Once again, Rockstar lets you escape your real life to become a badass.
Red Dead Redemption is more GTA IV than Rockstar wants us to believe. Just strip out the city, cars, and modern look of GTA IV and plop in an old west setting and you have Red Dead Redemption. Ok, in all fairness RDR does have some new innovations but the gameplay itself will be extrememly familiar to any GTA IV player. Is that a bad thing? Not at all! Unless you hated GTA IV, of course.
I like to skip the plot in reviews and skip all of the story telling. It's something the game player should experience from scratch so I'd hate to ruin that. I'll just say that you're a former gang member and you're in the wild west. That's all you need to know. Whether you're rescuing someone from a pack of coyotes or murdering a camper in the middle of no where, you'll be having fun.
So let's get to some new things, as well as the pro's and con's of the game.
The first thing I want to talk about is the horse riding. You'll love it and you'll hate it, but the most important point is you'll have to use it. Walking, and running, can be painfully long in this game so you'll always need a horse. For this reason... I hope you like riding a horse. You have the ability to ALWAYS whistle your horse to come to you no matter what remote area you're stuck in. Assuming he's alive then your horse will magically find you. Pretty lame but you'll see that it's pretty necessary too.
The horse physics and graphics are amazing. Simple running, galloping and trotting a horse is very fun and feels very natural. The frustrating feel of turning a horse around feels natural too. Generally speaking, you will like riding a horse.
What you won't like is the horrible steering of the horse when you're aiming your gun. Your horse will veer off into the strangest directions. Also, stopping your horse can be a pain because you expect that letting off the 'go horse' button would cause the horse to stop but no, you need to hit to 'stop horse' button if you want to stop quickly. I'm sure I'll get used to it but it's strange feeling right now. Some may say its no different than hitting the brakes for a car but trust me - its different.
The graphics are more beautiful than GTAIV. The people, the terrain and buildings all look very realistic. Also, the framerate is better than GTA IV, which is a relief.
Characters are very well done, and so is the voice acting.
The game also allows you to level up which didn't happen in GTA IV. I haven't explored it too much but its there. As for your horse: Stick with your horse! It levels up, too. So don't grab every horse you see and start with a new horse every time. Keep your horse alive and use it and only it. (Edit: After playing a little longer, and having to switch horses several times, it seems like the breed of horse means more than anything)
You also need to pay attention to your Fame and Honor meters. These two meters play a role in how people view and interact with you. If you're bad then bad people like you, if you're good then good people like you. Same with how famous you are. I have no clue how much this affects the game overall but it's something you need to pay attention to.
Gun play is awesome, as expected. The sounds are crisp and the aiming is fun. Like GTA IV, 'Normal' difficulty has to auto-aim ability that pinpoints your target for you. Sort of lame but there is no denying that its difficult to aim in these third person games. Animations of death, especially killing animals, is really nice looking.
Speaking of killing animals... It's a blast. No pun intended. Killing animals and skinning them, or taking something else from them, is how you gain money. You take what you find and sell it at a store. It makes going out and hunting pretty fun. What's even more exciting is is the diversity of the animals. Deer are exciting to kill as you ride on your horse behind one and try to aim perfectly to kill it. Birds are a rewarding challenge to kill. Mountain lions can end your day in two seconds if you let one sneak up from behind and trust me - it will happen to you.
There is a new aim function called 'Dead-Eye'. It's really neat and it's not so overly available as to ruin the game. Basically you have Dead-Eye meter, and if its not empty then you can perform Dead-Eye. This is the art of slowing time to a crawl and executing shots as quickly as you can. It's really neat. I have found it can help with hunting deer and birds especially but, most importantly, it can help you kill a bunch of bad guys when you're in a tough spot where it seems impossible to survive. Remember, Dead-Eye has a limit, based on your Dead-Eye meter, so only use it when you're sure its a good time to use it! In other words don't use it to kill birds right before you attack a gang. Duh.
The towns are beautiful but, after a few hours, you start to think they're just a bit too small. Ok, its the wild west and not Liberty City, of course its not big and populated. But I guess I expected towns to also have a bunch of homes surrounding them, and a very populated main street. Instead towns are just a main road basically, and I haven't found any residential type areas. I don't know if I'm expecting too much, but I liked in GTA IV how there were many chunks of the city dedicated to homes and apartments. It gave a realistic feel. I suppose in RDR we can assume EVERYONE lives far away on their own ranch, out of town, but it seems like we should be seeing more homes and ranches. Same with the main roads in towns... Not very busy. There are people, including in saloons, but I was hoping for hordes of people in the middle of town. Anyways, you won't be disappointed but you might start nit-picking like I do.
The game is big and the terrain is beautiful. If played Just Cause 2 then NO, this game isn't nearly THAT big... The mountains aren't nearly THAT high... But the game is big, much larger than Liberty City, and terrain changes nicely based on elevation. Also, the animals change based on terrain also. Night and day are extremely different, and beautiful.
I like how random things are thrown into an otherwise empty and deserted world. You can find random camp spots where hunters or gatherers will challenge you to a contest. You'll also find poker, blackjack, and other small contests available. One thing I loved was seeing a woman running for her life from a pack of coyotes. It was random and felt real. I took off after her on my horse and picked off the coyotes, using Dead-Eye, at the last second. I felt like a hero, and I gained a little in the 'Honor' meter.
One big gripe is there is no catch-all 'Push' button like GTA IV had. yes, you can switch your weapon to your fists and punch people, but that's too in-your-face blatant. I loved GTA IV's push button that allowed you to knock people down without actually getting into trouble every time. Also, in GTA IV you could kill people by bumping them a lot without actually hitting them, allowing you to escape cops, but not in RDR. It doesn't appear bumping and knocking them down kills them.
Another big gripe is the negativity involved in doing something bad. (Edit: After playing longer, I see there is a way to avoid being an outlaw when you commit crimes. I'll let you figure it out...) If you kill a person your Honor decreases considerably, and trust me, it's easy to find a reason to kill someone. You have to restrain yourself. Also, sheriffs come after you so so easily, and citizens can also be witnesses to your crimes which causes you more problems. Sheriffs are crack shots too, so watch out! You can pay your way out of your warrants but it gets expensive fast. Overall RDR pushes the Nice Guy role on your very agressively and I had hoped for a little more freedom in causing trouble.
Also, the 'weapon wheel' thingy that is basically your weapon menu is a pain to use when you need it quickly. I died a few times trying to select the right weapon.
I highly recommend anyone who likes open-world play to get this game. Especially those that liked GTA 4 or Just Cause 2. This game is another big step in the right direction.
Verdict: 9.5... Get it.
Pros: Graphics, sound, gun use and dead-eye, size, animal hunting and deadly animals that hunt you, characters and voice, random events, understandable and fun story, open world
Cons: Some of the horse riding, gun selector, lack of a mass of people and residential structures, lack of push-people button, hardcore law enforcement, some terrain pop-in issues