I hated Grand Theft Auto 4. I hated it because while the story and writing kicked major ass (as usual for Rockstar) the controls and physics were so ham-handedly awful I had to trade it in to buy Condemned 2 back. Shooting felt very awkward and driving...wow, that was a horrifying thing to experience. I had no idea that whenever I got into a car, six Gabe Newells would materialize inside it. I gathered so much momentum that it was nearly impossible to turn very easily, even if I engaged the handbrake.
I realize now though, that GTA4 was just an elaborate BETA for Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar's homage to badasses (interchangeable word for Clint Eastwood), Spaghetti Westerns, and everything that has ever been awesome.
In Red Dead Redemption, you play as John Marston, a former outlaw who is tasked with hunting down his old gang. He settled down to start a farm and raise a family with his wife, Abigail, but the government decided that he's not done yet. They kidnap his family and force him to pick up his six-shooter and set off on the dusty trail once more.
Pictured above: John "Will Badass For Free" Marston.
The game is set in the early 1900's, when technology just starts to begin to engulf the West. The town of Blackwater in particular is one of these towns and is amazingly done. Within the town itself is a slight transition that, as you get further East, the dirt roads and wooden plank sidewalks become cobblestones and more cobblestones and, well, nicer wooden planks. It really gives a great feeling that, when you look back at the rest of the world, you have a crushing realization that it's all going away.
Speaking of the rest of the world, the draw distance of this game is amazing. It makes Oblivion and Fallout 3 look like a tennis game played on a Virtual Boy. Stand on one of the plateaus across the river into Mexican territory and you can see damn near everything all in crisp detail.
Pictured Above: A reason to buy a 1080p TV.
The gameplay in the game is a cover-based shooter and is pretty much copy and pasted from GTA4 and it's also why I believe GTA4 was a beta for RDR- everything feels right. Well, except for shooting while on horseback, that doesn't work extremely well since the X (A for 360 users) button is used for movement while the right thumbstick is for aiming. Thankfully, the snap-aim system from GTA4 makes a triumphant comeback as well. While it does make shooting easier it also drives home the point why John Marston is forced into this final mission. Yes it's because he knows the men that he's tracking, but it's also because he is THE best gunslinger in the West.
What also helps is the Dead Aim system. In the beginning of the game, it's a generic Bullet Time sort of thing that only works for one shot so it's great for lining up a headshot. However, as you progress, you gain the ability to paint targets by moving the reticle over them and watch as Marston lands a bullet in every single spot. The third advancement of the system comes about halfway through the game when you meet the man that I'm VERY certain is The Stranger from The Big Lebowski (when you play cards with him, his name even is The Stranger) who teaches you to use your Dead Aim with pinpoint accuracy. You press the R1 button (right bumper for 360) and pick however many spots you're able to, pull the trigger and watch the lead fly. At first, it feels much slower than the second stage, but then you start using it to shoot people in the legs to disable and hogtie them, or shoot people that you wouldn't normally be able to, such as if they're fleeing and they're just specks in the distance. If you can get the reticle on it, you can kill it.
Hogtying? I hear you say. But Tazzlefrass, that would involve a lasso of some kind. Why yes it would because you get one in this game. All of those Western movie cliches you are now able to enact. Man flagging you down to ask for help but instead pulls you off your horse and flees? No problem. Just apply Lasso and rip his ass right off of your horse, get on the horse, and road-haul him until he's nothing more than a torso wearing a poncho.
Pictured Above: Future Torso. (Picture courtesy of Escapist user -Drifter-)
If I have to name a single gripe I have with the game, it is with the moral choice system. Yes, this game has one and no, it is not as prominent in this sandbox as say, inFamous' was. This is more along the lines of Fable 1's choice system where it only affects slight things in the game. You'll get a costume depending on whether you're a hero or a renegade that has no effect beyond aesthetics and you'll get friendly greetings and side quests from nice people or seedy people if you're a hero or renegade, respectively. My issue is not with the choice system itself (though it felt kinda vestigial) but the occasions in which a forced moral choice will emerge. Thankfully, a forced moral choice never occurs within the main story, only within one or two of the dozens of sidequests I finished which makes me wonder why they included them at all. (Minor spoiler follows revealing the end of a sidequest at the beginning of the game. Feel free to skip to the next paragraph) The most jarring example is in the beginning of the game at the end of the American Appetites side quest line. You find a wounded man who wants you to capture the man who broke his leg. Upon bringing the assailant back to the wounded man, you find that he's the cannibal you've been searching for. The cannibal exclaims that a man's gotta eat, and the now hogtied victim is screaming for your help. You can either let the cannibal eat the guy, or shoot the cannibal, netting you renegade and hero points respectively. To me, it's just kinda...I dunno, ridiculous.
This is one of the games that will reward you for hooking up your console to a stereo system. Thunderstorms roar across the plains and gunshots have never sounded better. Those of you who are fans of Westerns will likely notice some of the soundbytes are directly taken from movies like Fistful of Dollars!
