Review: Red Dead Redemption

A tumbleweed blows across the dusty path. A coyote barks in the distance. Your leather duster is blown by a hot wind as you sit atop your horse. The land stretches on before you for miles and above it is a ceiling of amazing colour–a desert sunset like an animated oil on canvas. The stillness is beautiful but things need doing. A spur to your steed and you’re off. Blood–yours and theirs–will be spilled under the stars and half-moon tonight.

Welcome to Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption. It’s good, very good. But let me tell you more…

The Story
In 1911, the American wild west was about to become much less wild with greater migration and the interest of the federal government to impose its law from sea to sea. You are former outlaw John Marston–a self-styled Robin Hood of the west–who has settled down with his wife and child. But when federal agents kidnap Marston’s family, he’s forced to hunt down his former friends and gang-members so he can return to his pastoral life on the open plain.

It’s a simple story, but, when placed within an expansive sandbox filled with a fully-formed true-to-period world, RDR becomes an epic of the western genre.

I’ve given over hours of my life already (with more to come) to follow the story of Marston and the many side-quests. Much like Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series, RDR uses the main story as an anchor but then supplies the player with so much more to do that they many never want to leave. Sure, I can continue to make my way through a massive landscape to track the bad guys, but I can also play 5-card stud poker, dice, blackjack or horseshoes. I can hunt down outlaws for the law or help a roving band for raiders steal from a wagon of travelers. I can track cougars in the snowy highlands or solve a mystery of serial-killing cannibal roaming the desert. Oh and there’s more… so much more…

Bounties from the Sheriff are great ways to collect cash.

While you may be creating your own legend of John Marston as a lone gunman on the range, Rockstar is doing an expert job of capturing the tone of a gritty and realistic adventure story. The writers pull liberally from the classics of the genre with its characters and dialogue but only in a way that makes it feel authentic and not derivative.

There are a lot of characters in this game, but each is given real attention by the writers. I found myself truly creeped out by the grave-robbing treasure hunter and intrigued by the political justification of the Mexican military leader. Even the main character is so much more than a vessel for the player to control. Marston is a sympathetic man with a clear sense of conflict about his own history of violence and his desire to escape his past. While I enjoyed all the “other” things I could be doing in this world, I found myself always wanting to come back to the main story because everything about it was so darn fun to watch and participate in.

Rockstar must be commended for capturing the tone and pacing of a good western story. This game is serious, dark and mature. It has humour, but doesn’t resort to ridiculous caricatures and over-the topic satire to get a laugh. RDR is still action-filled and violent like the GTA series, but it is slower and more adept at creating tension in the silence and stillness of the wilderness.

For you western nerds, this shot references The Searchers starring John Wayne. Parallels can be drawn between that movie and RDR.

The story builds to multiple crescendos of intensity, but knows how to bring the audience/player back down again to a satisfying denouement.

For example, as you race a runaway train picking off Mexican rebels along the way and eventually jumping on board the iron horse from your live one, you eventually make it to the engine just in time to pull the brakes and save the train from plunging into the ravine from the downed bridge. And when all the violence and action is over, you are left alone, in the night with just yourself and your horse. It’s peaceful… the type of peace for which Marston is fighting.

The Gameplay
RDR is an open-world third-person shooter. Marston has a selection of era-appropriate weapons and targeting and attack is easy to do thanks to a direct pull from the GTA games.

The main mode of transportation is your horse (I recommend you save your money and get a good one as soon as you can–once you have a quality steed broken and paid for, you can use it forever) and it is simple to ride and shot from. There are also a few types of wagons (riding shotgun with a good driver is a wonderful thing) and you can even hop the train.

There's nothing like the rush of chasing down and jumping on a steam engine.

Combat involves either riding or running and shooting. Running will ensure you live longer because you’ll be able to slide into cover. RDR has an excellent cover system from which you can pick off the nasties across the way.

A key feature of RDR is the “dead-eye” targeting system that is essentially western bullet-time. This seems to be a staple in the western game because it allows you to get a gunslinger feel and RDR does it well. As you go through the plot, this system changes from being a basic way to shoot multiple enemies faster to a detailed targeting system letting you select what to shoot in the next few seconds. Disarming and taking out the knees of four surrounding bandits never gets old. Never.

Once again, this game isn’t just about doling out violence in your favourite frontier town. You can also do things such as lasso and break wild horses (they show up available for purchase), herd cattle, test your shooting skills, hunt and play games. There’s a lot of variety to keep you occupied in Rockstar’s wild west.

The Multiplayer
Now take that open world and throw 16 players into it. You can still explore the world, but now there are unpredictable outlaws and do-gooders just like yourself roaming with you. One moment you could be galloping across the boggy wetlands making your way toward a gang hideout, and the next moment you’re face down in the mud as a dastardly sniper shoots your horse out from under you. Seconds later, you respawn.

