Red Dead Redemption

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.

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.

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

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.

Finally "Red Dead Redemption" delivers all and much more what could have been expected after the prerelease-hype of the last months.

There have been many games which have unsuccessfully aimed at breaking the fine line between video game and movie, but "RDR" accomplishes indeed an interactive experience that could also have been effortlessly a two hours spaghetti western opera at your local theater.

The atmosphere created by state of the art graphics, the ride/interact/shoot-gameplay and the outstanding sound effects is astonishing, not to forget the wide beautiful landscapes, sharp and intelligent dialogues and the diversified, cinematic mission design such as "the great Mexican train robbery", which makes it nearly impossible to lay the controller down for while.

The story of John Marston who is in pursuit of his former gang members in order to save his family, which leads him to team-ups with several mostly dubious characters, forced contracts with men of the law and embroilments within the Mexican civil war, unfolds in three gigantic chapters, that are partitioned in 57 main missions, of which every single one succeeds to convince.

The main point of critic of Rockstars open world predecessor "Grand Theft Auto 4", that most of the time you are engaged with driving, does not affect the riding in "RDR" because of the possibility of warping, either by using stagecoaches or by camping in unpopulated areas. There are some minor flaws, like clipping errors, pop-ups and changing ammunition without collecting any, but they never change the overall feeling of taking part in one of the best games ever created.

It is not by hazard that the game trailer was shown as an ad in theaters; there are some references to the best westerns of all time; the freeze frame effect when pausing the game, the machine gun shootouts and the gloomy portrayal of Mexican people in general reminds of "The Wild Bunch", whereas the superiority during the revolver showdowns, the bounty hunter sub-missions with its "dead or alive"- "wanted"-posters and the music with its melodic whistles successfully quote the "A Fistful of Dollars"-trilogy.

If you ever wanted to participate in a western, with its bacon and beans flavor, its charismatic shootouts and its lone wolf feeling it's time to saddle the horses and go for gold: "Red Dead Redemption" has it all and much more.

9.7 out of 10