The best western videogame ever made, and one of the best third person shooters ever made.
The sound of RDR is superb, as stated earlier- this has some of the best voice over acting I have heard in a video game. Props to the voice actor of John Marston- the player character. It does not sound over the top in its southern/western style accent and it gives just enough emotion to make it extremely believable. The ambient sounds of birds, and other animals is well done, nothing is more frightening than a rabid cougar screaming as it leaps out of nowhere to pounce on you. The sounds of gunfire is believable and gives the guns you shoot some "oomph". Overall the sound is superb.
The graphics are a sight to behold. The lighting is the best aspect of the graphics and the shadows move according to the sun in real time through every tree and leaf to produce awe-inspiring realism. When you go to the "Tall Trees" region in the north when the sun is setting- you'll see what I mean. The character models are very well created and their faces respond non verbally so it gives them a non plastic/dead look. There really is not too much to say about the graphics except that they are exceptional and run at around 30 frames a second.
The game play is very similar to grand theft auto- but surprisingly it seems to work better in this type of video game! You can skip most missions if you want to and just free roam around and shoot animals for challenges, collect herbs for challenges, play card games, and go on murderous rampages and decimate small towns scattered across the beautiful landscape. New to the formula though is the presence of a "morality meter" similar to Fallout 3. It is not as strict or concrete as Fallout's and it is much easier to change being "good" or "bad". The only real thing this effects in game play is things like store discounts, less people reporting your crimes, etc. Another similar aspect to Fallout 3 is the slow mo targeting system similar to VATS, but it is always 100 percent accurate- which can make some of the missions a little bit too easy.
Multiplayer is included in RDR and it works similar to that of Modern Warfare 2. You rank up from xp all the way to level 50 through doing things like ambient challenges, playing death match or capture the flag style games or many other ways. It is possible to just play a free roam multiplayer and group with a few friends and just ride around doing whatever- shooting animals, people, or raiding caves. Multiplayer is not something I played too much on, but what I did play was fun and people will love this as it extends the replay value immensely.
You are looking at a 20 hour game not rushing to just complete the single player main story line. 30 to 40 easily to reach 100% completion rank. The added multiplayer can extend that time indefinitely so this is a great game for your hard earned money. Overall this is a game I highly reccomend- it is much better than GTA4 and is one of the best free roam games ever and the best western game ever made. Buy it!