Red Dead Redemption
 

Typically people here at the site post their thoughts on videogames and what not in the videogames thread. Fine and dandy, but I figured I would dedicate a thread to this amazing game by Rockstar.

http://media.rockstarwatch.net/news/5407316298.gif

First thing is first. I love westerns, as many of you know, and I like Rockstar games. Grand Theft Auto IV is good, but I still have yet to finish it for whatever reasons. I don't think GTA4 is quite the masterpiece that many claim it to be, as the missions get repetitive and I get a bit bored driving from place to place, and the mission failures are discouraging especially when you have to drive 10 minutes back to the spot to begin the mission.

Anyway... back to Red Dead. This is truly a beautiful and amazing game. It's extremely addicting. I picked it up on Friday and have been playing it all weekend. The last time a videogame has obsorbed me into its world like this was Fallout 3.

I was a bit skeptical on the story and the atmosphere of the game. Westerns are amazing if done right, and horrible if done wrong and riddled with cliches' and hookeyness. Red Dead avoids the cliches as much as possible and goes with more level-handed and genre respecting archetypes. Of course the story of a former outlaw trying to go straight and being told he must capture his former gang is nothing new... see Robert Ryan in The Wild Bunch, but it seems to be handled with respect thus far. Of course, I'm only a few missions into the main quest as most of my time has been spent on side missions and random road encounters.

And that's an area where I think Red Dead shines greatly over GTA4. I enjoy adventure and RPG games, so I think it's positive they've brought more of these elements back into Red Dead. For example money is more relevant as you need money for missions, guns, supplies, and such. I enjoy the gathering aspects of the game... flowers and hides. Also looting bodies is a positive aspect. It's not altogether a full-fledged RPG, but the there's a fine balance of the elements here, lacking in GTA4. Even the mini-games I enjoy in Red Dead such as poker, which is genuinely fun. And I am not a mini-games type of person, as they bored me in GTA4.

I don't mean to knock GTA4, and dwell on simply comparing the two, but naturally... the side-by-side look is enevitable.

Another aspect I enjoy is the music. Certainly it's an overused phrase to claim, "Ennio Morricone inspired," but it's the truth with Red Dead. The music is not overbearing and lends itself to the unique atmosphere of exploration, and not knowing what's around the next hill. Most of the music is subtle and quiet, but lingering. It reminds me of the small theme that plays in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as Lee Van Cleef rides up to the farm early in the film to kill the family before getting information from them.

The scenery is good too and is aided greatly by the time of day shading and coloration. The hues of gold during dusk and dawn are amazing, and riding at night as the sky starts to brighten calling in the coming dawn is a thing rarely seen in videogames. Rockstar did do this to a certain extent in GTA4, but under the open starry sky it's more impressive. The one thing lacking would be weather effects, but maybe I just haven't seen them yet. An occasional thunderstorm, rain, lightning would add more to the feel.

The only real complaint I have with the game is the voice actress who does Bonnie. She's a bit over bearing and her accent is the only place in the game so far where I would say it comes close to cliche'. It's a bit grating, but bearing and a small defect in an otherwise amazing game. I pray tell she doesn't become some sort of love interest.

Hrmm what else? The side missions are excellent. Spoilers to come for those who haven't played it, but I am greatly involved in a couple of them. The first is an old man who innocently enough requests you to go out and gather several types of flowers to celebrate his wife's anniversary. Seemingly a normal quest. When you deliver the flowers to the man, he invites you into his humble home for some tea with the Mrs. Well that's when it gets creepy as you realize she's been dead for along time, and the man's gone off his rocker and talking to his deceased wife as if she were alive. Clearly this rings echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Another mission, which I'm in the middle of, is called "American Appetite" and it's clear were this thing is going. I enjoy these dark and morbid aspects of the game that take the player into the Hell the frontier could have been at the time. Red Dead is a strong ace in the hand that claims videogames are art, and I don't think I would be too apt in arguing against that camp. Like I said, I'm only a small bit into the main quest, but thus far the game is more of a western than the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry brand and avoids the cliches, and is far more involving and gritty than the pop-westerns of the likes of Young Guns, Tombstone, and Quick and the Dead which I feared it would be; you know westerns for people who don't like westerns.

Great game.



What are some of your thoughts for those who have played it.

Then why didn't you? :facepalm: Nice post BTW.

I love GTA IV, not so much for the missions, but for the free-range style of the game. I dont' buy all that many games, but this one looks wicked intriguing! Driving around the city is fun for a while, and shooting down police choppers from a roof is very therapeutic, but this is a direction I really like from Rockstar-- gotta get this one!

you got to add a "meng" on the end of that first sentence! :p

Well I was going to, but if discussion is big enough around a certain film to dedicate a whole thread to it, why not with a videogame?

FYI, there's a stand-alone thread for Grand Theft Auto IV, which kinda sets precedent for this thread.

Exciting. :p

Wonderfully gutless parry. :p

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

awesome game. been playing it for a while too. its a real spaghetti western game. almost all the elements are there.

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

Ignore jrs. The thread is perfectly fine. If anything, we probably dump way too much into the Videogames Tab as it is.

Anyway, back on topic: I still hate everyone for talking about how great this game is. And I hate Rockstar Games for either making PC users wait forever for a port, or (in this case, most likely) ignoring them outright. C'mon, guys...help me out here.

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

Anyone seen the promotional short film for this?
It's directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road)

Well yes, all those skyscrapers and such are nice, but I wished I could have gone into the buildings and done more. The interactivity level with GTA4 seems less.

you should play it on console.. there's a lot of ports to pc and mostly they are really bad.

Well it could be a "killer ap" for you to get a PS3, which you can also watch blu-rays on. They are reasonably priced right now if you have the spare change.

And yes I think you're right about Red Dead not being on PC...
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=250576

I like the game a lot, but have shelved it for the past few weeks because it's so massive and I'm kind of in a mid-story lull. There's so much to do in these games that I inevitably find myself making an itinerary. And with such a huge area to traverse, you learn real quick how to streamline that itinerary. But that's limiting, too. I don't want to leave an area until I've found that last bit of Red Sage I need, for example, which can have me hoofing it around for an hour. :laugh:

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

I love Rockstar Games GTA IV is one of my favs and also im currently playing through GTA LCS aswell which is just as good and better in some ways than GTA IV. This game has been on my radar for sometime now and it really does look like a great game to play. Im looking forward to getting it when the price drops, and the first thing im going to do is ride around on my horse :p Also the online gameplay is suppose to be amazing :yup:

Haven't played it online yet.

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

Let me know what you think of it online when you get a chance mate ;)

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

I didn't get to play much of GTA IV before my Xbox went pop, but what (very) little I saw of it, I much prefered the previous GTA: San Andres and the brilliant GTA: Vice City.

This is the first game I've seen since then that has made me think about sorting out my Xbox. I hate Westerns, but this looks like the Western game I always wanted to play, a 3rd Gen version of the Spectrum classic, text adventure, The Wild Bunch.

Re: Red Dead Redemption
 

Just got 100% completion on this and only got 2 trophies on single player left to get. Not as expansive as you think once get going and learn the tricks like using the campsite for free instant travel and maps to find plants etc.

Online is pretty fun though few times i've played just get absolute tossers who spend whole time killing you while you're trying to do the actual stuff on it.