Product Features

Genre: Action and Shooter
Publisher: Take 2 Interactive
Release Date: May 21, 2010
Available Platforms: PlayStation 3

Red Dead Redemption

Summary
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Red Dead Redemption is an open-world, third-person, action-adventure game set at the tail end of the American West era. Action takes place in the first few years of the twentieth century and revolves around the choices that the protagonist, former outlaw John Marston, is forced to make due to his blemished past. The game features a morality system assigning honor and fame points generated through the player's choices. It also features Wild West themed mini-games, new targeting and cover systems, extensive horse riding abilities, a wealth of period specific weapons and more than 40 huntable animals. Story Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread...

Dave Wallace February 23, 2012 PS3

****

Did you ever play Cowboys & Indians as a kid? Have you ever watched wild-West movies in awe as Clint Eastwood or John Wayne coolly despatched legions of bad guys? Was Back To The Future III your favourite film of the trilogy? If you've answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then Red Dead Redemption may be the game for you.

(Although if you answered 'yes' to the Back To The Future question, you really need to rewatch that first film.)

Red Dead Redemption sees Rockstar games do for gun-slinging, cattle-herding and posse-building what the company's 'Grand Theft Auto' franchise did for modern-day sex, drugs and violence. A sequel to the earlier 'Red Dead Revolver' (on PS2 and Xbox), the game also shares a certain amount of DNA with Neversoft's recent 'Gun' in terms of its unflinching portrayal of wild-West practices and its uncompromising use of violence.

Despite being a sequel, the game's storyline is completely accessible, focusing on the adventures of former outlaw John Marston as he sets out to hunt down his former gang members. Along the way, he encounters all sorts of complications and complex characters that set him on a dangerous and dramatic path with a fair share of unexpected twists and turns.

However, whilst the central plot is perfectly serviceable (I won't go into any further details for fear of spoiling the fun), it's the sprawling, free-roaming, open-world 'sandbox' elements of the game that are its real draw.

Like the GTA franchise, the real fun of Red Dead Redemption comes from deciding to simply ride out into the countryside and do as you please, whether that means intervening to stop lynchings and helping those in need, or (as is more likely) taking up some far more malevolent and amoral pursuits instead. Don't worry, the game won't judge you for it - although interestingly, it does make use of an 'honour' system that awards you points for your positive actions and deducts them for your crimes and misdemeanours.

The variety of activities you can get up to is wide-ranging - but frankly this is a game that looks so good that you'll probably be content to simply wander around the countryside for a few hours. Every aspect of the game is just so attractively-rendered that even traipsing over rocky terrain or scrubland is a delight, just to see the amount of detail that's been packed into each blade of grass or each hair on the furry hide of the countryside critters you encounter (and, inevitably, are encouraged to kill, skin and eat). And by the time the awe-inspiring sunsets roll around, you might well have forgotten about the game's main plot altogether, content to instead bask in the quiet beauty of its design.

Aside from these obvious aesthetic attractions, it seems that Rockstar have also learned some technical and functional lessons from GTA that they've applied to this game. For example, saving your game in Red Read Redemption isn't limited to a number of set locations that must be reached in order to record your progress. Here, Marston can simply set up camp wherever he chooses and save your game. There's also a neat system that allows you to 'jump' between major towns and settlements without having to actually experience the long and laborious journey between them, which is definitely something that earlier GTA games could have done with. And finally, there's a certain maturity here that's lacking in the GTA franchise, with fewer puerile jokes and contrived missions, and more of an attempt to craft a genuinely adult, engaging and dramatic storyline.

Aside from these minor innovations, however, most of the game's conventions - the basic controls, the third-person combat, the "wanted" system, even the ratio of cutscenes-to-playing - will be familiar to those who have played GTA, which pretty much honed most of them to perfection.

I've only hinted at the depths that Red Dead Redemption has to offer, but that's intentional, as it's far more enjoyable to discover the pleasures of games like this than it is to be told about them in advance. Boasting a well-developed online multiplayer mode as well as a zombie-themed "Undead Nightmare" expansion pack, this is a game that has a huge amount to offer - but it's so beautiful and enjoyable in its own right that it will probably be many weeks before you can tear yourself away from those awesome sunsets to get around to any of that.
Darren Hawes February 07, 2011 PS3

****

An extremely well put together game. The combat engine is high tuned to allow for maximum action and, although not the most skillfull of games, this will allows for far over 20 hours of good gameplay. The missions try their hardest not to be too repetitive and in a way succeed. A very good buy at £40 let alone anything less.
Paul July 28, 2010 PS3

****

Fantastic game!! So much more than just GTA with cowboys!