the right thumbstick upwards. It's almost guaranteed.

For a game that seems so obsessed with realism, many missions in RDR will have you think that some of the gangs you're up against could rival the U.S. military in manpower. For instance, when you first transition from the initial area (called New Austin) to Mexico, you'll float on a raft down a river separating the two regions, and I'd wager at least 30 bandits come out of nowhere on the Mexico side to kill you. Of course, using Dead Eye or the left trigger makes it easy: the game aims for you.

Finally, I'd like to comment on something I hear being said about RDR a lot. I've read in many places (and in many reviews here at Amazon) that the game gives the player an unprecedented amount of choice. This is not at all true for several reasons. First, as I said above the game is greatly biased towards what it considers morally right actions. But more importantly missions are all completely linear, straightforward, and have precisely one path for the player to take. In the end, RDR tells you how to play the game and rarely gives you a choice to meaningfully deviate from its recommendation. When you do have a choice, it generally provides greater rewards for taking its preferred path.

As an example of a game that truly does present meaningful choices about how to approach a mission, I offer Deus Ex. But even the Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind, Oblivion) give the player more options for approaching quests than RDR does.

In the end, RDR is a fun game but it flounders in its own seriousness and aspirations.

Not many games am I willing to shell out 50 bucks to buy. I decided to go against my better judgement, and buy it because it had a pretty good reputation . . .

IT ROCKS!!

I was a little nervous about it being in the old west because that wasn't something that sounded that interesting for a videogame. Believe me, I take it all back. It only takes 10-15 minutes from when you start until you're sucked in for good.

Not gonna lie: I'm not the best when it comes to some video games, and I'll admit that I may agree with others: The game can be a bit easy at times (Just warning those hardcore gamers who may say "Psh, way too easy!"). But there are so many things to do, and they are all so much fun thing to do that, in my opinion, who cares if it's a little easy.

Clearing up some issues I read from others:
Someone said that "It takes forevor to ride from town to town". Yes, this may sometimes be true, but you can hire a stagecoach for a small fee, OR set up camp in the wilderness and say "Travel to ________" for FREE! I prefer to ride from town to town because you may stumble into a group of deer you can hunt for money to purchase a new weapon or horse, or you may find an opportunity to help strangers to gain Fame and/or Honor.

Things to do:
Go on main missions, hunt, become a bounty hunter to bring back criminals (Dead or Alive! The choice is yours!), go on stranger side missions, help those in need on your way from town to town, Patrol the MacFarlane Ranch at night to stop any cattle thiefs/rustlers, be a cowboy (herd cattle), play a game of horseshoes/blackjack/poker/mumblypeg, go to the saloon for a drink (and walk out so drunk you can't stop falling), jump on a moving train and kill the "driver", look for treasure, clear out a gang headquarter, JUST PLAIN EXPLORE!! Over time you'll find what side hobbies you like, and do them to take a break from the storyline. I, personally, like to do a main mission or two, then do some stuff on the side to keep things different.

1 thing that is truly great: The scenery. Nothing beats riding around during sunrise or sunset when the sky is a mixture of purple, orange, and red. It's just great.

I really hope this review helped you make a decision about whether or not you'll purchase the game. Make sure you click yes if it did. ;) Happy travels

Red Dead Redemption - Circa 2010

GOOD:
- A good story that mixes elements of historical fiction and a frontier drama epic.
- Really impressive graphics and first-rate animations, that looks just as good as games like Uncharted 2 on PS3 and Gears of War 2 on 360 and Assassins Creed 2 (on both systems).
- Great vistas and sights really drive home the idea and theme of the epic nature of the landscape and the era, the graphics really help bring this game world to life.
- The game world is about twice the size of Grand Theft Auto 4 (and it even comes close to rivaling games like Fallout 3)
- A good variety of missions and missions/side missions/challenges, where you can solve them the way you want in the classic sandbox (aka GTA) fashion.
- A great amount of guns of different types - twice as many as what is found in Grand Theft Auto 4.
- like the first title this one has great sound track too that mixes music of the era during the clam points of the game and more modern cinematic "chase" type of music during the action and shoot outs points of the game.


