Not Casual

Somewhere there’s a picture of me in a cowboy hat and poncho outside a Saloon.  You’ll probably never see it.  I’ve since lost the cowboy hat.

You see, I love Westerns.  From The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Pale Rider, to Blazing Saddles and Back to the Future part 3.  There’s something about the rugged lifestyle out on the frontier that calls to me, must be why I’m partial to country music as well… hmmm…

Now I love Red Dead Redemption.

To get it out of the road Red Dead Redemption does bear more than a passing similarity to Rock Star’s other great franchise Grand Theft Auto.  This is not a bad thing, and is as good a place as any to start.  If you enjoyed Grand Theft Auto you’re going to feel at home pretty quickly in Red Dead.

The first thing that strikes you with this game is the ambience.  From the Saloon in town with the hitching post outside to nights spent in a tumbleweed strewn plain underneath a starry sky, absolutely everything about this game screams Western.  Music is subdued and used is used in the same fashion as the spaghetti westerns, invoking a sense of loneliness when out in the wilds and camaraderie whilst in settlements.

The next thing that strikes you is the breadth of the game play. This isn’t a just a third person shooter.  So far I’ve been racing horses, capturing and breaking in horses, driving wagons into town and gunning down bandits at a farm.  One of my personal favourites has been rounding up the herd in the middle of a storm to guide them safely back to the ranch.

The main character is likeable, and in typical Rockstar tradition, is trying to atone for his flaws, whilst spiralling further into trouble.  He’s well acted and fits in perfectly with the rest of the cast, it’s one of the main reasons that this game feels so authentically wild west.

As always Rockstar does a great job of introducing you to the world and getting you into the game proper as quickly as possible.  The Grand Theft Auto style gameplay allows the perfect blend of structured story play and freedom to go off and do your own thing.  Red Dead also get’s rid of one of the most annoying aspects of GTA IV by not having a mobile phone for drunken cousins to pester you on.

Another one of GTA’s issues that’s been resolved (more or less) is combat.  Auto-targeting works well and allows you to see quickly what you’re targeting.  You can then either shoot or move the stick to tweak your aim as appropriate.  The default target seems to be for the chest shot, and I found myself easily able to quickly push the crosshair up for a head shot when I wanted to put people down for good, or down to get a crippling leg shot if I wanted to take somebody alive.

Ultimately Red Dead Redemption feels like an evolution of GTA.  It’s taken it to a new genre, refreshed it, and cleaned it up.  It’s hooked me in and I can’t wait to be playing it again.

If Buy, Rent, Avoid is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly I’m putting my money on Clint Eastwood every time.

Oh, and whilst I’ve lost the cowboy hat I still have the poncho…

Tags: cowboy, reddeadredemption, rockstar, western, Xbox

Categories: Uncategorized, Xbox

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