Red Dead Revolver

“	A blazing arcade-style third person game fueled by precision gunplay, Red Dead Revolver is a classic tale of vengeance on the untamed frontier. The addictively fun, innovative combat scheme rewards accurate and ruthless elimination of backwater lowlifes. Ride down outlaws on horseback, fight bloody duels aboard trains, command stagecoaches and more in your quest for justice. Punctuated with dark humor and filled with the elements that make the Wild West so compelling, Red Dead Revolver's story is told through full motion cutscenes and breathtaking in-game visuals.	„
	—Official description ^[1]

Red Dead Revolver is a 2004 western-themed third-person shooter video game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games.

Originally a concept developed by Japanese game company Capcom, Revolver was eventually picked up by Rockstar Games. Set in the 1880s, it follows the story of Red Harlow, a bounty hunter on a quest to avenge the deaths of his parents. The gameplay involves arcade-like elements and shooting mechanics, alongside a multiplayer mode called Showdown Mode.

Red Dead Revolver was released to mixed reviews, gaining praise for its western aesthetics, uniqueness among the third-person shooter genre and story, but criticism towards its outdated gameplay elements, repetitive action, and difficult learning curve. Despite the lukewarm reception, Revolver was used as an inspiration for a spiritual successor, 2010's Red Dead Redemption, and became the first installment of the Red Dead series.

It was originally released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox home consoles on May 4, 2004, and was re-released as a PS2 Classic for the PlayStation 3 on December 19, 2012, and the PlayStation 4 on October 11, 2016, alongside a trophy list; the PS4 version is backwards compatible with the PlayStation 5, released on November 8, 2020. In 2021, as part of Xbox’s backwards compatibility, Rockstar Games released Red Dead Revolver on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Overview

The game's development stalled when it was dropped by Capcom. In 2002, Rockstar Games purchased the game and expanded on it. Changing from a supernatural American western to a Spaghetti Western allowed the developers to add more blood and over-the-top characters.

The lead character appears to be an amalgamation of various Western Clint Eastwood-inspired characters from assorted movies, particularly the Man with No Name character, with whom he shares many similar traits. The game reproduces a "grainy film" effect and uses music from many different Spaghetti Western soundtracks.

Gameplay

The game allows the purchase of goods at local town stores. Goods range from general store items, which unlock extras, to guns and multiplayer characters. Each individual character has a unique ability which can be activated after so many kills or a certain amount of time. For example, Jack Swift can quickly empty his guns on a single target and Buffalo Soldier can impale men with a flare from a rifle. Guns can be purchased at stores and are chosen before each mission. The game offers a wide selection of shotguns, rifles, thrown weapons, and, of course, revolvers. Weapon repair plays a minor role.

There are four difficulty levels available for the single-player campaign.

Multiplayer

Main article: Showdown Mode

Cheats

Main article: Cheats in Revolver

History

Development

The game was originally under development at Capcom and had a very different gameplay style. According to Hamish Brown, Capcom's game was "uber-arcade," and "It even had a character who could fly."^[2] Rockstar decided near the end of development of Revolver that an open world environment was "the only way to do this subject matter justice."^[3]

Release History

Red Dead Revolver was released in North America on May 4, 2004, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox; in PAL regions on June 11, 2004, and on May 26, 2004, in Japan.

On December 19, 2012, Rockstar announced that the game had been added to the PlayStation Store as a downloadable "PS2 Classic" for use on the PS3. Since 2016, the game has been available for purchase on the PlayStation 4.

On November 15th 2021, as part of Xbox’s 20th anniversary, Rockstar released Red Dead Revolver to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S as part of Xbox’s backwards compatibility with original Xbox games, allowing anyone who owns a Red Dead Revolver Xbox disc or who purchased the game on the marketplace to play the game on a Xbox One or Series X

Reception

The game received mixed to favorable reviews. It holds 75% on GameRankings, and 74 on Metacritic. IGN gave the PS2 version a 7/10 and 7.5/10 to the Xbox version. Reviewers praised the game for its plot and unique style, but the game received criticism for its gameplay, graphics (IGN noticed that the Xbox's version has better graphics than the PS2 version), and sound. 1Up gave the game a "C" score.

Red Dead Revolver was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, alongside its sequel and other games published by Rockstar Games, such as Grand Theft Auto.

Sequel

Rumors of a sequel began to circulate around 2005, when Rockstar showed a video of an Old West horseback rider. This ran on early PlayStation 3 hardware. The project was only known as the "Old West Project".

Although not a direct sequel, on February 4, 2009, Red Dead Redemption was announced for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Said game was released on May 18, 2010, in North America, May 20, 2010, in Australia and May 21, 2010, in Europe.

Setting

Universe

The entire story of Red Dead Revolver takes place in the Revolver Universe, a continuity separate from any Red Dead Redemption canon, although some events from the previous universe are taken into account in order to make Easter eggs in the form of campfire interactions for fans of the 2004 title.^[4] The world this game is based on has several parallels to the America seen in the Red Dead Redemption series, even featuring its own parodies of historical events that occurred in the Wild West.

