Rockstar combines their famous open world concept with the western theme to make one of the best games ever made.
Story:10/10
You play as a character called John Marston. He is an ex bandit who must redeem himself to the government for all of his sins he has committed even though he has cleaned himself up, has a family, and owns a ranch. The story surprised me throughout by how deep it gets. It has a simple premise at first, but it just keeps on expanding, and I found it a treat. The main character John Marston is a cold blooded killer; but he is a well mannered, nice guy. You see that he knows that he was a bad man in the past, but that he has cleaned up quite well. You really get to know him, and you grow close to him as you see more of his personality. I find myself liking John a lot because he showcases a side that everyone has. The grittier side of us. Also, all of the characters in this game are thought out well and given excellent development. Easily some of the best story writing ever seen in a video game. PERIOD. It's really a Rockstar trend.
Presentation: 10/10
For Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar decided to change the graphics a little bit to showcase its western roots. This is depicted through its gritty graphics engine; thus giving the game a hand drawn feeling, which definitely makes the game's theme shine. These graphics are just top notch quality. As for hiccups in this game, I don't recall any; so if there are any they definitely aren't game changing. The audio for this game hits it right on the dot. As far as sound goes it is top notch. Also, the map of the game is a varied, vast land. Exploring the land is just worth it to look at the craftsmanship of the environment.
Gameplay: 10/10
Gunplay:
For the gameplay of this game, Rockstar incorporates Dead Eye into the gunplay. Dead Eye is where you go into a slow motion phase where you can set multiple destinations for your bullets to go towards. Example: There are 10 crows flying above, so you enter Dead Eye where you can aim at all the 10 crows and then once you exit Dead Eye mode you shoot at every point you wanted to. This feature is needed in the gameplay because there are many times when there are a hectic amount of enemies on the screen. It also makes sense because your character John Marston is a sharpshooter at his top game. Implementing this feature will make sure you enable John to live up to his name. One thing I noticed throughout the game was that the gunplay isn't the smoothest, but this isn't a negative issue because I feel that this was done for enhancing the theme of the whole game. To try and make the game feel even grittier.
Single Player:
The single player gameplay consists of anything from you riding horses to travelling, helping strangers who are getting robbed, doing the amazingly crafted story mode missions, or exploring. Over the progress of the game you continually unlock more and more weapons ranging from repeaters, pistols, shotguns. One of my favorite aspects of this game though is challenges. There are 4 categories for challenges. Sharpshooting, hunting, survivalist, and treasure hunting. There are 10 levels for each of these categories, so you must complete an objective for that challenge. Example: For hunting it may want you to kill 10 bears and skin them. This is a great feature that forces you to go explore the environment more. The gameplay in this game boldly states how gaming should be done.
Multiplayer:
The multiplayer for this game is a crowd pleaser. It has open world exploration with your buddies, co-op missions with some friends, or varied modes of deathmatch. The competitive multiplayer is addicting once you get the hang of it because at first the game can be very unforgiving. The co-op places you with a small group of people doing mini-missions, and I found this a really good feature along with all the other neat stuff you could get into while online. The online component of RDR is implemented well for the game, and you can tell that they didn't just throw it in there for selling purposes.
Conclusion:
Red Dead Redemption is a must play. You experiences the life of John Marston, and it is one hell of a journey. The challenges in the gamemake sure that you have something to do on the side when you aren't completing the superb single player missions. The multiplayer makes the game have more lasting appeal because it's multiplayer.You play for as long as it is to your liking. Enough said. This is one of the most finely tuned video games I have ever had the privilege to play. It is a perfect example of video gaming at its best.
Overall:10/10