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.

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.

Your'e a cowboy, a man that can end a life in a second. But when compared to the wild west you seems to be nobody. You travel many miles every day. But one day you may decide to stay where you are. Maybe you chose to stay in a haunted town to fight your fear or at the top of a cliff where you can see a piece of the world, and then you realize that you almost haven't seen anything. The world is changing and so are you. But you can change the world and the world can change you. Every move you make leads to consequences. Bad or good deeds will change people's opinion about you and that can change your destiny. People will hear about your deeds and with time the whole world will now you.

This is what Read Dead Redemption is about. And I am not alone when I am saying that the whole idea is incredible, and incredible is not even worth to be a describing of Red Dead Redemption. The graphic scenery is amazing. When I am looking down from a cliff the feeling of doing it in the reality is almost there. Wherever I go the scenery is full of life. The sounds of insects, birds flying over your head, wolves haunting deers not so far away and much more.

The touch of typical western gunfights is also included. One of the things I like most with them is when it's night and you can see a flash coming from every of the enemies gun. It makes a cool effect and the before not so powerful revolvers will now be the fear of the night.

The story-missions in this game is remarkable. You meet interesting characters and you are given new weapons, outfits, horses and more. And there is also a lot of side-missions, very entertaining. The voice actors is well picked and the scenes when the characters is talking is so well made that you should cut parts of them together, add some more things and show it on cinema.

There is so much to tell about this game, but I have to put an end of this review now with telling you that I highly recommend this game. This is the biggest reason why I have started to watch western-movies again. In my opinion is this the best game ever made. Not completely perfect, but very close to perfect.

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.

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.