Place

The exact state in which the events of the game take place is never explicitly mentioned by name, as characters only make mention of this place simply as "The Territory", however it can be inferred that Brimstone is located somewhere in the Southwest. The Pan-Atlantic Railroad company is said to be the western express of the region, with its express line passing a mile outside of Brimstone.^[5] And General Diego used to smuggle weapons through a bridge bordering Mexico in the Rio Grande, something that would fit with Texas or New Mexico. Additionally, there are a few other references to the Southwest: in the item description of a lasso that belonged to frontiersman Longhorn Luke and when talking to Billy Cougar he regards himself as "The fastest gun north of the Rio Grande".

Time

The chronology of the game is unclear. The developers deliberately included influences from various periods of the Old West to make the game more inclusive and less of a period piece. Weapon design and architecture feature influences going back to the 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s, but there are also other pieces of information that hint at a setting sometime in the 1880s.

Sheriff Bartlett mentions in his Journal that Brimstone's first settlers arrived nearly 40 years ago, which would put the town's founding year around the 1840s or 1850s.^[6]
"Young Red" seems to be in his early teens, suggesting that Red was born sometime in the 1860s, based on his voice and appearance in the Prologue.
Sheriff Bartlett, during the ending cutscene of "Saloon Fight", states that the events witnessed in the missions "The Traitor" and "Bull's Eye" took place "about 12 years" prior to the main story, in the mid-1870s. Furthermore, the Journal confirms Bartlett's participation in the Battle of Rio Grande, explaining how General Diego annihilated his troop and blew up the bridge, capturing the survivors.
The Bayonet Rifle and Old Pistol were adopted by the US Army in the 1870s (1873 and 1875 respectively), implying that they were manufactured in those years, and both weapons were already in service by the time the Prologue takes place.
In the mission "The Cemetery", the player can find a tombstone with the name "Black Bart" engraved on it. Black Bart was an actual stagecoach robber of the American Old West who was born in 1829 and later died in 1888 of old age. This could set the game slightly after his death, likely in 1889. Though worth noting that this is merely a reference to a real-life historical figure.
According to the postmark on a letter Natalie wrote to Mr. Kelley from New Orleans, the town's Battle Royale happens around the month of May, when she is first encountered by the player at the Brimstone Saloon just before the competition starts.^[7]
The map used for the game's fictional "Twelve States" does exist and is an 1882 edition of a Progress Map of the U.S. Geographical Surveys, confirming that Rockstar intended the game to be set in the 1880s.^[8]
Chris Bailey is a character/level boss that is featured in Red Dead Redemption: Multiplayer. One of his optional taunts reads: "Whatta ya think this is? The goddamn 1880's?" - a nod to the time period Red Dead Revolver is set in.^[9]
Jack Swift, in the Redemption Multiplayer, claims to know the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, a commonly accepted code in the sport of boxing. These rules were written and published in the late 1860s, indicating that Swift learned boxing during his youth and perhaps while attending Sandhurst.

Due to these factors, it is possible that Red Dead Revolver occurred in May of a certain year in the late-1880s.

Trivia

Red Dead Revolver is the first game from Rockstar that allows players to switch protagonists between missions as they progress through the campaign.
The ending missions of Revolver bear a striking similarity to another Rockstar game, GTA: Vice City, in which the main protagonist confronts an antagonist in a massive shootout that takes place at the rooftop of a mansion.
In an episode of the American Medical drama House, M.D., Zach apologizes to his girlfriend Colleen for "tricking her into agreeing on a bet" after losing a game of rope jumping. He says "I gave Madison a Red Dead Revolver cheat code so she'd hit your foot with the rope".
All references to Red Dead Revolver characters and its storyline are one of the many examples of Rockstar Games turning three-dimensional characters into "mythical characters from a bygone era" after the series' reboot with the release of Red Dead Redemption in 2010 - a similar case to that of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.^[10]
- Red Harlow, Jack Swift, Annie Stoakes and Shadow Wolf being brought back through campfire interactions, along with the dialogue between Jack and John Marston in "John Marston and Son", is an obvious double meaning referencing the fact that the Revolver canon is over and the characters in this universe are complete different entities, who may or may not have existed in the past.
- Mentions of Grove Street Families in the HD Universe are similar to Red Dead Revolver lore and characters being treated as folklore and legends in the Red Dead Redemption universe.

Gallery

External links

References

↑ Red Dead Revolver - Rockstar Games (Official website)
↑ BBC News - Rockstar plays with Wild West
↑ Rockstar News Wire - Asked & Answered: Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer Posses, Episodes from Liberty City, and Much More
↑ Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare QnA
↑

“ The Pan-Atlantic Railroad Western Express is now arriving at Brimstone station from Widow's Patch and points east! „

—Woodrow Klein at the end of "Railroaded"
↑ Good People of Brimstone - Page No. 241
↑ Good People of Brimstone - Page No. 234
↑ Progress Map of the U.S. Geographical Surveys
↑ https://youtu.be/VrPIZiKNLxI

↑

“	...the move to HD created a schism in this fictional universe, rendering CJ, Toni and co, as mythical characters from a bygone era.	„
	—Interview with Dan Houser in The Guardian, about the second reboot of the GTA series.