This wilderness ain't big enough for the 16 of us.

There are a number of team-based and free-for-all shooting games (variations of capture the flag and deathmatch) that you’d expect from a shooter multiplayer environment. But, I am a particular fan of the “free roam” that lets you put together a posse to do what you will in the world–be it clear out an NPC gang or track down another posse in the world.

Multiplayer also includes a character-development element where you can get experience points for all actions you take in the world. Be prepared to start as a pathetic Sancho Panza-esque character with your ugly mug, “greenhorn nickname”, lame guns, and–wait for it–donkey. There’s nothing sadder than reporting to your first posse trotting up on your trusty ass. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long until you can get enough XP to outfit yourself with a passable horse and select a more bad-ass-looking avatar.

Rockstar will launch new, free story-based co-op downloadable content for multiplayer called Outlaws to the End later in June. I’m already killing hours of time in multiplayer, giving me more that I can complete with friends is like another serving of sweet, sweet candy.

The Soundtrack
Judge me if you will, but I’m listening to the soundtrack right now. That’s right, I purchased it on iTunes because it’s that good.

The sound and music of the classic western movie is such an important element, and Rockstar made the right choice to score the game with original cinematic-quality music compaded by Bill Elm and Woody Jackson. Moreover, the music is brilliantly directed with subtle ambiance during the quiet moments of travel through the wild and upbeat scoring during periods of action. Track changes are seamless and so natural that the scoring must be considered a key part of what makes this game so engrossing.

There are a few key moments in the game when the music takes a front seat and a song with lyrics is added over the action. At the risk of gushing, the choices by the development team were spot-on making the game even more epic.

Some days you hunt the cougar; some days the cougar hunts you.

The Graphics
RDR is a beautiful game. There is a amazing detail put into this world with many textures and colours. And while each landscape from desert to marshland to deep canyons (and more) is a great-looking environment, the sky plays just as important a role. Sunsets and rises, storms and clear blue days, bright nights with a canopy of stars–the sky can make you drool.

The attention paid to the environment (an interactive environment, to boot) is so great that RDR seems to be a love letter to the American southwest. It is even more motivation for Marston to succeed in finding the peace he craves.

Character faces are also quite detailed and the lip-syncing is tight. There are a lot of cut scenes in this game and the character design helps rather than hinders.

Posse up!

The Downsides
From the legends of the wild west came books, then movies and now a game. RDR captures the feeling of the western so well, but it seems to miss opportunities to go even more cinematic in its storytelling. There are many opportunities for a quick cut scene or slow motion alternate camera angle, but RDR neglects these in favour of maintaining the same perspective over Marston’s shoulder.

Maybe this is a directorial choice to steer clear of the overt action cinematography of the GTA games, but it would have been nice to see a more epic camera shot as Marston jumps a horse out of a burning barn or shoots a man off a cliff into a rushing current.

Such a massive, multi-option world lends itself to the odd glitch here and there. I played on mission where I escorted a vengeful rancher against a gang, but as I was taking out the gang, the rancher got stuck behind a boulder never to emerge and I couldn’t complete the level. Another character just stopped following me… time to restart and try again. These weren’t major, but they give the impression that the game can be fragile and that the slightest thing could force you to restart a mission or leave to do something else hoping things are fixed by the time you get back.

Grand Theft Wagon

I know that the sandbox game isn’t for everyone. I can understand how some people might like a tight story rather than a sprawling world with a story tucked inside. So, if people don’t like that, then this game is likely not for them; they might even call it boring or a waste of time because no one wants to stop the action to play a round of dice. I’m not one of those people, so (for me) that’s not a downside.

Oh, and one more thing: Marston can’t swim. He’s the most bad-ass outlaw in the west and any significant body of water is an instant kill. Is it just me, or is that ridiculous?

The Bottom Line
Red Dead Redemption will be the game against which all future western games will be judged. It should be part of your game library.

Last year, we asked the Crew what single game we would take with us if we were stranded on a desert island. Back then I said GTA: San Andreas. RDR has now taken that spot.

As a stand-alone, single player story, it’s a great tale of a man seeking to bury his past. As a world filled with seeming limitless encounters in multiplayer and as a lone man in the wilderness, it offers hours upon hours of gameplay.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a train to catch.

The Good
A classic western experience
Engaging story, dialogue, and characters
Beautiful, vast world
Movie-quality soundtrack
Multiplayer that’ll keep you going

The Bad
Missed opportunities to be more cinematic
Some glitches that halt progress
Marston needs water wings in the pool