Red Dead Redemption Review

So I've become more picky with my new game choices recently. I bought this because 1. it was from Rockstar who's claim to fame is the GTA series, which I never did finished cause I got bored with the character. 2. it looked unique enough to hold my interest. I'll leave it at that as we dive into Red Dead Redemption.

You play as John Marston, it's 1901 as the Wild West is slowly succumbing to "civilization", as a man on a mission for the U.S. government you must travel throughout New Austin and Mexico to take out the people from your old gang so you can be free to live your life.

The Good:

Story: If there's no interesting story or characters I find worth investing my time in there's a good chance I won't even finish the game. Not so here, although the story was very simple, John and the rest of the cast are so memorable you're just hoping to get to interact with them again and again, whether you love'em or hate'em. The story can be seen as a tragedy overall, but I'll keep my lid on that.

Voice acting: Thanks to the top notice vocals supplied by the actors, It's what makes it engaging and worth watching it's long in game cut scenes and dialogue sequences even if some of those while riding with a posse feel a little forced.

Action: No doubt we've come to expect shoot'em up actiony titles from Rockstar and Red Dead Redemption is no different. You could say that Red Dead and GTA are pretty similar in concept and design, but there are tweaks here and there that separate them from one another, and having a leading character that is likable was a very good move. The Dead Eye, essentially bullet time, helps to counter some of the real times targeting issues and is executed well. With the variety of missions and weapons at your disposal it makes it great fun.

On The Fence:

Control Scheme: It took a little while to get used to the firing and weapon switching mechanics before I could switch into them with relative ease. It felt like a awkward MGS set up with several buttons reversed. Overall it handles very well right down to the Dead Eye which give how fast paced the action can get, while trying to have a gun fight on a horse, you'll come to rely on. My only complaint is that the duel system is a little jaded. Once you're Dead Eye is fully upgraded, I started losing all my duels, so it got the point I avoided all duels that I could.

Side Missions: I got annoyed pretty quickly gathering herbs and running all over the place looking for this little thing or that, so for the most part I skipped those. I suppose if you're looking to unlock all the outfits and such then this was a plus, but I found what I did unlock weren't overly special enough for me to care about anyway.

Difficulty and Realism: Don't expect to take a massive amount of hits. There's no body armor and you can dye easily from being shot or attacked by animals, which happened to me a number of times. This is good for a realistic western setting, but it's a learning curve for those used to body armor. And sometimes I felt cheated by the AI's accuracy.

Mutli-player: It wasn't the biggest sell or me, but when I do go on I hardly find anyone on there. It plays better than other similar set ups I've been involved with, but without having people you know to play with, or people to play with in general it makes it a bit boring.

The Bad:

Graphic Issues: Now don't get me wrong, the game looks amazing, but right from the start there were issues with objects intersection other objects. Animations weren't working sometimes, NPCs would sit in the spot of narrative character while a cut scene was happening. the occasional invisible soldier carrying dynamite, the scenery and NPCs sometimes took a moment to load, so I was talking to a MGS 1 character for a few seconds before the full body loaded - sadly I could list a few other issues that continuously cropped up. In fact I was so disturbed by the number of errors going on that the only things that saved the game for me was the characters/actor performances and the quality of the action. Thankfully there were no game ending glitches that I came across so I was able to finish.

The Verdict: If you are a fan of open world games, then you should check this out. I beat in in fives days, which is not common for me when I get into a game, bout 24 hrs game time it took, but I'm glad to have enjoyed it as much as I did. If you can look past the graphical issues, and learn the control scheme, then I think you will find an enjoyable game.