Incredibly ambitious title with an amazing story, but the glitches are a massive hurdle to overcome towards enjoying it.
In Red Dead Redemption the story finds you controlling John Marsten. The story opens with Mr. Marsten riding to Fort Mercer to confront a man from his past, a former gang member that he used to regard as a borther but now must bring to justice. The man, Bill Williamson (how imaginative), shoots Marsten and leaves him for dead. A passing couple finds him and take his unconcious body to get help. He wakes up on the Macfarlane ranch, run by Bonnie and her father, Drew. This is the beginning to Red Dead Redemption's strongest asset, its incredible story. The basic point of the story itself is that John Marsten's family has been "secured" by government officials who are now using him to track down the former members of his old gang so he can bring them to justice. Aside from vaguely masked threats concerning the well-being of his family the government officials also apply leverage in the form of prosecuting him for his former life of crime. The story unfolds as Mr. Marsten's appointed errands take him from a generic southwestern border state to Mexico, to a more "civilized" northern area. The ultimate end of this narrative is when John and his government associates take out the gang's leader, Dutch. As I said before, the story is this game's greatest point. It drives the action and makes you want to keep playing. After this narrative has finished John's family is returned to him and then you have the arduous task of rebuilding his farm.
The cast of characters is peopled with digital deniznes that truly bring the story to life. They meld beautifully and play well off eachother. Often times the line between good guy and bad guy is incredibly blurry and on both sides of the fence you see characters who parallel and mirror people from Marsten's old life of crime.
As far as the weaons are concerned, it's largely period correct. The game takes place in the year 1911 and at some point you will get your hands on the new .45 caliber Colt automatic pistol. You get to carry a regular or repeating rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, a pistol, a thrown weapon, a melee knife, your fists, and the toekn lasso. Each of these slots (except melee knife and lasso) have multiple types of each weapon. Each of these weapons have their own strengths and weaknesses and are usually diverse enough that each player can find their own favorites and weapons apporpriate for each situation. The lasso allows players to hogtie targets. Reasons for this include things like night watch and bounty hunter jobs and I'll go into detail about them later. Rockstar aimed (pun not intended) the targeting system at the more experienced players who were probably turned off by the GTA IV target system. This system (even on its easiest setting) is very very light on auto-targeting, allowing more skilled players to aim without having to half-hold a button. This is obviously excellent news for players who prefer the freedom to weild the right stick as they feel fit. For players like myself this is the first negative point of the game. I have MS and my coordination isn't up to snuff with most other gamers. I have some issues weilding firearms with the right stick and prefer the use of sound targeting assistance. I was able to make due but I had several moments that made me sweat. Another big gripe is the lasso. Often when he pulls it out to use it there's a few moments where he has to get it going so that when he tosses it it doesn't just fall in front of him. This leads to some awkward moments during bounty hunter or night watch jobs when Marsten is winding up and the criminal is just unloading in your face. Often times they will bring you to the edge of death. It's horrid and leads to a lot of frustration.
Fortunately you can heal yourself mid fight and getting the healing aid pauses the fight. You press the button to access your bag and then you can get the medicine from there. There is no health bar on screen and instead the screen gets darker the closer you get to death.
Another aid to players isn't truly visible. The game seems to actively curve its difficulty. If you fail a mission for any reason when you retry them they are always easier. This helps eliminate the issue of constantly playing the same mission over and over, only to fall at the same spot repeatedly. I enjoy this feature, helping to take the edge off of my reaction to failing a mission. It also helps because sometimes the failures are the result of glitches. If the mission doesn't play out exactly the same way next time then it's much less likely that you can fall prey to that glitch again.
The game's H. U. D. is pretty minimal. The lower left corner has a minimap falnked by two meters. The meter on the right is your "Dead-Eye" meter and the one on the left is the horse stamina meter. The Dead-Eye feature is another of those Max Payne-esque slow-mo features that slows everything down so you can flex your marksmanship muscles and shoot targets in a narrower window of time. This is particularly handy when you have a criminal holding a civilian hostage and you need to get off an accurate shot to save him or her. The horse stamina allows the horse to gallop at a faster rate of speed. If you keep pressing the gallop button it gradually depletes the stamina meter. When you get a new horse the meter isn't 100% full. It takes time and you have to earn the trust of your mount. Then the meter gets to 100% and your horse can gallop for a longer period of time.
