Wow! That‘s the only word I can say after spending about 20 hours with Red Dead Redemption. What Rockstar achieved with this game is simply amazing. Except for that rather less impressive beginning, the game does the properly. Story, characters, variety, controls, graphics and especially the interactivity are at the highest stage. I even can‘t remember a noteworthy mistake, that again and again appears in the whole game.
Within the theme and genre Rockstar created a masterpiece full of creativity and soul for the stage of the videogaming world. A tribute to our favorite hobby, a model to the whole business competition and a true declaration of love to the wild west. An adventure full of unique moments, tragic turnarounds and a world, that really lives and breathes.
The story begins leisurely, like I said in the first paragraph. Without introducing the main character you are provided some sceneries, confusing conversations and a few of the characters. The team from San Diego doesn‘t go like a bull at a gate and also doesn‘t start the game with a storm of bullets. Slowly, nearly tenderly you are introduce to the story and all particular elements of Red Dead Redemption. The game takes it‘s time and will surprise you even after 10 or 15 hours of playtime.
The first area around the small town Armadillo already has a humongous size. You canter through many square kilometers of steppe, narrow canyons, foggy marshes and a dozen of small settlements. Marvel at gorgeous sunrises above Rio Lobo, get burned by the mexican sun and ride across the wide prairie of in the pouring rain. A world that is staged almost perfectly by the Rage-engine. A real increase in quality in comparison to Grand Theft Auto IV.
Dozens of new effects like cloud shadows, volumetrically light and the strikingly increased details of the characters cater for the yet best open-world-experience. Actually Red Dead Redemption nearly ranges on the same level as Uncharted 2 at some situations and all that with completely streamed levels, extremely wide visual range and a greatly sophisticated physics-system, that brings especially the fights on a higher level. Only if you look closely you will find some suboptimal textures.
However before our main character John Marston finally dashes into that endless, very pretty vast, he gets to know the first impressive character. Bonnie McFarlane. Savior, first contact and a supreme example for the character design in Red Dead Redemption. A woman, that conducts an enormous farm by her own, rides like a greyhound and handles a gun as good as a branding iron.
Instead of searching your former gang members, that you are forced to kill by the governement, you bag some rabbits, drive cows to the field and protect the farm against rowdies. But John doesn‘t take it there very long. His family was taken in custody and kept violently by the predecessors of the FBI - Bureau of Investigations. Only if he gets through with his mission - killing his former gang members - he can enfold his wife and son back in his arms.
In what follows now, you are presented extremly exciting and varied missions. You mug trains, fight with soldiers against rebels or extinguish entire gangs. In doing so the game allways stays down-to-earth and doesn‘t space out in the direction of Grand Theft Auto. Red Dead Redemption is a textbook example of a western, that by its narrative structure reminds of modern classics likeUnforgiven or Open Range. An epic, about 20 hours lasting story, that this time isn‘t related to revenge, but to forgiveness of your own sins and that holds many interesting twists.
Among Bonnie John encounter other real cranky persons.There is an endless coming and going of blinded rebels, drug-addicted scientists, charlatans and crazy treasure hunters. Those are out of touch with reality, so that they will keep you in line, but not too loopy to pull you out of the storyline. A partly terrifying image of the society of a wild time. Because the early 20th century was a cold and tough world. The tecnological progress is unstoppable, but the life is still harsh. The vigilantes often look away when citizens are muged on the street, women screaming for help or a stores are robbed. ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is the name of the game. So John takes the law in his hands and puts his stamp on the world of Red Dead Redemption. Predominantly this happens by gun violence. For that the fighting system from Grand Theft Auto 4 was strongly overworked. At the touch of a button John aims at an enemy and the game pans into the shoulder perspective. The auto-aim system and also the difficulty level are divided into 3 grades. Casual mode will give you the full auto-aim system plus it lets you regenerate faster, normal mode offers you the snap-to-target feature known from games like Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2, in expert mode you have to aim by yourself.
As in GTA IV there is also a cover system in Red Dead Redemption, that unfortunately hasn’t a sound grasp of contemporary developments. It just takes too long to move from one cover to another.