BAD:
- While you can be a total evil jerk outside in the game world this is at odds with the story missions which paint your character as honorable loving family man. If you choose to play as an outlaw then it's really odd to see in story missions that you're helping others right wrongs and care about justice, but outside these missions you can still kill innocence people and cause all types of mayhem. This could have been fixed with more choices and branching paths in story mode its self like in games such as Mass Effect.
- The second half of the game seems to drag (this is the part which takes place in Mexico, during the revolution), when compared to the first half.
- While the traditional online player modes (like Death Match & Capture the Flag) are all here and lots of fun, they are not adjusted or balance enough for hardcore completive online gaming titles such as Call of Duty and Halo franchises (this was the case with GTA4 as well).
- Watch out for bugs, glitches, and game freezes (hopefully a patch should be out soon enough).

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A third person (camera behind the player character) action adventure game. With a focus on shooting, riding horses, and letting beat missions how ever they see fit - it's a very open ended game, gameplay wise.
- A historical third person action game much like Assassins Creed or that takes place during the early 20th century American west.
- If you can stand the structure and nature of Grand Theft Auto games you really may not like this game very much.
- The story is linear, much like GTA4 (and most action/adventure games) you get a chance to make some limited choice story wise, but for the most part the story is like a movie script that you can't change. It's in the actions outside the story where you make the most impact and have the most freedom.
- The game is broken up between two different styles of play, first there is the main story adventure missions which will take the average play 20 something hours to finish. Second there is doing all the side missions (which there are tons) and challenges (also tons) which will unlock more story and items for your use - you can do these at your own time. And let's not forget about the Online Free Roam with other players, which is like a mix between traditional online modes mixed with the freedom found in the single player mode.
- The gunplay is similar to that in GTA4 (in this game you can not turn on/off the target lock system, when its off you can free aim), but reworked to make it work smoother.
- Like in the previous game Red Dead Revolver you can do something called Dead Eye Mode (bullet time), which makes everything turn red and in slow-motion and you can then mark a person with icons, which then at the end of Dead Eye Mode your character will automatically hit those icons really quickly. You build Dead Eye Mode by making regular kills without it.
- The wilderness is filled with all types of wildlife. There are over twenty different kinds of wild and domestic animals. Some will ignore you other might try to eat/kill you if you get to close.
- You can kill and then skin just about every animal in the game (yes even your own horse) and then sell the skins to a fur trader in towns for money.
- There are several different breeds of horse (and one type donkey) you can ride. When you first get a horse, you first have to break in that horse in order to ride it. Also the more you keep to one horse then more it will trust you and the easier it will be to ride and it will follow your commands quicker (this will become more apparent with better more powerful breeds of horse).
- If taking your horse across the land still takes too long (note trails and paths make your travel quicker in the wilderness), you can always use warp points found at camps (that you set up while out in the wilds), as well as use stagecoaches as taxis.
- There are about 15 different outfits you can wear. Some of these outfits give you bourses in areas like combat (increased damage and ammo count), better prices at shops, ect.
- You can not swim in what is considered deep water (any water that can go above your head).
- A sample of activities you can do in this sandbox style game is, save people form gangs, follow up on bounties, hunt animals, watch a silent movies, search for gold, herd cattle, picking herbs and desert flowers, playing poker the old west way and more.
- You can play as a saint or sinner, kill just about anyone and decide the outcome of the fate of innocents; you can also rob peoples, homes, and trains. A type of karma meter (next to your fame meter) tracks your actions and those you help/hurt after a while new people you come across will begin to react to your based on this.
- Building "fame" will open up new missions, and new areas to explore. You build fame by doing story missions and by completing side missions or challenges.
- Break the law and a lawman (sheriff) will come to get you, keep breaking the law and he will form up a posse with other lawmen to hunt you down. If you get away then a bounty is put on your head, then you gotta watch out for bounty hunters.
- You can play a few mini games of the ear such as Poker, Blackjack, Horseshoes, Liar's Dice, and a game called Five Finger Fillet (where you take a knife and stab between the fingers as fast as you can - like that scene in the famed 80's action movie aliens). You can also cheat at these games, but if you get caught by other players they will want to fight you.
- In the game you meet plenty of "Women of ill repute", but unlike GTA4 (and all other GTA games) you can not sleep with them.
- There is also a multiplayer aspect to this game called Free Roam (think of a really graded lobby from the GTA4 multiplayer). Free Roam works by putting you and your party (up to 16 different players per room) in a version of the world of Red Dead Redemption, where you can go anywhere and do almost anything together (see from the sample activities and mini games above). You and your party can also do more traditional activities like death match, team death match, capture the flag (but now it's a bag of gold), cops-n-robbers (from GTA4) and more.

