Miracle's Whip - RED DEAD REDEMPTION

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
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Hey guys, I've been taking on board all the comments and criticisms and though this was by far the toughest review I've done, I feel it is my best so far. As always, let me know what you all think and any criticisms are welcome! Enjoy :)

Miracle's Whip - Red Dead Redemption

[img height= 250 width=170]http://media.rockstarwatch.net/news/5407316298.gif[/img]​

Your horse grunts and whinnies as you race along a dusty cliff side. Your silhouette is heroic and oozes with cowboy gravitas as the glistening rays of a blazing orange sunset dance through the nag's galloping legs. The vast, cactus ridden desert plains stretch out beneath you, shimmering in the heat. You grind to a halt to admire the stunning panorama but just as you start to relax you hear the familiar sound of gunshots and ricocheting bullets. Somewhere below you see a group of bandits attacking a speeding wagon, kicking up clouds of dust and causing an unholy racket. It's time to dish out some justice...

Every time a new Rockstar title arrives, game critics devolve into a slavering, gushing state of primal euphoria while the tabloid media delights in finding a new scapegoat for all the bored, neglectful parents who fill their inboxes with so many theories on what, apart from their bad parenting, is ruining their children. True to form, the game has already caused a minor controversy over its stereotypical drunken paddy: Irish. As a full blooded Irishman from the Emerald Isle I can assure you, the only offensive thing about the character is his dreadful accent. It does, however, highlight the fact that as lofty as Rockstar's narrative aspirations are, they're still not above using tired old stereotypes for a cheap laugh. In RDR you will meet every Western cliche you can think of, from the feisty Mexican damsel in distress to the Noble, retired old gunslinger who was once the 'fastest shot in the West'. In a way it works, because the game is clearly a tribute to the Westerns of old. There's a nostalgic sense of familiarity to the characters, story and atmosphere that will delight dads and even grandads who decide to saddle up and ride into Rockstar's lovingly created world.

[img height= 250 width=400]http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/152131_S/First-Look-Red-Dead-Redemption.jpg[/img]
John was beginning to regret passing comment on the bandits' dumb AI routines

And what a world they have created. No game hub has ever felt so alive and full of things to see and do. Towns are filled with ordinary folk who have been programmed with thousands of animations, lines of dialogue and random encounter triggers. It makes your first few hours in the game in incredibly immersive experience, allowing you to really lose yourself in the personality and culture of the old West simply by existing and observing. You'll see saloon doors burst open into street brawls, crazy scumbags attacking hookers, bandits riding through town causing a ruckus and even the odd wagon crash, which always brings a laugh. There are tonnes of side-quests to find everywhere, from bounty hunter missions, to breaking in new horses to ride, to helping strangers pick flowers for a loved one. My personal favorites were the Treasure Hunter missions, which had you searching for buried gold using cryptic maps.

The mind blowingly huge map is dotted with wildlife to hunt, settlements to help or hinder and random encounters to find. While seeming at first to burst at the brim with new activities, repetition does eventually set in and as the game draws on you will start to see the same encounters over and over. While fun, there are only so many times you're going to want to chase down a runaway wagon and return it to its distraught owner, or slowly wander around the towns at night following a police dog to beat up some criminals. There is a fame meter and an honour system that are both affected by mini quests and how you perform them, but they are fundamentally flawed. The honour system is a good theory and nets you some small bonuses, but is rendered ultimately void and pointless by the completely linear narrative and certain plot events. I can't talk about it because I'll be spoiling the story, but there are a few 'Well what was the point of all that??' moments in the campaign that will have you wondering why you bothered doing things a certain way when the outcome ends up the same either way.


