Red Dead Redemption
You play as former Outlaw John Marston and the year is 1911, the old ways of the West are dying out as the early 20th century technology starts to encroach further and further into the old territories, changing the landscape as transport and communications rely more on the new technologies and the old ways are silently moved further into the past.
GRAPHICS:
With any Rockstar game you expect good visuals, whether it is new York remodelled as Liberty City for GTA 4, or taken back to the late 70's for the Warriors. The old west for Red Dead Redemption boasts some of the most impressive visuals you will see for such a expansive open world. The red sunsets falling on the lake near Blackwater cast a eerie red tint to the water as you ride down into town, or you can stand atop a huge mountain and look down on the surrounding scenery that streches on as far as the eye can see. But as if that is not enough you have some of the most beautifully rendered horses ever, thee realistic definition of their muscles and movement is incredible and looks so good.
GAMEPLAY:
I found the gameplay a tad easy and even with auto aim on the middle setting it was maybe not as challenging as it could have been but sure if your a real hardcore gamer you'd have found turning it off completely makes the game very satisfactory. of course it's not all about aiming, but the weapons at your disposal, and the story missions. And that is of course something Rockstar do better than most, there is a fair mix of gameplay styles that mix riding, shooting, fighting etc to keep you wanting to play, but if you decide you want to have a break there is so much else to do. There are profession mastery tasks you can undertake to give you some nice bonuses as you level them, which also provide you with much needed money for ammunition, weapons and whatever else you would wish to buy from the stores, or you could work for the law and take part in bounties, dead or alive the difference in reward matters, and of course also helps towards how people view you, and also there is horse breaking, hunting (and if your not too carful being hunted by certain animals).
STORY:
You do expect good stories with any Rockstar open world game and Red Dead Redemption does not disappoint, depending on your skill level the story is usually about 20 hours of length, although I may have been a fair bit slower as you do get distracted more often than not. As John Marston you must kill your former friend and fellow gang member Bill Williamson but first will need to do tasks for various people to slowly gain their trust and gain the information you require to get closer to Bill and finally Dutch. The ending is a epic ending and of course is a huge swerve, which was a brave move by Rockstar and also slightly sad, something which seemed appropriate given the times and mind set of the people your working for.
I am not going to review multiplayer online, this review is based solely on the single player aspects of the game because I am not really one for online play and my opinion of multiplayer is going to be more negative than most and less unobtrusive.