Red Dead Redemption – Xbox360 Review

Red Dead Redemption developed and published by Rockstar Games, the makers of the highly successful Grand Theft Auto series. This title was released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.

It’s great to see another game take a stab at making the wild west look good. We’ve seen attempts from Gun and Call of Juarez but will this take on Cowboys and Indians be gold plated six shooter of a game? Or a flaming stage coach of disappointment? DRAW!

Story

Red Dead Redemption is set in 1911 just as the whole American Frontier ends and a new wave of civilisation starts and technology is being introduced. You play ex-outlaw John Marston who has been recruited by the United States Federal Marshall’s to track down members of his old gang, namely Bill Williamson. John’s family are in the balance so he sets of from Blackwater to find Bill and others from the gang.

John finally locates Bill Williamson at a place called Fort Mercer and tries to reason with his old friend but is quickly gunned down and left to die. Thankfully a local couple trots by and rescues him from death. After John recovers he is met by the Macfarlane family and he gives his gratitude and accepts to work at their ranch to pay off those annoying doctors bills.

John learns his only way to get inside the Fort is to adopt the ‘Trojan Horse’ approach and John must travel across the whole of New Austin and areas of Mexico to gain enter and capture or kill Bill, to locate the rest of wanted men he meets a few locals individuals along the way who can help but require your help in return.

Gameplay

As you can expect from a western game you’re armed with a pistol and own a horse, I can’t imagine any sort of person back in those days not owning at least one of the above mentioned assets. Weapons are a plentiful in this game, ranging from Pistols, Rifles, and Shotguns to Dynamite, Throwing Knives and even a Lasso. All of the weapons are great in their own way but what makes things even better is with its own type of ‘Bullet Time’ called Dead Eye mode, this slows down the action and lets you mark objects of interest with death so John can quickly unload showing off his amazing marksman skills, Just like the pros do it in the movies.

The world is quite expansive and travelling across the west can be achieved by using your trusty steed, which you can buy or even break in, to riding the stagecoach for a small fee to your desired location. Whilst travelling there are opportunities to be a goodie law-abiding two shoes in the form of helping damsels in distress or saving the odd peasant from being eaten by the native wildlife which breaks up gameplay nicely. We especially like capturing a known outlaw, hogtieing him and dragging him about whilst riding our horse, always a smile provider.

The open world Red Dead Redemption provides is full of things to do, all the missions require you to do something different and when not gunning down outlaws and rescuing horses you can also relax and take part in Poker, Blackjack and other wild mini-games. Gameplay plays just like Grand Theft Auto does, look at the map, locate Uncle Jessie on the map and travel and complete mission to unravel the story. Missions do get tricky as you progress but the variety in the main missions are good enough to keep you playing, and if you want to stray from the main storyline for a while you can always complete the Stranger missions, this sees you doing favours and jobs for local people, some of these are chain missions and others are little plot fillers which are always handy.

To raise money in the game you can either complete Wanted missions or become the hunter and skin animals for their furs and sell to a store. This keeps you in the financial green and also lets you upgrade your skills as you progress with the challenges section of the game. Become a Hunter, Sharpshooter, Survivalist or even a Treasure Hunter by completing the requirements for each level, this opens up more things to buy from the store and even touts an Achievement/Trophy.

Audio & Visual

By now I hope many of you out there own a High Definition television and 5.1 surround sound because this game uses both technologies very well. The entire landscape is full of life, bushes, animals and passersby for as far as the eye can see. A realistic and varied weather system adds to the feel of the game and the views from a cliff looking over a large area are utter eye candy, makes you wish there was a Kodak Moment achievement for just sight-seeing. Everything is gloriously detailed, the clothing, buildings and weaponry fit in and nothing stands out of place (at one point in the game the developers even added Horse Balls for a NPC to grab and Jiggle).

The sound that this game provides is genius as expected from Rockstar, the ambience in the towns and out in the wilderness makes you feel like you’re in the game. Bullets whizzing past your ears and predators creeping up on you is always a good thing to experience, though not in real life of course. It’s as if the developer’s teleported back in time and walked around the final days of the Wild West with some recording equipment. The music is engrossing also, constantly reminding you you’re in a western, whether you hear the stereotypical twang in the Americas or the Mexican music in the south.

Voice acting is out of this world, top Hollywood quality making the characters extremely believable and most the time very unlikable, at one point we are introduced to characters Welshy and Frenchy (two real low lives and former friends of drunken arms dealer Irish) which was quite amusing from a Welshman like me as the accent was totally spot on.

Multiplayer

Playing Red Dead Redemption online is a real blast. You start in either a private or public Free Roam and while in this mode there is an enormous amount of stuff to do. Fancy running around shooting everything you see, NPC’s and fellow players alike? Go for it. Want to go hunting with some buddies and take down wolves, bears and cougars? Be my (or Rockstar’s) guest. You can also do a lot of challenges similar to those in the single player, such as collecting the local plant life and attempting to shoot hats off of people’s heads. Add to that the ability to become an outlaw and have every other player on the map plus the local army attempting to gun you down and the free roam itself when played with friends is massive amounts of fun.

Kills and challenges earn you xp which unlocks better weaponry and mounts for use in free roam, giving you quite the advantage over less experienced players, though if they kill you they can pick up your arsenal and turn it against you. They won’t keep these newly acquired toys forever, but they will keep them for the duration of their free roam.

As you would expect from a multiplayer experience there are also a host of matches to be played, from Gang Shootouts (team death match), free for all’s, treasure hunting (capture the flag) and many more. These are very enjoyable, with everyone starting with the same weapons and other goodies dotted around the map to help boost your fire power. The maps vary in size and type, with some being open, long ranged affairs and others designed for close combat mayhem. These modes though do not quite have the length of life the free roam does and tend to be just a distraction from time to time. The highlight of these games though is the shootout at the beginning of every round. Each team lines up facing each other and then after a countdown it’s draw your weapon and blast away at the opposition. The winning team of this shootout then spawns before their enemies, allowing them to take better positions or maybe grab a special weapon or dead eye upgrade. It sets the scene well for the carnage that is to come and can produce some remarkable feats of marksmanship.

Recently released for free (and with more in the pipeline) is the co-op mission packs, which for me are the prize jewel in the multiplayer crown. You select a weapon set up from a choice of four and then you and three amigos embark on full blown missions, rescuing kidnapped girls and stealing guns from the US military. These are great fun, you are able to heal downed allies and mow down foes with wagon mounted heavy machine guns and cannons, drive cattle through hostile territory, embark on danger filled chases and a host of other exciting quests. These missions seem to play out slightly different every time giving them a real replay value especially if you change kits regularly.