'You gettin mah good side, Clyde? Always take me facin away from the sunset, looks all heroic like'

While at odds with the game mechanics, the story in RDR is fantastic. The central theme of the narrative is a simple one: The question of whether you can ever escape from your past. This is explored not only through John, but through many of the friends and foes he meets along his path. This is certainly the developers' finest tale to date, and makes Niko Bellic's story seem dull, grim and angsty in comparison. Protagonist John Marston is Rockstar's most like-able, sympathetic character to date. He's a man with a shady past who has always tried to be noble but ends up walking the fine line between hero and villain due to his animal nature or the unfortunate events in his life. The story starts off with John being blackmailed into hunting down his old gang for the Government in order to redeem himself for his old way of life and save his family from being punished for his mistakes.

Along the way you will meet all kinds of memorable, wonderfully written characters. There's the Gollum- like necrophiliac psychopath Seth, the aforementioned drunken rogue Irish, the good-natured farm-girl Bonnie (who quickly became my favorite Rockstar character of all time), the passionate but chauvinistic Mexican freedom fighter Reyes and a hysterically funny chap in rubber gloves who is deeply in love with his horse. All the characters are deep and complex and live in a world filled with shades of grey. There aren't many real 'evil' characters in this story (maybe just one), it is all about people who think they're doing the right thing but often do it in the wrong way. Everyone you meet has a fascinating story to tell. There are some pacing issues near the end, introducing some utterly dull moments after some climactic ones, but I cannot discuss those as it would mean giving away huge spoilers.

While the story is told almost flawlessly, the gameplay is a mixed bag. 90% of missions basically involve taking cover and shooting anything that moves with your incredibly generous sticky aim and time-slowing Dead Eye ability. As always, I found myself frustrated with Rockstar due to certain mechanics and design decisions. There are no huge, gaping flaws, just many many minor niggles that over time spent with the game can begin to really frustrate. Let's take the tutorials, for example. Rockstar's tutorial messages are little black text boxes that appear in the top-left corner for a small time period. This is fine during normal gameplay or breaks but they often arrive when your mind is elsewhere. The duels are a perfect example. How am I supposed to concentrate on reading that text box when my opponent is busy lining up his shot on me? As I read it I die, and after a long trek back to the duel I begin again only to find that the tutorial has now gone forever and I will have to guess my way through the mechanics. As there is no help section in your journal (disgraceful for a game of this breadth) I went through the entire adventure not knowing how to do the duels, winning through attrition and luck.

Another big disappointment I had was that any missions that seemed unique and interesting ended too quickly, like a frantic mine-cart escape or a daring train robbery. All too often the missions just fell back on the same 'ride for a while while shooting people then stop, take cover and shoot more people' structure. You only get 3 save slots, which was also a bizarre decision.


'Goddang it Maw, for the last time it ain't a doll, it's a mint condition Josey Wales action figure and would've been worth a purrty dollar had ya not gone takin' it out the box!'

Then there are the controls. Now maybe I've been spoiled from too much time flinging Ezio Auditore around the rooftops of Venice, but John feels clunky and awkward to control on foot. The shooting is certainly tighter and more refined than in past games, but is still not up to the high standards set by Gears of War and the like. Enemy AI is thicker than buffalo stew, allowing you to pop and shoot them without much effort. The only times it becomes challenging is when it is downright unfair, like sections where you are suddenly surrounded on all sides by bandits on horses while all you have for cover is your hat. On rails sections are, in true Rockstar tradition, bloody horrible. I really began to miss my sticky aim during one mission as my moving train-mounted gatling gun reticule flew erratically all over the place like an angry hornet as I tried to pick off bandits on both sides before they could damage the carriage too much. That's right... there are on-rails escort missions. While epic in scope and spectacle they suck like a starving mosquito in their play mechanics. While not as bad as the notorious GTA difficulty spikes, they can be very frustrating.