This brings another set of glitches. The horse controls are particualrly difficult. The biggest issue is that the over-all feel of controlling a horse is clunky and incredibly awkward. Turning, even at low speeds, is hard and it seems almost impossible to stop the horse from a gallop, even if you start in advance, which common sense dictates is the obvious way to do it. Then you stop the horse, get off of it, and it starts wealking away. It's incredibly annoying and more than a little frustrating. Then, once you get a horse that is loyal to you, you can call it to you. This is more than a little frustrating. The horse will often gallop past you at full speed and then when you turn to follow it and mount up, it will keep running from you. I'm sure it is just trying to allow you to run along side it and mount so you can take off more quickly, but more often than not the horse just runs away from you. I've also had times when I've called the horse to me and it got itself stuck in a corner instead of coming to me. I had called it to me from that location before and it responded and found me well enough. Normally, to keep the horse alive in a fire fight it will retreat from the shooting. I've had two horses thus far wander into a fire fight and in the case of the first one, I accidentally nailed it in the face with a sawed-off shotgun. The second time a hail of gunfire from opposing revolvers insured that I would never ride that horse again. Again, it's something to help knock the polish off the final product.
Now we get to those little nuggets of joy that Rockstar's open-world titles are famous for, those little things that help to guarantee that you will keep playing this game, the side missions and extra activities. These are diverse. You can gamble, win or lose a fortune of in-game currency playing Black Jack, Texas Hold 'Em Style Poker, Five Finger Fillet (stabbing the knife between your fingers faster and more accurately than your opponent), Horseshoes, Liar's Dice, and Arm Wrestling. These games have multiple places to play them all over the game world. These games have times that they can be played, and sometimes you can approach a black jack or poker table with no game to play.
Ala GTA IV, RDR features "Stranger Missons". In the course of Mr. Marsten's travels he comes across people who often need his help. Among others you can find a woman in a church, praying because she was a nanny for a family in the town and she became "intimate" with the man of the hosue. The lady of the house kicked her out because she was carrying the man's child. She needs you to go find this man and get some money for her and her baby. Another is an ambitious man who is attempting to construct a glider. He needs ingredients to make the adhesive holding the skin on the wings of his glider. These are interesting enough. Some of them have multiple encounters to unfold their story lines.
Periodically each town features its share of wanted posters. After viewing these posters to learn where to find this person you can take off after them. Each bounty has the option to take them dead or alive. Obviously, the live bounties are worth more. In the case of this title, twice as much. Each bounty is encamped with the members of their gangs. You have to shoot your way through these reenforcements before you can make your choice with the bounty. You can lasso and hogtie them to bring them back alive or shoot them and loot proof that you killed them. Either way, your return trip is fraught with peril. More members of the criminal's gang are trying to stop you and/or avenge their fallen brother. Waves of baddies will assail you as you travel back to each town to claim your reward. This ushered in another glitch I experienced. At one point the attacking gang members failed to kill me but they offed my horse. The horse went over the edge of a cliff. The hogtied villain landed on an out-cropping of rock about halfway down the cliffside, I went all the way down. It took me roughly 25 minutes to get the bounty back. All the while I had to fend off wave after wave of opposition. Another awkward glitch during a bounty occured when I hogtied the bounty and proceeded to try to put him on the back of my horse to ride him back into town. No matter where I stood with the bounty in relation to my horse I was unable to place him on the animal. I moved around, calling the horse to get it into a more open space, but to no avail. I decided to put the bounty down and mount my horse to move it myself and try again. I was unable to pick up the bounty again, he was glitched in place. I had to shoot him and take back proof I had killed him. Again, more chips missing in the finish.
Another step to 100% completion are the Outfits. Mr. Marston can get various outfits which relate to his adventures. Some of these have several steps to acquire them. I haven't seen any real glitches with these, but I am not a massive fan of this title so I don't feel the need to score 100%.