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Gun (360/PS2)
- Grand Theft Auto 4 (360/PS3/PC)
- Assassins Creed 2 (360/PS3/PC)
- Red Dead Revolver (PS2)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This game takes place in 1908, well after most other western titles, "wild west" was already "tamed" by this point. Example the Wright brothers already built and flew the historic first airplane (The Wright Flyer) and this was the same year that Ford Motor Company put out the Model-T to the mass public and World War 1 was about ten years away. Despite this most people in the American mid-west still didn't have electricity and still had never even seen a car - life in most of these then considered rural areas looked as if it was still 1860 until about the 1920's.
- This game is the sequel to Red Dead Revolver on PS2, but has very little to do with that game story wise.
- There is a co-op downloadable content pack for this game coming out sometime in June and it's free.
- As far as preorder downloadable content goes those who got it on Amazon (here) get Golden Guns which builds fame quicker and look cool to boot. Those who got this game from Gamestop get a new 16 outfit called the Deadly Assassins Outfit which makes your Dead Eye meter fill more quickly thus making you more Deadly. And those who got this game from BestBuy got the War Horse which is the strongest and fastest horse in the game. You cannot get theses preorder downloadable content items with the game normally and this is the only way to get your hands on some.
- If you're a member at the Rockstar web site known Social Club ([...]) you can complete extra challenges not normally found in the game for more unlockable goodies you can't get any other way, like in-game power ups (example: getting an ability for your shots to do fire damage) and even Xbox360 Avatar items.

First off, let me say that I absolutely loved this game, and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

BUT, in case you're unaware, Rockstar is going to be releasing a Game of the Year edition sometime this October which will include RDR, Undead Nightmare, and all the released DLC, as well as a new "hardcore" difficulty mode. The GotY edition will be 50 bucks, saving you quite a bit of cash if you're interested in the DLC. Given that the game at times seems almost too easy, since you can just mow down swaths of enemies in one dead-eye burst, I think the hardcore mode would definitely be a welcome addition to the game.

I'm only writing this review because I've been tempted to buy the game myself recently (originally played a friend's copy), but I was wondering if they would be coming out with something like this so I held off. If you're uninterested in any of the DLC, then just grab the original and prepare for an awesome experience.

Let me start by saying I had a blast playing this game. You can spend 10+ hours on the single player campaign, and have loads to do afterward from sidequests to fighting gangs. The graphics are great, and the cutscenes are a treat to watch.

So let's start with what's great--

What really stands out is the voice acting. This is some of the best voice acting I've ever heard for a game, it's great. Every character was voiced perfectly.

Combat is an interesting system, you can hop into cover, pull out any wild west weapon imaginable, and even use a "Dead Eye" system which lets you slow down and plan your shots, similar to the system in Fallout 3. Horse back combat works well, and the horse doesn't completely fall off the track when you turn around to shoot.

The story is a decent story, you meet a lot of interesting people, get to do a lot of different things (Invade forts, set dynamite chargers to blow up convoys, purchase safehouses, explore towns, play a myriad of games such as poker and arm wrestling), and you can use an optional camp fire "warping system" if you don't feel like manually going to an area.

Online is also fun with lots of decent game modes, but I wouldn't suggest it until you have completed single player, because you unlock multiplayer items via single player, and going into multiplayer equipped with a donkey and pistol isn't very fun, you get killed a lot. So I'd suggest stocking up some multiplayer items and clothes before playing it.