Riding your horse is satisfying and intuitive, which is is a good thing as you'll be spending 50% of your game on horseback. Combat is awkward from the saddle though, as the horse will stop moving forward when you aim behind you, allowing pursuing baddies to catch up and make your life difficult. This is especially annoying in the bounty hunter missions, where waves of bandits will chase you down trying to reclaim their kidnapped leaders. Horse AI can be a bit odd and erratic at times, which can be very funny but also cause you to get screwed in a tight spot. Other little details can grate. For example, every time you use your lasso, you will default back to your pistol instead of the gun you were previously using, which caused me a couple of clunky moments in combat. The cover mechanic is just that little bit too sticky, and John will often plant himself on the wrong side of a rock when you were sure you aimed him at the side that wasn't being assaulted by a hail of bullets. Checkpoints can be a little sparse too, which is a real tradition of Rockstar's. I honestly don't enjoy travelling all the way to a destination on horseback twice because I got killed by the first enemy there. The camera can screw you over during indoor missions. During one hostage situation, I was given a few seconds to save a poor young lady as I walked through a doorway. The camera flew around looking at the wall behind me, then awkwardly jerked around beside me not knowing where to plant itself and by the time it settled on the hostage she had a bullet in her brain. This happened twice.


'Somebody fire that dang fancy Camera-operatin' man before I go all Christian Bale on his stinkin yella keester'


There are lots of guns, items and gadgets to help you along the way, although personally once I unlocked the beastly bolt-action rifle I never needed anything else. The economy is well balanced, I always had just about enough cash to restock my ammo and buy a fancy new gun or horse. It certainly felt more polished than GTA4, where by the mid-game you had dollars shooting out every orifice with nothing to spend them on but more bullets.

Technically, the game ranges from an utter marvel to a bit of a mess. The stunning vistas of the first desert area you encounter will blow you away the first time you ride out, but once you get to Thieves Landing and witness the rain effects slow the frame-rate into a stuttering, broken eyesore, it will become clear that they could have spent more time optimising the game. Bugs are to be expected in a sandbox this huge and complex and I certainly encountered my fair share, such as missing dialogue audio and an eerie graphical bug that left motionless clones of characters behind as they walked off. I also had one game breaker in a cattle herding mission, where one cow decided it was going to stop moving and no amount of coaxing or pushing could get the bumbling bovine to move, forcing a restart from another very distant checkpoint. Most of the bugs are pretty funny and don't break the immersion too much. It is a Rockstar game after all, which means wacky humour is part of the deal.

It looks and sounds gorgeous for the most part. The desert vistas are stunning, as is Mexico with its epic rock formations and white sand covered hills. Sunsets and sunrises are epic and had me standing still for minutes at a time panning around the amazing scenery. Character models look and move really well, with the Rage engine adding much hilarity to random moments. Knocking hookers down stairs and falling on top of them while steaming drunk is even more fun than it was in GTA4. The Great Plains, where you will spend a lot of the time late game, are butt ugly though. They are bland and full of copy-pasted jaggy shrubs, the like of which wouldn't have looked out of place in San Andreas. A minor niggle though, 99% of the game looks amazing.


John was enjoying his new found method in bunny hunting. 'Good thing the honour system don't mean shit.'

I have yet to try the multiplayer, perhaps I will do another review later.

Overall Opinion:

Every Rockstar game is full of little niggles, and this is no exception. Contrary to the orgasmic hyperbole of the general gaming media, Red Dead Redemption does have its flaws. But as you yell 'Giddy Up' and race down that cliff-side path in a whirlwind of dirt and adrenalin, drawing your six-shooter and racing towards the besieged carriage, the only thing missing being the William Tell Overture, you will only be breaking off one little spike from a massive, juice filled cactus. Certainly the best Western game ever made, and in this amateur reviewer's opinion, a personal best for Rockstar too.