Lastly, the game offers "Challenges". These are initially hidden. You have to perform specific acts, all of which you will perform in the course of the story, to start them. Each of these have 10 levels and you can perform them at your own pace, sometimes during missions! They are at least partially restricted by how much of the frontier you've unlocked. These are deep enough and fun and challenging to pursue. They also form another step towards 100%. Each one has its own rewards and completing all 10 levels of all 4 challenges grants you the "Legend of the West" outfit. These challenges are Master Hunter, Survivalist, Treasure Hunter, and Sharpshooter.
Master Hunter allows you to flex your skills, not only in shooting but in strength. You have to kill certain animals, often with certain weapons and collect their hides. These start easily enough then get tough. Later levels include having to kill a bear with your knife and to hunt and kill several "Legendary" creatures. These are bigger, stronger versions of regular animals that you must hunt and kill. For the ones that require so many hides they have the stipulation "in addition to those you already have." This means you have to work for it. Of course the number of pelts is always the same as the number of each animal you have to kill (in the case of those that call for a specific method of execution) so it's not a big deal, just something to make sure you play it exactly the way they want you to play it. Also, skinning the animals also gives you their meat. Upon completion of level 10 you can make the meat into victuals. These are another provision you can carry to give you health when you need it.
Survivalist finds Mr. Marston collecting quantities of various herbs throughout the countryside. These toss in the qualifier "In addition to those you already have". This means that you can't just randomly collect a ton of everything and just watch it skip over multiple levels since you already hit the desired number of each plant. Each challenge tells you where to find the plant so the blind wandering isn't as bad as it could be. Upon completion of this challenge you can use the plants to make items you can consume to replenish your Dead Eye meter.
Sharpshooter has Marston flexing his marksmanship. These get quite challenging by the end. Later levels have you shooting the hats off of people (best done during gang hideout events), killing multiple animals without reloading, and disarming (not killing) multiple enemies without reloading. Your reward for this is that the Dead Eye meter fills more quickly.
Treasue hunter has Marston searching for caches of gold bullion. These are started by rescuing a treasure hunter who is pinned down by muggers. He is greatful for the aid and doesn't want to chase treasures anymore. He gives you Marsten's first treasure map. These maps are simple sketches that depict certain landmarks near which you can find the boxes with the treasure. All of these boxes contain a single gold bar (the last of which is worth $700) and the map to the next treasure. All of these treasures are a single red box under a pile of yellowish stones. Some of them are difficult, some of them are incredibly simple. The final reward (aside from a few thousand dollars for selling the gold bars) is a treause hunter's satchel. This pack allows you to carry twice as many provisions as before.
There are also gang hideout events. These are cool little events that you trigger by getting near them. Each of these little events feature their own requirements and methods of killing the gangs. One in Mexico has you using Molitov cocktails to torch the buildings in the area. Again, these are more rungs in the ladder to 100%.
Lastly, what western game would be complete without duels? Draw, pilgrim! These are interesting. These are triggers because as your fame grows you get people who want a piece of you. In each town, people will step forward and call you out. If you accept the dual you will be prompted to step into the street to have it out. When you draw it triggers something like Dead Eye mode. You manullay control a fluctuating reticle. The tighter this reticle is, the more accurate the shot will be. You can often win duels by disarming them. You merely place an accurate shot on their weapon and they will drop it and run away, rasping their hands in pain.
All in all this game is terrifically ambitious. It features an excellent story with great characters. It offers up some lengthy play time and the game world is huge. The extras are as good as you can expect from Rockstar and help to give you even more things to do. The problem is that this title is so bogged down with glitches, the smaller of which are almost constant and the greater of which are still too prevalent, for me to really enjoy it. I want to like this game. I just can't. It lacks the polish that makes other Rockstar open-world titles so popular. I'm not saying that titles like GTA IV are perfect. I am saying that the glitches in GTA IV are not as obvious nor do they occur anywhere near as often as they do in RDR. I'm actually having some trouble seeing how this game was so well recieved. Yes it was an incredible attempt, but the glitches are so frustrating that I couldn't enjoy it. I'm not a huge fan of westerns either but this game's story is incredible. Those glitches just destroyed my desire to do much more than finish the story.