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Red Dead Redemption (Game)
Release Date: May 21, 2010
Distributor: Rockstar Games
The Disc: 5.0
Set in a beautiful open world, this impressive western adventure video game provides players with a truly immersive experience.
Red Dead Redemption is one of those rare treats: a game that genuinely creates a believable and interesting environment to inhabit, explore and... shoot people in. One could argue that this is hardly new for Rockstar Games who gave us the insanely successful Grand Theft Auto series. However, Red Dead Redemption takes the idea of a "sandbox" and increases it to the size of a desert.
At its core we have a simple premise: it's 1911, the last gasp of the old west, and John Marston, a former bad man and outlaw, is coerced into hunting down his old gang members. To be honest, the narrative - though compelling - pales in comparison to the massive world you have to explore. Getting on your (beautifully rendered) horse and galloping around - you genuinely feel like this is a real, dynamic place, replete with an ecosystem, random events, gang battles and various other activities.
You'll often find yourself riding towards an objective and getting embroiled in some kind of situation on the way... which leads to something else and something else... Hours later you might remember what you were doing in the first place. Or not. It's so easy to get lost in Red Dead Redemption, and it truly is an immersive and wonderful feeling - because there's always something to do.
A surprising addition is an excellent multiplayer component. You can do the usual death match and capture the flag (or in this case gold) bizzo but you can also form a posse with your mates and take on gang hideouts, bands of outlaws or just ride through the majestic west, shooting wildlife and yelling: "Yee-hah!" The game also has Rockstar's typical wry sense of humour, with genuine laugh-out-loud moments. This juxtaposes nicely with the sense of apprehension and dread one can feel when the rain's pouring down and you're off to kill a few bad men...
To really explain the epic appeal of Red Dead Redemption we'll leave you with this: in some of the seedier settlements you can play poker, blackjack and other card games. We found ourselves sitting around playing Texas Holdem for hours. Not game hours, real human hours.
Red Dead Redemption brings the same feeling of excitement that Grand Theft Auto III did all those years ago. There are occasional graphical glitches but the sheer number of enjoyable missions, tasks and errands - set in a massive, living locale - makes this the very definition of a must-own game.