Jesse James:

-Massive, immersive world
-Gorgeous to look at
-Best Rockstar characters and story to date
-Improved combat from GTA
-So much to see and do
-Bonnie is awesome
-Riding into the sunset
-You're a freaking cowboy


Hedly Lemarr:

-Clunky controls
-Why only 3 save slots??
-Many, many minor niggles
-Awkward tutorials
-Some pacing issues
-Irish's dreadful accent
-Very repetitive at times

Verdict:

Buy​
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
Other Miracle's Whip reviews:

Alan Wake
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.196056-Miracles-Whip-ALAN-WAKE

Ico (review wars joint winner)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.193788-Miracles-Whip-ICO-Review-Wars-joint-winning-review

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.189775-Miracles-Whip-Battlefield-Bad-Company-2

Bioshock 2
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.175856-Miracles-Whip-Bioshock-2#5002435

Batman: Arkham Asylum
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.180125-Miracles-Whip-Batman-Arkham-Asylum#5273691

Gamer
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.182897-Miracles-Whip-Gamer
 

Julianking93

New member
May 16, 2009
14,715
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Fantastisch review as always.

I've been going back and forth on whether or not to get this and your review actually just made up my mind

Damn you! *goes to Gamestop to buy*
 

TheZapper

New member
Jul 11, 2009
721
0
0
Great review.

Nice to finally be able to hear some genuine criticisms of the game.

Will definately be buying now, hopefully within a couple of hours.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
0
0
Shame the multiplayer is terrible...Awful, even.

No friendly fire off option, and people get EX for killing you. Turns random matchmaking free roam into Deathmatch.
 

dalek sec

Leader of the Cult of Skaro
Jul 20, 2008
10,237
0
0
*Claps* Alright then, you've sold me on getting this game. Awesome review and nice pictures as well.
 

Meggiepants

Not a pigeon roost
Jan 19, 2010
2,536
0
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Okay, since I know you didn't care for GTAIV, which I also didn't like, and this review is positive, I'm going to go out and get this today. I have been hesitant, because Rockstar seems to get so much cock suckage of late that I can't trust most reviews.

But I love westerns, and was really hoping this would be good. You've convinced me.

Great review! Well written and it flowed nicely. I can see it must have been hard for you. I know how you hate blocks of unbroken text. ;)

But this was excellently written. With each review you are getting more comfortable with this and it really shows. :)
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
meganmeave said:
Okay, since I know you didn't care for GTAIV, which I also didn't like, and this review is positive, I'm going to go out and get this today. I have been hesitant, because Rockstar seems to get so much cock suckage of late that I can't trust most reviews.

But I love westerns, and was really hoping this would be good. You've convinced me.

Great review! Well written and it flowed nicely. I can see it must have been hard for you. I know how you hate blocks of unbroken text. ;)

But this was excellently written. With each review you are getting more comfortable with this and it really shows. :)
Thanks Meg, I really did listen to everyone's commetns on the last few and have tried to take all the good advice on board.

I couldn't agree more about the level of 'cock-suckage', as you so wonderfully put it! Rockstar games seem to have a weird brainwashing effect on reviewers that prevents them mentioning any of the many flaws in thier games. (GTA4 was a technical mess, you already know my feelings on that game...)
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
dalek sec said:
*Claps* Alright then, you've sold me on getting this game. Awesome review and nice pictures as well.
TheZapper said:
Great review.

Nice to finally be able to hear some genuine criticisms of the game.

Will definately be buying now, hopefully within a couple of hours.
Julianking93 said:
Fantastisch review as always.

I've been going back and forth on whether or not to get this and your review actually just made up my mind

Damn you! *goes to Gamestop to buy*
Thanks guys!

I was hard on it in parts but it's definately worth getting.
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
Onyx Oblivion said:
Shame the multiplayer is terrible...Awful, even.

No friendly fire off option, and people get EX for killing you. Turns random matchmaking free roam into Deathmatch.
I've heard free roam is a disaster alright, surely they should have made it so that you can only do PVP if both players agree?
 

Meggiepants

Not a pigeon roost
Jan 19, 2010
2,536
0
0
MiracleOfSound said:
meganmeave said:
Okay, since I know you didn't care for GTAIV, which I also didn't like, and this review is positive, I'm going to go out and get this today. I have been hesitant, because Rockstar seems to get so much cock suckage of late that I can't trust most reviews.

But I love westerns, and was really hoping this would be good. You've convinced me.

