Goodbye Liberty City hello New Austin.
The year is 1911 and with new various inventions and contraptions society is creating the wild west is slowly falling apart leaving only behind the crazed bandits and cut-throats that made the time period so famous. You are John Marston and as soon as you catch a glimpse at him for the first time it is easy to dismiss him as a common thug who's primary motive is to "make it big". In actuality Marston is simply trying to "make it" by settling down with his wife and son on a small ranch in New Austin. This eventually becomes quite difficult as Federal Officers kidnap his family,blackmailing him to hunt down old members of his former gang. The tail takes about 20-40 hours to complete and on your course you will meet a variety of people. From a Business man who scams common hicks to a crazed possible necrophiliac each of these men and women have something Marston needs to find his former gang members. All of these "quests" at time feel pointless and mundane but in reality they all are meaningful unlike past Rockstar games that had you doing objectives that were not relevant to the story at all. Eventually you make your way down to Mexico and,like New Austin it is quite a dangerous place especially for a foreign American like Marston. The land is filled with violence mostly because of a civil war type revolution. Marston has no allegiances so you often find yourself hopping the fence multiple times which leads you into trouble (Something a character points out). This is one of Rockstars narrative problems. Marston will start to work with the Army at first whom is trying to eradicate the Rebels from "their" land. This leads to a good amount of casualties most of them caused my Marston. Eventually you start to work for the rebels after an incident with the army and despite Marston completely slaughtering his men he greets him with open arms. Mexican hospitality I suppose. It is a noticeable flaw but doesn't make the story turn out bad at all. In fact Red Dead Redemption has an excellent tale to tell with a likeable protagonist and characters all around.
Anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto or more generally the series itself with see the multiple similarities Red Dead Redemption has with it. From the minimap to the ways Objectives appear. However Red Dead has also improved on GTA4's formula. An example is the gameplay. I personally found that Grand Theft Auto 4's gameplay was at times clunky. for the most part RDR has fixed this. The lock on system is no longer as unforgiving as before giving you free reign to target specific body parts. Sure you could just go for the head to get an instant kill but also the arm so the enemy (or civilian) drops their gun. Shoot the knee and they fall to the ground and limp or crawl. The cover system introduced in GTA4 is also far better and smoother. Though you will sometimes have the annoying bug where Marston won't take cover behind a wall with a door on in it you can now slide into cover making it easier to do and more enjoyable to do. Not everything however is better. Marston is not as agile as Niko Bellic so Marston climbing ability is not great nor is his hand to hand fighting. The hand to had has been dumped down to simple button mashing or hitting triangle when you see ground tackle on the screen. It is impossible for men to die through hand to hand so if you expect Marston to beat his enemies like that you are wrong.
Anything you expect for a cowboy to do in the wild west is in Red Dead Redemption. Go bounty hunting, play some poker, Duel someone or simply get hammered and wattle around like an idiot is all possible. Random events happen now and though it is a bit jarring to find 3 people all in the same predicament it gives the game variety. Side missions or "Stranger Tasks" give Marston small and sometimes creepy tales to discover and complete. Also their are various challenges to complete such as hunting animals and shooting things. As you do these you will gain Honour and Fame. RDR morality system isn't the greatest but it is noticeable enough for you to care about how you play. Do good things you get people giving you discounts and looking the other way if a crime is committed. Do bad things people will run from you on sight. Don't worry though because if you have a bandanna to hide your identity
you can still go on a rampage without worrying about the lose of your honour. Not to mention their are bonus outfits to get and hidden treasure. So yeah there is plenty to do in this game.
After the single player you have multiplayer which is a redefined version of GTA4's. Like GTA you can foam the entire map with up to 15 other people with you. Making posses is also quite fun as you can attack other possies without fear of killing your own. Standard gamemodes are a bit more condemned but still fun with typical free for all and deathmatch gamemodes. The multiplayer itself is worth the full price of the game.
Red Dead Redemption is far more than "Grand Theft horse' and aside from a few annoying bugs and narrative issues this is an excellent western title.