Now the not so good--

While horses are fun to ride, and you can find a neat one you like, they can be a serious pain. They are picky if you run to fast, will whine and buck you off, and will stop moving all together if they get tired running up a hill. During fast maneuvers through trees and such, you tend to run into a lot of things, and the horse only jumps over a very limited amount of things, so you'll run into a lot of stuff you should be able to jump over.

This game is also VERY glitchy. Go online and look up glitches, countless glitches have been exposed on Youtube, and while some are funny, such as a human horse, others are just annoying. During the middle of the game, during a climatic scene, I killed the enemy, and then my character froze. I could shoot and look around, but I couldn't move my legs. The only remedy was to restart from the last checkpoint, 20 minutes back. During the time you spend beating the game, the glitches tend to be a noticeable, common annoyance.

There's also a lot of point A to point B stuff, running across the map back and forth endlessly doing chores for people. If you play computer MMO's or a game like Fable this is nothing new to you, but it tends to be a drag. Also, while there are a lot of fun quests, most quests have a very tedious timeline they all follow.. you talk to someone in the cutscene, walk outside, mount your horse or wagon, then follow them to the destination, you kill some people, then they leave you in the middle of nowhere, absolutely no where near your objective.


While these problems can be overlooked, they are still very noticeable, and hinder the experience. Aside from them, there is a LOT of great content in this game, and it's worth suffering the few flaws to play it. I'd suggest buying it, whether you like RPGS, shooters, MMO's, or character driven games like Alan Wake, you'll love Red Dead.


On a side note- A lot of people say this is like GTA4, but I really don't see it. Your character is a nice friendly guy with a family, you don't get hookers or anything, you follow a storyline that portrays your character in a good light, unless you go off and kill innocent people, and even then theres really no need/thrill to stealing a horse or killing an innocent person, like you'd want to do in GTA. Anyway, just my opinion, and I hate playing GTA and love Red Dead, so I don't believe it's true when other reviewers say if you hate one you'll hate the other.

In 1911 what we think of as the Old West was rapidly dying. It hadn't really ever existed in the form we think of for quite some time, with cowboys and Indians and gunslingers and the like. That era lasted only for a couple years and was largely gone by the late 1800's. By 1911 we had movies, telephones, electricity, cars and, despite what the intro to this game would have you believe, airplanes. It was the tail end of the Gilded Age, and only three years from the start of World war One.

This is the West were "Red Dead Redemption" takes place. It centers around a man, John Marston, a long-since retired criminal who, against his will, is essentially forced into being a bounty hunter. He's sent out west and spends the game running after criminals so that he can see his family again. It's a simple, serviceable plot, and hardly original, but as with many things the genius is in the execution, and this game executes the story quite well, with several great side quests, a wonderful voice cast and a strong central theme.

The gameplay is really great! If you've played "Grand Theft Auto IV", you know the controls. They've been refined a bit here and are very easy to use, even if it is a bit odd to be riding around on a horse instead of a car. I also like shooting system, which even though it's third-person, works quite well, taking you into an optional slo-mo shooting mode that enables you to shoot to wound and not kill. It also makes small game hunting much easier.

There's also much to do in the game, from gambling to collecting flowers. You can buy locations, though you can't do much with them. You can collect different outfits. You can even go to see a movie (though the developers lost a real chance to do something impressive with that feature, like scrolling some pre-1911, public domain pictures, such as "A Corner in Wheat"). And of course as you'd expect, you can be a good guy or a bad guy, though being the latter is much less fun.

What to say about the graphics? My goodness, but they're impressive. I live in Arizona and there's quite a lot of beauty here that's reproduced in the game. The detail is amazing, as is the variety, where the parts that are in Mexico look and feel very different from the parts in the USA.

Really I don't have anything bad to say about the game. It does a great job of reproducing the look and feel of an era that was already on the way out by the time the game takes place. It's fun, enjoyable and gives great value for the money!

Granted I am not that into sci-fi so I mostly stay away from those types, and I like old world ones, and only modern times or back, so this was from one of my favorite periods and lived up to my expectations.

