In the wake of the unstoppable train that is red dead redemption 2, I feel that it is important to remember the one that made this level of grander possible, Red Dead Redemption. There are many different levels from which to look at the hit game from Rockstar, but for my money, I would say that it is the best Cowboy movie never made.
I say this for many reasons and I hope to remind you of the great original game that spawned what is and what will probably be a hit game for years. One reason for this is that it is a fairly original story that is a classic. The general vibe of the western was usually written for one of two characters, the lawman or the outlaw. The lawman was fairly obvious, a character who was sometimes a marshal or a sheriff that was to represent the law and stop the bad guys. The outlaw was the opposite, a character who was driven by a selfish motivation to gain riches and infamy. Sometimes these could be crossed or altered by the use of a bounty hunter or a vengeance-driven civilian.
When you enter the world of Red Dead Redemption you are dropped into the life of John Marston. A man who has had his family ripped away from him and the only way for them to get them back is to hunt down the members of his old gang. Right off the bat, there is a definite singular feeling to this story. John is an outlaw who has to do the dirty work of the alleged good guys not for money or choice but because he is forced to. This paradox only continues as John is aided by lawmen, law-abiding civilian, and criminals throughout his mission. He embarks on a mission that he doesn’t really care about so long as he gets his family back.
The next great thing about the game is the feeling of combat in the shootouts. Even putting aside the dead eye system which we will get to in a little bit, there is a palpable feeling when it comes to gunslinging in the game. Whether it be an ambush that you perform to try and get loot to a random encounter in a city street there is a feeling of weight and action to your decision. This can be as simple as your dedicated weapon, whether it be a pistol or a rifle. To the motion of your character bouncing up and down on a horse during a chase.
Now comes the discussion about Dead eye, the infamous power that if used correctly can make your character the best gunslinger in the west. The ability to slow time in any game is useful, fun, and helpful. The difference here is that it is not only useful but also necessary in different parts of the games. The easiest example is when you are challenged to a duel, in this situation you will have to use dead eye to win the duel against your opponent. While I love the setups for these I have never been the fastest gun in the west. The next best way to use this is one that I am very good at, the last minute save. This could be saving somebody from being hung to stopping armed robbers. There is a great feeling that comes with being the hero in these situations, just like a western fantasy.
This leads me to the next achievement of this game that has been far improved upon in the sequel. The world is large, large enough that it can feel like an epic adventure to traverse the whole thing but not so large that it becomes boring. The life and diversity that is spread throughout the map help keep you entertained and can actually create separate goals for both short and long-term play. For example, you could be pursuing the hunter’s challenges and that could take you from one corner of the map to the other to find a specific. Or maybe you would be traveling between towns and find a prison transport where the prisoners have escaped. You don’t have to do this but doing so is a fun little distraction that can earn you some extra cash.
The world also reacts to your choices based on Both your fame and reputation. If you are famous or infamous will determine how the people react to you. This concept is applied to the reputation system as well and will determine how both the law and the regular folk will treat your actions and crimes. These two systems do not seem to affect the story directly but will affect the ease at which you can complete the missions.
there is also a is also a great deal of customization to your gameplay, just not in a traditional way. The way you customize your look is through picking different outfits to wear. Sometimes these outfits have special traits or abilities. You can also purchase new horses that have different colors, patterns, and stamina. The customization in this game is not as extensive as in other games because you are really customizing for a preexisting story.
The last thing that I wanted to talk about in this article was the cheats that you could use during the game. Rockstar always includes cheats that you can enter into the game for great effects. Even better is that while this does disable your cheats and autosave, it does not shut down your regular saves. This means that you can use the cheats in the game, finish a mission or set of missions, and then physical save your progress in the game. Some of the cheats that you can use include unlocking weapon sets so you don’t have to buy them. Giving yourself a free a free horse or carriage. You can even make yourself invincible and give yourself unlimited dead eye to make the game both easier and awesome.
So if you want an awesome western game that has great action and an emotional story, Red Dead Redemption is your game. Whether you’re playing the second game or not, this is a game worth going back to. Want to try it for your self here’s a link to the game on Amazon,Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition – Xbox One and Xbox 360
Red Dead cover art from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/red-dead-redemption/bwklfhwt7dhc?activetab=pivot:overviewtab
The Multiverse Man 