Great review! Well written and it flowed nicely. I can see it must have been hard for you. I know how you hate blocks of unbroken text. ;)

But this was excellently written. With each review you are getting more comfortable with this and it really shows. :)
Thanks Meg, I really did listen to everyone's comments on the last few and have tried to take all the good advice on board.

I couldn't agree more about the level of 'cock-suckage', as you so wonderfully put it! Rockstar games seem to have a weird brainwashing effect on reviewers that prevents them mentioning any of the many flaws in thier games. (GTA4 was a technical mess, you already know my feelings on that game...)
I thought you'd enjoy that word usage. :D

I think Rockstar gets a pass from so many people because they are willing to push boundaries, when many game companies are not. They stand up for their rights to publish whatever they want, regardless of the old biddies who complain, and I do admire that.

But that being said, it does not excuse some of the crappy gameplay they get away with.

Also, did you get the donkey woman glitch? I want that glitch to happen to me. That or the gunslinging dog.
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
meganmeave said:
I thought you'd enjoy that word usage. :D

I think Rockstar gets a pass from so many people because they are willing to push boundaries, when many game companies are not. They stand up for their rights to publish whatever they want, regardless of the old biddies who complain, and I do admire that.

But that being said, it does not excuse some of the crappy gameplay they get away with.

Also, did you get the donkey woman glitch? I want that glitch to happen to me. That or the gunslinging dog.
Alas no, I never found the donkey woman (I'm also inclined to think it's an easter egg as opposed to a glitch or bug). I did however have a floating horse at one point, and a magically levitating rifle. The funniest bug I saw was a rider get stuck on a porch and seeing his stupid horse spaz out trying to turn around in a space that was too small for its turning circle.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
10,312
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meganmeave said:
Rockstar seems to get so much cock suckage of late that I can't trust most reviews.
I think Jack Thompson was to blame for that. You can't make someone look bad while being a jerk to them, doing so makes them into a sympathetic figure.
 

Mcupobob

New member
Jun 29, 2009
3,449
0
0
Can't wait to play this game, my friends is getting on his 17th and were going get jugs of moutian dew and rockstars, only to break away from the game every now and then for a bathroom break or a quick smoke just like the rural nerds we are.

OP: great review! Glad to know that the game will be living up to most of it standards.
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
17,776
0
0
scobie said:
This review was genuinely helpful to me. To be honest, on the surface RDR sounds like it was made for me. It's a sandbox game by Rockstar that has got rave reviews from every professional reviewer under the Sun. The problem is that it reminds me very strongly of another sandbox game by Rockstar that got rave reviews from every reviewer under the Sun. I bough a 360 for GTA IV and it turned out to be one of the most disappointing games of my life. It left a really bad taste in my mouth, and however many reviewers tell me my life isn't complete without it I can't help feeling that RDR will be another let-down. Which means that I was still on the fence about buying RDR despite how tempting it looks. It's good to hear from someone who is willing to go into depth about the game's flaws, which I had no doubt existed, and who disliked GTA IV.

Problem is, it sounds like it hasn't fixed all the problems GTA IV had, like the schizophrenic difficulty level that robbed the fundamentally-solid gameplay of most of the enjoyment it could have given me. So despite your "buy" recommendation, I have to say you have successfully convinced me that there are better things I could spend my money and time on. I won't be buying this.
The difficulty spikes are nowhere near as bad as GTA actually, perhaps I should have been more clear on that. There were only 2 or 3 story missions that frustrated me due to thier difficulty, and they were overcome by some trial and error. It is true though... every Rockstar game has a demented difficulty curve (well, except Bully).
 

Neonbob

The Noble Nuker
Dec 22, 2008
25,564
0
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That was a good read, Miracle!
It felt pretty substantial, and yet spoiler-free! Yay! Now I don't have to track you down and murder you in a horribly painful way! :p
Now, if you'll excuse me...
*goes back to pacing while waiting for money to get the game*