User blog:AnBasement/Red Dead Redemption reviewed

I told you it was coming, and here it is. Enjoy. Any comments appreciated.

Your name is John Marston. You're an outlaw-gone-rancher, that simply wants to live the simple life with your wife and son. The Suits, however, wants something from you. You are to find and take out the very people you used to ride with when you were an outlaw. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Well, it isn't.

Red Dead Redemption isn't the first game in the Red Dead series. Some of you might never even have heard of Red Dead Revolver, a game developed by Rockstar San Diego and released back in '04 for the PS2 and the Xbox. It was not the revolutionary, amazing game that it's sequel would prove to be, but it got decent scores. Sadly, it never really got the attention it deserved.

Six years later, Red Dead Redemption is released, to the joy of thousands of eager gamers. Everyone agreed that the game was one of the best games released to date.

The game uses the same engine used in GTA IV, the Euphoria game engine. It plays well, and the few bugs there are are mostly amusing ones, like flying cows or cougar-men. That is, unless you move over to multiplayer, but more on that later.

Graphically, the game is a treat for the eye. I can honestly say that I have absolutely no complaints about the graphics. The character models are excellently crafted, and look simply beautiful, whether they're rugged bandits or skanky whores. Or fat Mexicans. Or dumb Americans. Or drunk Irishmen. The weapons models are like exact replicas of their real-life brothers, and look beautiful. I'm sure any gun nut would get a mental erection. Lastly, the landscape, oh the landscape! If you're boring, you might be one of those using fast travel or transport whenever you're going somewhere not forty yards from where you're standing, but if you want to get the most out of this game, you'll ride your horse there. Whether you're in the snowy mountains north of Tall Trees, on the Great Plains, or, well, pretty much anywhere in Mexico, the landscape looks absolutely fantastic. In addition, you'll be treated to wildlife wherever you go, be it ferocious wolves or innocent... skunks.

What really captivates me, though, is the great story. Be it the main storyline or the Stranger missions you'll find scattered around the entire game, I was engulfed in the story at all points. Picking flowers, killing Mexicans, shooting crows, it's all good fun. I especially enjoyed the variation in missions you go through. From herding cows and breaking horses to... killing everything, really. You meat some great personalities along the way, from the woman in a man's world, Bonnie, to Seth, a man that prefers the company of the dead rather than the living. Oh, and no characters are shallow. They've all got their own individual stories, that eventually leads up to their meeting with you, Mr. Marston.

By now, you should've realized that I love the single player in the game. Would it surprise you if I said I love the multiplayer equally much? 'Cus I do.

It needs to be said, though, that I haven't played the multiplayer a lot. The connectivity issues have kept me from playing with most of my friends while in Private Free Roam, and I can't connect to Public Free Roam. But, the little I've played, was amazing.

In Free Roam, you are free to do pretty much whatever it want. Be it killing everyone in Armadillo, or kill a lot of bad guys over in Tumbleweed. You can ride alone, as a Lone Wolf, or you can join up with a lot of your friends to form a Posse. Whether you're an outlaw or a hero is up to you, you can do whatever you want. There are multiple challenges to do in free roam, and if you grow tired of it (you're mad), you can just join one of the other game modes. Grab some gold or shoot the enemy, it's all up to you. I haven't even tried anything other than Gold Rush myself, but I'm guessing I'll do that, too, soon.

There's just one tiny little thing I didn't like, apart from the connectivity bug, and that's the ending of the main story in Single Player. Man, that sucked. I'm not gonna spoil it, but I'm pretty sure you won't like it yourself. It breaks the 10/10, and sets it down to a 9.5/10. So close to a perfect game, but seeing as the story is the most important party in any game (for me), I can't give the game a 10/10. I just can't.