All of this shooting does have a purpose though, and that?s the story. As usual for a Rockstar game, the writing and characterization is fantastic (am I the only one who wants to see an RPG designed by these guys?). The world has a distinct feel from other Westerns and each of the characters are fleshed out. This includes John?s family who we rarely even see. Just through the dialogue of the characters an idea is implanted into our minds of who John?s wife and son are and it could not have been better done. Without even seeing the actual kidnapping of John?s family, we get to feel his plight and worry for the safety of his family at the hands of the weasel-like government men who took them.
John Marston is also one of my favorite characters in gaming. He?s the perfect image of a man trapped in history, too old and set in his ways to change or move on with the times, despite how much he may want to. We come to see him as a man with too many ghosts in his past to allow him to leave it behind which is shown to us through the ease at which he returns to killing. His hands are ones made to hold a gun, not a plow.
Marston?s hunt for his old gang leads up to a finale that I would dare to compare to the perfection of Portal. This is a game that you need to experience. It doesn?t matter if you play it three years from now because you wanted to trade in Modern Warfare 5: Srs Business and pick RDR up for $14.99 at your local Gamestop, just do it.
Red Dead Redemption I dare say is Rockstar?s magnum opus. It is a perfect homage to the spaghetti Westerns that made Clint Eastwood the icon he is by blending pitch-perfect atmosphere with gameplay so well done you?ll feel satisfaction coursing through you with each crack of the revolver. John Marston stands proudly next to the Man With No Name in the pantheon of Western Heroes, and hats off to Rockstar Games for this wonderfully fresh trip down a well-traveled trail.
EDIT: After the euphoria of the superb ending washed over me and I went back to begin the game anew I remembered something that was just irritating enough about the game that made me lower the volume and play the soundtrack on loop: People talking during the poker games. I didn't play five-finger fillet, horseshoes, or really any of the gambling mini-games but I remember the poker game because I dumped about an hour into it constantly restarting my save file because I felt cheated by the computer. I didn't give up due to lack of patience, I gave up due to the absolutely horrific, nerve-grinding, recycled snippets of dialogue the npcs use when playing poker. One will begin a conversation about something they saw or heard recently, and the others will respond with an agreement or give their opinion on it. Stay too long and not only will everything be repeated (understandable due to the budget / time constraints) but lines of dialogue will be inserted into the conversation for absolutely no reason. It's a very cool idea and I was genuinely impressed when I sat down and heard the conversation, but I can only hear, "Quit yer jawin' I ain't dayff." so many times before I just exit the poker game and shoot everyone at the table.
I realize now though, that GTA4 was just an elaborate BETA for Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar's homage to badasses (interchangeable word for Clint Eastwood), Spaghetti Westerns, and everything that has ever been awesome.
In Red Dead Redemption, you play as John Marston, a former outlaw who is tasked with hunting down his old gang. He settled down to start a farm and raise a family with his wife, Abigail, but the government decided that he's not done yet. They kidnap his family and force him to pick up his six-shooter and set off on the dusty trail once more.
Pictured above: John "Will Badass For Free" Marston.
The game is set in the early 1900's, when technology just starts to begin to engulf the West. The town of Blackwater in particular is one of these towns and is amazingly done. Within the town itself is a slight transition that, as you get further East, the dirt roads and wooden plank sidewalks become cobblestones and more cobblestones and, well, nicer wooden planks. It really gives a great feeling that, when you look back at the rest of the world, you have a crushing realization that it's all going away.
Speaking of the rest of the world, the draw distance of this game is amazing. It makes Oblivion and Fallout 3 look like a tennis game played on a Virtual Boy. Stand on one of the plateaus across the river into Mexican territory and you can see damn near everything all in crisp detail.
Pictured Above: A reason to buy a 1080p TV.
The gameplay in the game is a cover-based shooter and is pretty much copy and pasted from GTA4 and it's also why I believe GTA4 was a beta for RDR- everything feels right. Well, except for shooting while on horseback, that doesn't work extremely well since the X (A for 360 users) button is used for movement while the right thumbstick is for aiming. Thankfully, the snap-aim system from GTA4 makes a triumphant comeback as well. While it does make shooting easier it also drives home the point why John Marston is forced into this final mission. Yes it's because he knows the men that he's tracking, but it's also because he is THE best gunslinger in the West.
What also helps is the Dead Aim system. In the beginning of the game, it's a generic Bullet Time sort of thing that only works for one shot so it's great for lining up a headshot. However, as you progress, you gain the ability to paint targets by moving the reticle over them and watch as Marston lands a bullet in every single spot. The third advancement of the system comes about halfway through the game when you meet the man that I'm VERY certain is The Stranger from The Big Lebowski (when you play cards with him, his name even is The Stranger) who teaches you to use your Dead Aim with pinpoint accuracy. You press the R1 button (right bumper for 360) and pick however many spots you're able to, pull the trigger and watch the lead fly. At first, it feels much slower than the second stage, but then you start using it to shoot people in the legs to disable and hogtie them, or shoot people that you wouldn't normally be able to, such as if they're fleeing and they're just specks in the distance. If you can get the reticle on it, you can kill it.