In contrast to that stand the realistic animations, that are staged perfectly by the Euphoria engine. If a bullet hits one of your enemies, he will realistically fall down from his horse, from a roof or he is plunged into deep.To get rid of the hordes of enemies, simply hit the right button to shift into Dead-Eye-mode. This zapped up slow motion allows you to aim several enemies and/or at least certain body parts, that after the triggering will go down by a blaze of gunfire. Thereby the AI does a good job, tries to bypass you and covers fairly adroit. Don’t expect a tactic-miracle, but for an open world title it’s not that bad.
Since the game is situated in 1910, apart from classical revolvers and shotguns there are also semiautomatic pistols and shotguns. Those (nearly) 20 guns differ in strength, precision, capacity and rate of fire. Every now and then you are allowed to use a gatling gun and defeat dozens of enemies.
Back to John and his mission: driven by fame and honor he treks through the countryside and is permanently confronted by short sidemissions, desperate people and the agressive fauna. You have to decide, whether you will act in a good or bad way - if you want to side with the law or get taken on as a gangster.
Senseless killings on the street will not only increase your wanted-level and bounty on your head, but also decrease your honor level. Anyone who acts honorable, will get more favorable prices at several stores and also will not be betrayed so fast by eyewitnesses. Really bad guys by contrast will receive indezent proposals i form of robbery-missions. With increased fame you automatically enhance your prominence and with it you get more and Moore access to other weapons, items and furthermore missions. At once you are a target to many gunslingers and again and again you have to defend yourself against those.
The story missions themselves rarely offer moral decisions. Rockstar doesn’t want to ruin the beautiful staging of the story by intricate actions. Even if there is a bounty on your head, you will have the chance to get new jobs from the local sheriff. That’s not logical, but in terms of the developers unalienable.
Apart from those great mini-stories Red Dead Redemption gives you more freedom of action than the GTA series does. Especially the interactivity and the effects on the game’s world are definitely more important.
The structure of the missions is wide opened, so that it is possible to accept side mission while your on a story mission. Constantly you are bombarded by those capabilities. No matter if you pass your time with hunting, collect herbs, accept challenges, extinguish gangs or protect poor salesmen, it’s not getting boring even in the deepest desert.
Extremely impressive: the fully operative ecosystem, wolves hunt roe, hawks dart at rabbits and cougars don’t back off from mooses. Corresponding to this there is the challenge ‘Master Hunter’. For every achievable level you have to hunt differentanimals. Sometimes you only have to shoot them, another time you are able to only use your knife. Every stage will give you fame, the skins and bones are salable. Everyone who wants to make more money will use this trading system.
Furthermore you can use your time to search for hidden treasures, collect herbs and try out the sharpshooter challenges. Everything that you hunt, collect or buy will be deposited in an inventory. You can plunder enemies, find new weapons in boxes or get new outfits that will bring some advantages: wearing a smart outfit makes it possible to cheat at cards or wearing a gangster outfit makes it easier to creep into a gang.
Even small items partly have considerable effects. For example with a scarf in your face your wanted-level will increase slower, but you get neither fame nor honor. Miscellaneous tinctures revive your horse, ease your jobs or help you when your fighting. Your energy regenerates after a little while, but using some extra energy while your in a shootout does make sense.
The best feature in my eyes are the horses. Those charming, perfectly animated beings are more than just simple means of transportation. As constant companions you spend many hours on their back, obtain their confidence and improve their stamina. Since you summon your horse with a whistle you only walk short routes. Aside from that there are many different kinds of horses. One horse breed is faster, another one is more persistent and a third one takes more hits. A few breeds are available for purchase, others you have to catch and break in in a Mini-game.
Besides the horses there are also different kinds of carriages with different handling. While you use one-horse carriage to participate in races, carriage and four will be used for transporting goods and stretch you to the limit in wild chases. Like in GTA you can pay a mail coach or use trains to get from one place to another too.
Red Dead Redemption pure and simple is a further development of GTA. Especially the epic story and the compelling mission structure, but also other elements like the combat system or the weird characters intensely remind of Rockstars Liberty City – epos. But still this modern western in all is more improved. The interactivity with the surroundings, the hunt, the collecting of herbs, the hidden treasure hunt or the fancy staged side missions give this game a more vivid touch. The fights seem to be more brutal, the graphics are at least a half generation better than in GTA: IV and the horse as a vehicle is definitely the better choice.
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Matthew Medina