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Practicality has also been taken into account as well this time around. You now have the ability to setup camp in the wilderness, and use the camp site as a means of saving, traveling and changing outfits so that a trip to town isn’t always necessary. You are also able to call your horse at any point in the game with a quick press of the up direction on your d-pad, ensuring that you aren’t stuck without transport like the GTA games.

On a technical level, Red Dead is one of the most impressive current-gen games to date. As mentioned previously, the world is ridiculously huge, and when it comes to that sort of scale, you expect other corners to be cut badly but this really isn’t the case. Characters models are smooth and texture quality remains high. The game features full day/night cycles and even has full dynamic weather, with clouds that build up, lightning storms and puddles that form all over the world when it’s raining.

Catch a sunset from a cliff as the clouds build over for a stormy night and you will catch yourself literally gaping at the beauty in front of you, it really is a spectacle.

All of this is also complimented by magnificent sound, with ricocheting bullets and howling wolves that feel like they come straight out of an old-western. The soundtrack is subtle but very effective, with the only real let down coming from the sometimes wooden voice acting of John Marston himself.

The engine is not perfect though, as you will have occasional bugs arise, mostly due to the open world or dynamic physics system that may cause people to bug out, or fly. There is nothing game breaking though, but it does leave a bit of a stain on an otherwise solid game.

With the single player offering weeks and weeks worth of play, it’s almost unreal to think that there is still a world of multiplayer options to keep you going for even longer.

As in the GTA games, your lobbies come in the form of a free roam mode set in the entire world. What makes it different is the plethora of activities and challenges to do while playing. You can form a posse, and even travel around public free roam worlds with other posses. Your multiplayer character is completely separate from your single player game, and is linked to a leveling system that allows you to gain XP and unlock items and challenges as you increase.

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Posses can take out gang hideouts or join together to go on hunting challenges, herding animals towards each other or working together to sweep areas for plant life. You can even set yourselves up in a tavern and start shooting innocents to kick start wanted levels that open even more outlaw challenges such as being most wanted for certain periods of time.

From these free roam lobbies, versus multiplayer modes can be started, and these modes are a whole lot of fun. Some of the modes are as straight forward as deathmatch, but modes such as Grab Bag will have up to 16 players running around levels trying to collect bags of gold and get them back to drop-off points. A very creative and ridiculously fun addition to the multiplayer is that every game starts with a shoot-out. All players are placed in a circle, and given a target to kill. A time counts down and then havoc ensues as everyone takes a shot at everyone else. The multiplayer game starts the moment the stand-off begins, with the surviving gun-slinger getting a head start while the other players all respawn. It really is inspired.

Conclusion:

Red Dead Redemption is undoubtedly one of the best examples of amazing value for money to almost anyone. The single player campaign is massive and offers near-endless amounts of fun, be it in burst or otherwise and the multiplayer is an entirely different beast altogether.

The craziest thing of all is that Red Dead Redemption feels like more than just a game. It feels like a legitimate historical experience of what it was like to live in the west in the early 1900s.

There is almost so much to talk about in RDR that I am almost certain that I have left certain features out that are worth a mention, so if you have played it, give us your input in the comments below.

For fans of: Grand Theft Auto, Gun, Westerns, Mass Effect


Scoring (not an average)

Gameplay: 9.0

Solid combat, cover and “vehicle” controls that are fun to use and feel natural.

Presentation: 9.5

Absolutely gorgeous.

Sound: 9.2

A bit of strangely fake sounding voice acting from the lead character, but the rest of the cast as well as the effects and soundtrack are top notch.

Value: 10

Amazing value from a great game that is fun to play for hours and hours on end.


Overall: 9.5

A technical masterpiece combined with great storytelling and tons of fun to be had.

[Reviewed on Xbox 360]

Last Updated: June 2, 2010

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Red Dead Redemption
9.5

12 Comments

  1. Gavin Mannion

    June 3, 2010 at 02:12

    RDR is a huge contender for GOTY and is easily the best open world game I have ever played… and that includes my previous favourite Crackdown

    Reply

  2. koldFU5iON

    June 3, 2010 at 09:16

    I have to agree the games is hugely impressive and really immerses you in the environment, I remember putting it on for the first time on a Saturday morning, when I took a break it was 8:00pm and I had to make dinner :/

    Also you should laso a criminal (or anyone) while you’re on your horse and drag them around for a little bit haha :devil:

    Reply

  3. ReAVeR

    June 3, 2010 at 09:26

    And don’t forget dropping hogtied criminals on train tracks and waiting for the red mist. :devil:

    Reply

  4. Potty391

    June 3, 2010 at 21:25

    Just a tip: It’s John Marston, not Marsden

    Reply

  5. Nick de Bruyne

    June 3, 2010 at 23:54

    I actually realised my error earlier and was coming back to change it when I saw your comment, thanks for the tip anyways

    Reply

  6. LindsE

    June 11, 2010 at 00:16

    How do you get the laso?

    Reply

  7. Nick de Bruyne

    June 11, 2010 at 01:24

    By doing the missions for Bonnie

    Reply

  8. Rdr rocks

    July 4, 2010 at 12:26

    RDR is an amazing game.I yet to complete it but still loving it. You can find hours of fun things to do.the other day i nearly spent a hour just playing blackjack great game thanks for the review or I would have never bought it. Thanks nick

    Reply

  9. Nick de Bruyne

    July 4, 2010 at 16:33

    You’re welcome, this game deserves a lot of love, it’s fantastic

    Reply

  10. Rdr rocks

    July 4, 2010 at 20:10

    Cheers nick. Names conor iam rdr rocks guy. Sorry about the poor name my bad

    Reply

  11. Galen

    July 22, 2010 at 16:03

    Awesome sounding game. I just have a few questions for those who have played the game. Is the targeting system similar to that of Fallout 3? Can you switch between first and third person? And does your character level up or advance at all?

    Reply

  12. Nick de Bruyne

    July 22, 2010 at 16:13

    @Galen

    No the game is entirely 3rd Person and doesn’t play like Fallout 3. Your character doesn’t advance either, it is more styled around GTA. It’s more about the environment, and using what you have rather than leveling up and getting extra abilities. (You do however get more tools as well as better levels of the Dead Eye meter as you play through the game)

    Reply

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