Hogtying? I hear you say. But Tazzlefrass, that would involve a lasso of some kind. Why yes it would because you get one in this game. All of those Western movie cliches you are now able to enact. Man flagging you down to ask for help but instead pulls you off your horse and flees? No problem. Just apply Lasso and rip his ass right off of your horse, get on the horse, and road-haul him until he's nothing more than a torso wearing a poncho.
Pictured Above: Future Torso. (Picture courtesy of Escapist user -Drifter-)
If I have to name a single gripe I have with the game, it is with the moral choice system. Yes, this game has one and no, it is not as prominent in this sandbox as say, inFamous' was. This is more along the lines of Fable 1's choice system where it only affects slight things in the game. You'll get a costume depending on whether you're a hero or a renegade that has no effect beyond aesthetics and you'll get friendly greetings and side quests from nice people or seedy people if you're a hero or renegade, respectively. My issue is not with the choice system itself (though it felt kinda vestigial) but the occasions in which a forced moral choice will emerge. Thankfully, a forced moral choice never occurs within the main story, only within one or two of the dozens of sidequests I finished which makes me wonder why they included them at all. (Minor spoiler follows revealing the end of a sidequest at the beginning of the game. Feel free to skip to the next paragraph) The most jarring example is in the beginning of the game at the end of the American Appetites side quest line. You find a wounded man who wants you to capture the man who broke his leg. Upon bringing the assailant back to the wounded man, you find that he's the cannibal you've been searching for. The cannibal exclaims that a man's gotta eat, and the now hogtied victim is screaming for your help. You can either let the cannibal eat the guy, or shoot the cannibal, netting you renegade and hero points respectively. To me, it's just kinda...I dunno, ridiculous.
This is one of the games that will reward you for hooking up your console to a stereo system. Thunderstorms roar across the plains and gunshots have never sounded better. Those of you who are fans of Westerns will likely notice some of the soundbytes are directly taken from movies like Fistful of Dollars!
All of this shooting does have a purpose though, and that?s the story. As usual for a Rockstar game, the writing and characterization is fantastic (am I the only one who wants to see an RPG designed by these guys?). The world has a distinct feel from other Westerns and each of the characters are fleshed out. This includes John?s family who we rarely even see. Just through the dialogue of the characters an idea is implanted into our minds of who John?s wife and son are and it could not have been better done. Without even seeing the actual kidnapping of John?s family, we get to feel his plight and worry for the safety of his family at the hands of the weasel-like government men who took them.
John Marston is also one of my favorite characters in gaming. He?s the perfect image of a man trapped in history, too old and set in his ways to change or move on with the times, despite how much he may want to. We come to see him as a man with too many ghosts in his past to allow him to leave it behind which is shown to us through the ease at which he returns to killing. His hands are ones made to hold a gun, not a plow.
Marston?s hunt for his old gang leads up to a finale that I would dare to compare to the perfection of Portal. This is a game that you need to experience. It doesn?t matter if you play it three years from now because you wanted to trade in Modern Warfare 5: Srs Business and pick RDR up for $14.99 at your local Gamestop, just do it.
Red Dead Redemption I dare say is Rockstar?s magnum opus. It is a perfect homage to the spaghetti Westerns that made Clint Eastwood the icon he is by blending pitch-perfect atmosphere with gameplay so well done you?ll feel satisfaction coursing through you with each crack of the revolver. John Marston stands proudly next to the Man With No Name in the pantheon of Western Heroes, and hats off to Rockstar Games for this wonderfully fresh trip down a well-traveled trail.
EDIT: After the euphoria of the superb ending washed over me and I went back to begin the game anew I remembered something that was just irritating enough about the game that made me lower the volume and play the soundtrack on loop: People talking during the poker games. I didn't play five-finger fillet, horseshoes, or really any of the gambling mini-games but I remember the poker game because I dumped about an hour into it constantly restarting my save file because I felt cheated by the computer. I didn't give up due to lack of patience, I gave up due to the absolutely horrific, nerve-grinding, recycled snippets of dialogue the npcs use when playing poker. One will begin a conversation about something they saw or heard recently, and the others will respond with an agreement or give their opinion on it. Stay too long and not only will everything be repeated (understandable due to the budget / time constraints) but lines of dialogue will be inserted into the conversation for absolutely no reason. It's a very cool idea and I was genuinely impressed when I sat down and heard the conversation, but I can only hear, "Quit yer jawin' I ain't dayff." so many times before I just exit the poker game and shoot everyone at the table.
