There are a few occasions during Red Dead Redemption where Rockstar achieve what could be argued to be the point of computer games in general: the complete and total immersion of the player in the setting. Desperately rounding up stampeding cattle during a thunderstorm, turning down a hooker’s advance as you confidently stroll into a seedy saloon, honky-tonk piano in the background, even loading a save point to find the player character – scarred and gravel voiced John Marston – kicking apart his campfire and tossing aside his cigarette as the sunrise sets a pastel sky afire. It is these moments that demonstrate the love and research Rockstar have put into Red Dead Redemption, and what elevates a solidly created sandbox offering into the realm of classic.
Red Dead Redemption has been both marketed and reviewed as Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West and the comparisons are so obvious that Rockstar haven’t bothered to hide them, and have in fact borrowed elements wholesale from the GTA series. The sandbox set-up is a mirror of GTA’s, with mission hubs separated by comparatively sparse areas requiring player travel. The two games are so close in terms of style that the player HUD is actually a copy of GTA’s, with the compass and map showing mission start-points, side quests and shops, and the world map being divided into sections which are locked off until story missions are completed. The system of crime and punishment is essentially the same, with players accumulating more ‘Wanted’ stars (and being chased by progressively more dogged law-enforcement) based on their level of skulduggery and violence.
What saves RDR from being a cowboy clone is the simple fact that the western genre actually lends itself to the outlaw sandbox mechanic far better than GTA ever did. The morality system in the game is a perfect fit for the Wild West, if only because there is a compelling reason to gun down individuals while remaining on the side of angels. If you want to be bad you can be bad, and if you want to be good, you can still shoot people in good conscience, something that the cops and robbers setting of the GTA games has attempted but never really realised. Rockstar’s Wild West is both a generous one: covering big-sky plains, stunning deserts mesas and pine-covered mountains, and a sensitive one. The game’s late 19th century setting allows Rockstar full access to about every Wild West trope while also allowing them to explore the end of an American era and the development of a modern nation. The GTA games have become more emotionally developed and aware – the plight of Nico Bellic in GTA 4 is a far more difficult and ambiguous than that of San Andreas’ CJ – and Red Dead Redemption is a fitting continuation.
The open-world setting itself is even better than GTA’s – swapping cars for horses and crowded streets for open ground makes travel far more interesting, and makes the environment itself the real star of the game. Although the option to fast travel returns (this time by stagecoach), players are much more likely to find themselves riding from mission to mission on horseback. This is partly because of the spectacular visuals: no longer hemmed in by buildings and traffic the player is treated to stunning vistas and dynamic weather, but mostly because exploration now provides more content. As well as a bevy of collection and hunting based subquests, John Marston will encounter a myriad of people in need. Many of these are ‘Stranger’ missions: subquests that provide entertaining, morbid and often hilarious glances into Rockstar’s version of the old west, but there are also constant real-time occurrences. Robberies, horse thefts, rustling and beatings occur throughout the world and it is up to the player to decide whether they want in or not. All this creates a setting that is more obviously alive than any of Rockstar’s previous offerings.
The gameplay mechanics themselves are solid. Not since Spider-Man 2 has locomotion been so enjoyable and Rockstar have cleaned up the shooting and cover mechanics of GTA 4 to provide competent and exciting gunplay. This is necessary because you’ll be doing a lot of shooting in Red Dead Redemption: Rockstar’s version of the old west is sparsely populated, but John Marston will still gun down a ludicrous number of opponents during the game. Several story missions involve gunfights with scores of foes and it is here that Red Dead Redemption reveals a slight lack of storytelling and focus. Like previous Rockstar games the story missions almost all involve riding to a location, murdering everyone in sight and then moving on. While enjoyable the sheer repetition weighs down the game and robs narrative significance from Marston’s quest to track down his former gang-mates and secure the release of his family: aside from a diverting time spent assisting a Mexican rebellion you spend the entire game searching for particular individuals, gunning down mooks on the way, and it often feels like Rockstar were stuck for a compelling way to tell this story, or for a more interesting way of structuring the missions. In fact, it is the story tasks away from gunfights that are the most compelling: rounding up cattle, discouraging rustlers and robbers, roping and taming steers, in short, actually being a cowboy. These missions are woefully few and although they make a welcome return towards the end of the game it is the lack of variety in mission content that is Red Dead Redemption’s biggest flaw.
That said, the missions are presented with Rockstar’s usual polish. The voice acting is superb, the cutscenes are atmospheric and well-staged (though occasionally buggy and prone to clipping) and the character design and modelling is memorable. John Marston is the perfect cowboy hero: gruff and violent, but laconic and witty enough to be worth liking. Rockstar’s off-kilter sense of humour returns and the authentic and sardonic scripting is a joy to hear.
Although its popularity in print and on film has waned, it is perhaps a little surprising that the western genre is underrepresented in video games. Considering the ease with which the setting lends itself to shooting games in particular one might expect a glut of cowboy inspired shoot-em-ups, jostling for space amongst the military and sci-fi offerings that clog the shelves. But there have been only a few games set in the old west released in the last decade, and of those released it has been mostly third-person, sandbox affairs that have been best received. Rockstar’s previous offering (and spiritual prequel) Red Dead Revolver was linear but atmospheric and competent enough as a shooter, and Neversoft’s Gun – certainly the most similar title to Red Dead Redemption – was well received. But it is the sheer scope and depth of a game like Red Dead Redemption that demonstrates the difficulty of playing with the western: any attempt to represent the genre without the love and diligence shown by Rockstar Games is doomed to fall far short, and there are enough mediocre, by-the-book shooters on the shelves without adding poorly contrived cowboy games.
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