PROS: The Landscape is breathtaking and almost completely open to you (within borders of the mountains around the territories/states) and leaves time for endless exploring both as part of the game and just to explore, Within a large bowl of sorts with mountains, mesas (and all type of western even other types of landscapes) or hemmed by the sea. The weapons are great and simple and period appopriate and varied. The Honor/Fame system is great and gives you choices. You can play in many orders, take time off and actually go do fun stuff like fight, shoot-up people, hunting (my fav), play poker, liar's dice, blackjack or horseshoes, or just ride around and either help or not help people. The buying/selling portion is fantastic, the accumulation and carrying of all weapons is great. The missions are fun for the most part, the clearing of hideouts and finding treasure is good. The menu's are bright and clear and easy to follow and keep track of all your various stats from how many wolves you skinned to how many people you shot from a train. etc. Dead Eye is cool, various levels. The challenges for Master Challenges are unique and are challenging, moreso than killing a bunch of gangmembers. The various towns and places are all very unique. Very rarely do you find somewhere you can not get to or get into. The fast travel, camping, stagecoach, and the map are great. The map is spectacular for getting around by laying a waypoint and shows a line to follow the road. The people rarely say the same thing and background conversations are funny at times. There are horsebreaking, nightwatch, cowherding jobs, and saloons and everything one excects in the west. Dueling is challenging but takes a bit to get down. You actually have strategic choices (when to do them, where to hide behind, stand, ride up or not, what gun to use (and most have their pros and cons), kill or capture) in alot of missions.

The riding your horse just around and exploring and occasionally shooting a bunch of animals and skinning them is some of the greatest gameplay ever I think. It is simple and homespun and yet a great marvel of video game technology. The animals and people and seasons and weather are so real.. If you notice the shadows if go with the sun and time of day. And at night riding your horse out under a full moon and sky full of stars feels like it takes you there...

It is fun with the mission in place to do and the graduation of the story (which is suberb) [going for 100% is addicting, fun and fairly challenging] but after though it is fun just to play, the point is gone. Sure you could go back and play through all on expert mode or play a different way.

CONS: [It looks long but these are mostly inconsequential, nitpicky things] I think you get some of the weapons/uniforms a bit late (binoculars you don't even get to way late) in the game to be useful. Also the results from the Master Challenges; you can't complete them until you get in new areas and by then the story is along so you've learned to make do. The new weapons along the way do greatly help though. The helping of non-unique strangers is exciting at first but later, though they vary in place and type you will learn to recognize them (as a person would in that environment) so you can steer clear or help or hurt (because by now you will probably be full on fame and honor if you have tried). Yeah are some animation glitches but most of the time they don't harm, and sometimes they are very funny. Jack, John's son, talks like a weirdo. It'd be more challenging if you lost your horse you couldn't always just call a new one, and instead had to find, break or steal. But I guess you could limit yourself. You can't drive the cars. The train takes forever to leave the station and is only like two running at once. Killing a bunch of animals and not having your horse to stand over it (and avoid cut scenes) and avoid skinning takes forever if you have 20 wolves, for instance. It is cool scene at first just like picking herbs but gets old. Other minor inconsistencies I'd hope they'd fix if made a new one: many chests are just decoration, all the ones you open look exactly the same; in a mission you shoot a lock off a jail door but later you can't do this in just playing, and some doors are locked so I think it should have break in feature/shoot lock; some of the guns are not correct to originals. Some guns don't penetrate what they would in life. Some are inconsistent depending on people/animals taking two where it should take one. etc.
All this is no big deal though. Eventually you get so much money you have nothing to buy but ammo and so that takes away a bit. No new guns or outfits or houses and you don't need all 15 horses, just 3 best.... [John doesn't seem to need food or sleep (except to save)]
The pros so, so, so far outweigh any bad.


I could see one with Jack headed further West/Northwest or some other story line. Would be great. Just start and sail off from Punto Orgullo or Blackwater.

OVERALL: WELL worth the money, very enjoyable to play and do the missions (some are challenging, some side ones very challenging), all adds up, and you can try and get the achievments and cheats can be found. Great story line. Great gameplay and thought. Even greater, more beautiful, graphics/interactive landscape.