Red Dead Redemption - Playstation 3

I became a Western game fan with Lucasarts Outlaws all those years ago. Played nearly every one since then, from Desperados, to Red Dead Revolver, to Gun, to Call of Juarez and its sequel. All of these have had their share of fun, but also a good deal of problems. You had to really love the genre to overlook the issues.Red Dead Redemption, I think, changes that. For the first time there's a Western game I don't have to make excuses for.I'll start with the early history of the game: Red Dead Revolver. As with the others, it had plenty of problems, but its style and charm won me over (even after nearly breaking the controller in some of the harder duels). The art style was great, the music was perfect, and the gameplay was, for the most part, pretty fun. It had a couple unique mechanics, like the quick-draw mini-game that used the analog sticks to mimic the actual motion of drawing and aiming your gun, to great effect, even if some of the enemies felt cheap. Dead Eye mode was neat. Running around and climbing things was a bit stiff, but certainly functional. Aiming and shooting wasn't too bad. One of my favorite aspects was the diversity in the weapons. Even if there wasn't a huge discernible gameplay difference between different rifles, shotguns, or pistols, I appreciated the visuals, and some of the higher level pistols were beautifully designed. All in all, Red Dead Revolver had a lot of potential, even if it wasn't great.Redemption builds off that potential, but takes it leaps and bounds over the original. If Revolver built the launch pad, Redemption has now colonized Mars.Rockstar San Diego has succeeded in creating what feels like a real living breathing place. It's the sort of world where I'm perfectly content just roaming around exploring, rather than following the story. I'd honestly have been satisfied with the open world alone, even though the story is great. I love riding out into the wilderness and encountering new animals (there are a ton of different species, which really helps with the immersion - in other games where you see the same 10 animals it takes you out of the experience). There are also people all over, doing their own thing. Traveling, hunting for treasure, fighting with each other, robbing each other. You can participate or not! It's also a beautiful world. Along with the animals, the appropriate plants and landscape really sell the world. And the skies! Really pretty skies. And then there are the towns, also appropriately populated, and each with their own set of activities. I enjoyed a game of poker last night (the guy I played with was a pansy, he busted out quick). I've also been having a good time going after bounties and doing night watches at Bonnie's place.The action mechanics all work very well. Shooting is genuinely fun. I feel like a gunslinger. The sound effects have good power to them, and the guns handle in a believable and satisfying manner. I also really like the way Rockstar handled the way characters react to being shot. Not only do they use rag doll physics, but they react to where they're shot. We've seen this idea in other games before, but this is the best execution I've seen of the effect so far. I'm really looking forward to finding some of the rare guns in the game to see how they all handle.Riding is pretty fun, too. While not as simple to control as those in Gun, perhaps, the horse handle more realistically, and riding is very satisfying in its own right. They move the right way, and I loved the little touches like the way they slide down steeper inclines. They also spook when snakes are nearby. The idea that you can keep one horse and build its loyalty and trust is great. Unlike other games, where the horse function like cars that you can hop in and out of, in Redemption you're rewarded for taking care of one horse for an extended period. I actually grew attached to mine. There are many different breeds of horses, too, a first for games that I know of.And then there's the story! The story is solid. And interesting premise, with lots of fun characters along the way. I must say, I really enjoyed the interactions between Marston and Bonnie. She's a great character. The voice acting is pretty darn good. Definitely some of the best I've heard in games. Marc Alaimo as Reverend Ray in Call of Juarez is still my favorite, but the voices of Marston, Bonnie, and Leigh Johnston are up there. It's such a relief to not want to skip through every cutscene.I have a feeling Red Dead Redemption will be occupying a lot of my time these next few months. I haven't even tried the multiplayer yet (some friends who were going to get the game bailed on me -- their loss!), and there are tons of challenges and side missions to complete yet. I recommend this game not only to Western game fans, but to fans of immersive open-world gameplay done right.

to start it off i have to say this game isn't anything i thought it would be, it is betteri mainly preordered the game because i heard it came with a 20 dollar gift card so if it sucked, i wouldnt have lost much; BUT it turned out to be a great game. i can say for a fact that i hate gta4, despite its high reviews it wasnt that kind of game for me, but this game isnt just gta4 with horsies, it is fun, good looking, great sotry, and multiplayer was better than i expectedabout the game:graphics: just wonderful; enough saidfun: the shooting machanics are nice and fun and the assist aim doesnt super assist so u still to have fun and the guns and dead eye mode and great as wellvoice acting: it is perfect, im ocd, so wen words r completely off from the lips i can't concentrate well, but rockstar really pulled it offmultiplayer: well im rating it on day one and not many ppl are online atm, but it is great already, the free room is truly epic; i basicaly ran around the whole time with m possie and we killed animals, gangs, townspeople, and each other. when you reach certain parts of the map in multi free roam, objectives pop up and they r super fun, they can be hard by urselves but, if u have a possie it is fun to chat and organize and take down npc gangs. now tdm is also in this game, and it is just like any old tdm in a thirdps, but the opening is epic, u start the match off with a mexican stand off and it sets the tone for the game, overall in the first day this game has shine in multiplayer and i cant wait to have more ppl online to play withwat really shocked me was the length of the game, holy **** it is long, it isn't rpg long but it is longer than a normal shooter. i mean comeon 20-40 hours of gameplay for 60 dollars (40 if u preorder and got the 20 dollar gift card =]) with a great multiplayer that will last another 2 months =]; in the game there are so many side quest and things to do u get sidetracked and they are so fun it doesn't even matter. i think if u go thru it is about 20 and with all the extra stuff it is 40. so overall the wow factor really made me like this game.everything about the graphics, gameplay, multi, and story wows me; nothing like wat i expectedmy only bad comment is that u can;t change controls, and the game forces u to use r2 and l2 for trigger and aim, which isnt bad, but can be bothersome for those use to use l1 and r1, but i admit it is fun using those triggers now and it makes me went to buy those ps3 real r2 and l triggerso my advice, buy this game if u like a shooter with length, story, graphics, the only hate u can have is that u hate horsies and western stuff