Alrighty, partners, here we go with another review for a sequel over six years in the making, called Red Dead Redemption.
Now I know that all of you are asking, why are writing a review about a game that's just Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West? Well, the answer is that it's so much more than GTA IV. To me, it's like a mixture of those old spaghetti Westerns, and my favorite thing in the world, causing as much pandemonium, as I can muster with a revolver.
But, I must tell you about my three favorite things about the game. What are they, you ask? Well I will tell you, and rate this game on my usual scale, judging Story, Controls, and Graphics.
Alright, so here goes the story. You play as John Marston, an ex-convict, who is tied up with a government deal to get his family back. The story takes place at the end of the generic Wild West time period, approx. 1911, and focuses primarily on the changing government trying to bring some civilization to the west. It also focuses on the Spanish Civil War, and a few other historical events at the time. You, as John Marston, must hunt down outlaws to rescue you and your family from the government, and through this you are journeying to different locations around the West, and even going into Mexico at a time of war!
I honestly loved the story, and I think it's an awesome contribution to the Rockstar Collection, and if you are still reading this, Pilgrim, we are going into the control scheme.
The controls for the game are pretty tight, and it won't take long to get used to them at all. The one thing that is really annoying is if you beat a mission or die during a mission and you have a weapon selected it will stay that weapon until you go and change it in the menu.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. As I was riding I noticed this woman calling for help and about ten minutes before, I had lassoed me a Black Stallion. Well, five guards came out and started shooting me, so I pulled the trigger button, roped one thug, and died. With this said, it's kind of mandatory to make sure you have a good gun selected.
Horse riding was an amazing addition, obviously. You've got to ride a horse, or how else are you going to navigate through the Ol' West? On an automobile? Well, There is one in the game, but only the- You know what? I don't care! I rode a horse and you all will learn how to ride one too.
I find horse riding one of the easiest, but trickiest things to master. You have to constantly tap the X or A buttons on the Xbox version (X and Square on PS3) to gain speed, and then you have to hold the A (or X) button again to maintain it. Easy, right? Well, yes, and no, because sometimes if you hold the A button, it doesn't maintain a constant speed and you have to re-tap the A button to gain that speed back up. So usually it's just better to, you know, Tap-wait-re-tap, or at least that's what I found to be the most effective way. Now, with most of the controls covered, let me chime in about the graphics.
I honestly think Rockstar has pushed the envelope, everything in Red Dead Redemption looks beautiful, and I mean beautiful. Here, take a look... SCREENSHOT! See? Beautiful right? And, well, here's another one for good measure, because I love the look of the Old West. SCREENSHOT!. The only problems I have with the graphics is the same thing with anything else that is beautiful graphic wise, the frame rate drop. With this game, it's not so often, but it does happen, and sometimes no textures show up for 15-20 seconds. With that said, this game is truly beautiful and wonderful experience.
Rockstar is truly a company that knows how to put a game together, story wise and graphically. I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and I suggest everyone should try to play it. This game not only captures the spirit of the Old West, but also the beauty of it. This about cuts it for my review!
I'll be back in the next few weeks, after Ribs posts some more awesome reviews.
Games, Gold, and Glory is not affiliated with Rockstar Games in any way, shape, or form. For more information regarding Red Dead Redemption and related products, visit
Good, even-handed review! I'm still playing my copy, it's a lot to play through with a full-time job.
ReplyDeleteI didn't seem to have much of a problem maintaining the horse's speed...so long as I stayed on the path (those that show on the map). It's harder to keep speed when you're going 'off-road'. I don't think the horse will maintain it's top speed however. I've been tapping A until the horse gets to it's fastest speed, holding A to maintain, and then tapping A every couple seconds to spur the horse on. Each spur seems to give it a momentary burst. So hold-tap-hold-tap seems to get me to where I want to go faster than a solid hold. Then you just have to adapt the hold-tap to the horse's endurance.
ReplyDeleteWasn't expecting to write a comment about horse-riding tactics, but there it is.
I absolutely LOVED RDR. I don't often play games to completion but I 100%-ed RDR and enjoyed every freaking minute of it, heck I don't even dig on Westerns or GTA and it was great! BUY THIS GAME!
ReplyDeleteI thought the horse thing was a bit annoying as well but I didn't have a huge problem with it, like Eugaet said - I kind of got into a regular rhythm and it felt natural, but annoying - much like tapping A to run was annoying.
ReplyDelete