Red Dead Redemption

I have spent hundreds of hours immersed in video games. I have played everything from puzzle games to mass-multiplayer online games. I have received crappy grades in school because of video games. I have regretted entire summers spent in front of a TV screen, but now, as I sit at my computer, I reflect on those summers. I picture them now not as summers down the toilet but as summers that are a dark tunnel. A dark tunnel with a light at the end. A light that is the greatest game I have ever played, the climax of my gaming career, Red Dead Redemption. Through unfathomable detail, immense algorithms, and an uncanny amount of testing Rockstar successfully created a masterpiece which raises the bar to a point which I believe can not be reached with the same technology used to create Red Dead Redemption. New technology is needed to create a game that even competes with Red Dead Redemption. After playing Red Dead Redemption I may never feel another game is worth my time.

Five years ago I purchased "Gun" under the confusion that I was buying the western I had seen commercials for on TV. The game I wanted was "Red Dead Revolver" which turned out to be a major disappointment. "Gun" on the other hand was immense fun and I have enjoyed it every time I have played it.

"Red Dead Redemption" is what Gun should have been and so far superior to "...Revolver". The level of detail is gargantuan (such as smoke rising from gun barrels or shadows under every character). The scenery is ridiculously gorgeous for a video game and the sheer size of the world is inconceivable. I have yet to explore even twenty percent of it.

The story is progressing slowly but it has only just begun for me.

I recommend this game to anyone with a love for action/adventure westerns and easily would get my vote as the best game of year.

I've been playing video games since the days a good driving game was a black and white-move in and out of lane-broken windows on crash game. And throughout the years I've been looking for a truly immersible experience that could drag reality out and place me in the middle of a different reality, as a different person. It took many years, but here it is: "Red Dead Redemption".

The road was long. It took time for 2d to turn 3d and took time for the character's lips to actually move when they talked(big deal, as it added a ton for realism). Then incredible, photo-realistic graphics and my mind was blown away. Game mechanics became better and better and games could now tell stories with immense scope and depth. Then there was GTA IV and it was absolutely amazing, it worked on every level I had dream a game could work...except for one thing: I never wanted to experience arriving at a foreign country and blast my way towards becoming a "playa""...so even tough the game was absolutely perfect, it didn't mean as much as it should have. Enter "Red Dead Redemption". What guy hasn't dream of being a cowboy, free and courageous, traveling by horse on big deserted plains with our ready weapon at our side; hunting, going after the criminals, the bad guys, searching for treasures, sometimes doing a slight cross over to the wrong side of the law. All of that and more you'll find in this game. The scope, the graphics...to just roam the land and hunt, the occasional herding....it seems like you're playing in your own movie. A full cinematic experience that can be lived, delivered through the incredible Rockstar Advanced Game Engine(RAGE).

Many games have great gameplay; many have incredible graphics; many showcase good storytelling, but only this one gives you a completely immersible lost world to be experienced.

If you are a person that enjoys gaming, be it casually or not, you'll love this game.

This has got to be one of the best (if not THE BEST) sandbox game that I have ever played. Rockstar keeps on pumping out great quality games and I'm sure they will keep on doing it for a long time.

The story (If you have been living in a cave) goes like this: You play a FORMER outlaw named John Marsten who was apparently left for dead after a botched robbery and he left his gang that day and tried to go straight. He got married and has a son, they lived quietly on a ranch and John had tried to forget his past. for several years he was at peace with the world.

Unfortunately that obviously did not work out at all as the government wants to use him to find his old gang members and they do that by keeping his family hostage.

The game (built on RAGE which was used on GTA4) looks great and very realistic. From the style of the clothes to the buildings, horses, etc. All of the towns in the game are teeming with life with people going about their daily business.

In fact you can do so much in the game like play poker, hunt wild animals, collect on 'bounties', hunt for treasure, ride around aimlessly, or just admire the view from the top of one of the many hills and mountains. There is so much content in this game that if you had to take out all of the content that is not needed for the story, and had everything else as each as it's own game, there would be like 20 or so, just like in Grand Theft Auto 4.

Expect nothing but the best of what Rockstar has to offer and this is one of the few games that was really worth the price of purchase (unlike TERMINATOR SALVATION where I had finished it in a mere 6 hours) and will keep you entertained for months to come.

I have been playing Video Games for more than 10 years. I have witnessed the evolution from Dos-Games, to Windows 98 compatible games, Windows 2000, XP, then switch to Xbox 360 and from 2D to 3D, from Mono Sound to 7.1 sound experiences, I have seen the whole evolution.

I have also seen games similar to this one, if we talk about graphics, sound effects, game-play scheme that is. However, never have I ever played a game that captured a targeted style and converted it so well to the video game screen.

I am very indulgent with video games in the aspect of their graphics, sounds, game-play, diversity, because what I am looking for is atmosphere so intense, you could cut if with a knife. Which is why I loved the first Assassins Creed, although I had to admit, it was actually a poorly finished game.

This game however cuts the atmosphere quite near to perfectly: never before has there been a game with that brilliant capture of wild western style and atmosphere! It helps the game that I am a fan of the classic Clint Eastwood westerns and John Marstons looks must've been inspired on the ones of outlaw Josey Wales, played by Clint Eastwood.

The music sometimes reveals tunes close to the good old Ennio Morricone tracks.

The guns, the dramatic imprecise shootings, the huge lands to discover, the outfits, the baddies and the goodies (and the uglies) and all of the above make for a knife sharp atmosphere.

I love it.

For me video games should be about being someone you can't be in real life (be that a soldier, a special secret agent, or, as in this case, a wild west outlaw), packed with brilliant atmosphere and this game delivers.

So much that I easily forgive it for the minor bugs and flaws it does contain. I guess no one and nothing is perfect, but this is damn close.

10/10