Red Dead Redemption (RDR) is an entertaining game, I'll give you that. Even when you realize it's just GTA IV in a giant, dusty park. It isn't even worth talking about what you can do in RDR since if you've played any of the GTA series, you know exactly how the game works. I'll try to stick to the ways RDR isn't GTA.
Here's a brief overview of how the game is driven... You have story related mission sources, side missions, and random encounters. The mission sources eventually present new sources and then exhaust themselves, and eventually unlock other areas of the map (just like EVERY GTA game ever). The side missions are by no means necessary, but can be entertaining. The only thing that is new is the random encounters. About every three or four seconds you'll see a blue dot on the mini map that will either be some crying for help or trying to pull you off your horse, only to be shot in the back as they utterly fail at making fun of you for being a "green horn". The cries for help vary, however, between retrieving/saving a cart/horse/wife/criminal and killing people.
Come to think of it... No matter what you do, you will always have to choose between killing people or tying them up with an infinite supply of rope. Which makes me assume the Jon Marsden is half spider. He pulls rope out of his ass all day long. You'll happen upon a LOT of law men with broken legs shouting not unlike Yosemite Sam (minus the guns firing) who have just had their prisoners escape. You can either a) kill them, or b) lasso, hogtie, and return them to the cop who will put a bullet in them anyway. Really the only reason you'll ever lasso someone or something is because people pay better to get criminals "alive" rather than dead. Oh, and dead people drop ammo and cash, so it's often more time efficient and cash efficient to drop them and take what they had.
RDR features the same tried and true good/bad system that you find in every RPG these days. You gain honor and you're a good guy, you lose it and you're a bad guy. I'm sure you can figure out exactly HOW to gain or lose it. Remember though, Jon Marsden is an outlaw, so it doesn't matter how you do things as long as the job gets done (unless you fail the mission, then don't be bad that time!). All decisions are basic moral choices and you'll rarely, if ever, feel 'tricked' into making a wrong decision. If they don't give you missions, they're expendable.
There is also a "Fame" meter which only goes up. You can do all sorts of things to modify the fame meter like shooting a guys hat off his head just prior to disarming him and emptying his brain cage during a duel. Or helping some lady get her cart back from those nasty thieves.
There is also a small list of in-game 'achievements' that if you fulfill to some degree, grant you certain abilities that make the game a bit easier. These relate to hunting, sharpshooting, gathering, and maybe some others that I haven't noticed or cared to do. Make no mistakes, these are all quests from World of Warcraft.
Once you've surrendered to the fact that all the missions are the same as GTA you can easily push away the very cloned plot mechanic by looking at the amazing art. RDR is gorgeous no matter what you do. This means a lot coming from me, too. I've always detested "Ole West" movies and themes (with the exception of "Tombstone"). They're dirty, arid, sweaty, dusty movies. I hate LOOKING at these movies because they just grate on me. If they have a plot, it's never enough to draw me in and get past the dust.
RDR is beautiful. Even the dust. The shanty towns that are scattered around "New Austin" and parts of Mexico are ugly makeshift dwellings and I think they're wonderful. I don't know how Rockstar did it but I actually enjoy being in this environment.
I was half surprised and half in awe the first time a cougar ate my horse and killed me. Just like in real life if you're very sharp-eyed you can see them stalking you. Unlike in real life, the cougars are quite menacing. The animals in RDR are great. They all seem to do their thing until you impose upon their space. Deer and other prey animals prance away, horse gangs run free, wolves attack in packs. It's great.
RDR's gameplay was described to me by a friend as "at first it seems horrible, but then you get used to it and it feels like there isn't any other way to do it." I tend to agree. I'm sure I'd like to tweak things a bit, but for the most part the game controls are very solid. They start of incredibly confusing, and there is no tutorial (I have very mixed feelings about tutorials. Games that shift the control paradigm need them, games that are stander FPS or ThirdPSs do not need tutorials). So if you don't notice something (like how to use Dead Eye mode) and just shoot the dumb rabbits with the incredibly easy to use NORMAL aim mode, then you haven't a clue that there even IS a Dead Eye mode. Until you can't pass missions involving VERY precise shooting that you couldn't hope to do without the time-slowing Dead Eye mode. If you're one of those people, click down the right stick when aiming your gun. There, that's it.
Oh, wait, no. That ISN'T it. Apparently there are three 'modes' or 'levels'. I've been trying to locate information regarding the levels online or otherwise and, well, failing. I haven't a clue. I know what they ARE, I just can't use them as I see fit. One of them just plops x's all over your target and then fires when there are a lot of x's. Another is used for duels. The third seems to be like the first, except now you pick your target points. Here is my major gripe. In DUELS you pull the RTrigger to select spots and wait for the time to be 'up' to have Jon auto-fire all the selected locations. However in the 'third' mode, you use the RBumper to select and the trigger to finalize and he shoots like mad. I prefer the second method since the aiming is a bit more precise and pulling on the RTrigger in duel mode doesn't seem to work well... or at all. Perhaps I just suck at dueling. I'm okay with that.
Travel in RDR has been made easy with fast traveling. Just like a taxi in Liberty City you can travel from town to town and get the choice of experiencing the journey or skipping it. You can also fast travel from a campsite to anywhere you've been before which saves a LOT of tapping A constantly on a horse or cart. You can also get on a train if it happens to be heading in a useful direction (HINT: It's NOT).
Horses are very cool. Each horse has a subtle AI that makes them seem alive. Every horse has a personality. You can buy them or break them and 'hitch' one to save it. That's it. You have a one space garage. But it's okay because there are only three levels of horses distinguished primarily by their speed. You find a faster horse, you keep it. You don't have any use for slower horses, so you can leave them or shoot them (and lose some of your precious honor...).
There you have it. Horse around, hogtie and/or kill people. That is RDR. Oh, and there is some gambling. RDR does it's part in catering to America's odd fascination with Texas Hold'em. Throws in some blackjack, arm wrestling, horseshoes, liar's dice and "five finger fillet" (the game where you put your hand on a table and repeatedly attempt to not amputate your own fingers) and you have everything there is to do in a gigantic and beautiful rendition of the Old West.
...I've read over the previous a few times and can't seem to think of anything I'm missing, and I don't think I can come up with anything else to say about RDR. It's a very solid GTA: Old West. I have yet to do anything with multiplayer and I haven't finished the game. If I get into the multiplayer (which may never happen, as I continue to detest online play) or finish the game, I may post an addendum or continuation of this review.
I will say that I've 'learned' a lot from RDR. First off is that the Old West was filled with cannibals. Apparently they were quite common. The second is that there is NO REASON the West was ever 'civilized' what with the CONSTANT gunfire, prostitutes being murdered, farmsteads being raised to the ground, and outlaw gangs taking over forts!
I'm quite glad I borrowed RDR from a buddy (and very thankful, too). It's not a game I would have been happy with at full price. I will admit that I would be more than happy to do some multiplayer (in the same house) to experience some of those parts of the game.
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