Geek4ever

Rockstar follow up GTA4 with a game set in the wild West. Strange as it sounds, Red Dead Redemption is more than just 'GTA with horses'. Though when I first heard that a wild west game might actually be any good I was skeptical. Very skeptical!

First things first, the graphics are gorgeous. This is one great looking game on the Xbox 360 and this 'eye candy' goes a long way to making the game as good as it is. You can see a mountain far off in the distance and actually ride all the way up to it. Horses will run around, birds will fly in the sky, rabbits run and hide and deer get attacked by wolves and coyotes. It really makes you feel as if you are in a living breathing environment. Apart from the odd 'pop in' effect here and there (you have to see it to understand) everything looks and sounds just how you expect it to. Please note: I haven't actually been to the 'Wild West' so can't really compare. :-)

The open world really plays well here. After you get the hang of riding your horse around you soon can't wait to start exploring and seeing just what is over that next hill.

The story is unlike the world. It is quite a specific single player experience and it is the complete opposite of 'open'. Sure you can sometimes choose which mission to do, though this is just to trick you into feeling like you have a say in the story. You can't really make your own decisions in the story and deciding not to do something or to shoot someone instead of doing what they ask, just isn't possible and sometimes frustrating. While this is the same as every other single player experience, that it happens in a game with such an open world feels like a missed opportunity.

On a side note, the frustrating lack of checkpoints from GTA4 is now gone. Checkpoints happen at logical intervals and this makes missions a lot more fun (and completeable). :-)

The story was the weakest part of the game. Starts strong, goes weak and finishes around the middle. They even manage to hide the ending of the main story as a 'side mission'. Why they did this I have no idea. The credits even start rolling once you finish this 'side mission', so I feel Rockstar have a long way to go in their story telling style. The main character was strong and the voice acting was pretty good, so at least the polish on the story was there.

Side missions are where the game shines. I enjoyed them a lot more then the core storyline and there are a lot of them to keep you occupied, though you do have to work on the core storyline to open up all the areas. Sometimes you will be riding along and receive a call for assistance and they might just need your help and they might just try to rob you ;-). As you explore the world you soon discover that there are rewards for shooting types of animals and collecting various plants. This keeps you with your eyes out for the next ones on your list as you go through the main storyline.

Overall: A great game. If you loved GTA4 then you will probably love this game. I hated GTA4 and thought this game was great so your mileage may vary. For me the world was a wonderful thing to explore and take part in, though as with GTA4 I really didn't think the main story was that great. This time around with all the side missions there was a lot to do apart from the main mission. Timewise I spent over 27 human hours playing (or so the game tells me) and most of those hours was pure fun. :-)