Well-designed 3rd person shooter with an immersive open world experience and fun multiplayer.
Red Dead Redemption is set in the dying Wild West where the Government was over powered. John Marston is the main character which you control, a former outlaw and gang member. He tried to start a new life, forget the past and raised a family. Two members of the Government had kidnapped John Marston's wife 'Abigail' and his son 'Jack'. In order to save his family, John must become an outlaw once again and murder the former members in the gang he once was part of.
The visuals in Red Dead Redemptions are pretty impressive as the detailed map varies from mountains to forests to swamps and towns. Towns have their own unique feel to them so some are quieter than others and vice-versa which gives a nice touch to the game. The map is quite big but although it's not the biggest, the player rides a horse which is quite a slow way of travelling which makes the map look bigger. It's a very clever idea and because of the detailed surroundings, the environment looks even better. The updated version of RAGE Engine used a very nice weather cycle and elements vary while you are roaming. Graphically the game had no problems.
Red Dead Redemption's main missions are varied and give a very deep storyline which keeps you immersed in the game. I felt that the missions became a bit repetitive after a while although they were varied. This is backed by the brilliant voice acting and character designs giving you a very realistic picture on how the life was back in 1911. The missions can also be replayed on the start menu so as to add a higher score to each mission making it's replay value even higher.
There is a lot of things to do apart from the story driven main missions. There are side missions which vary from duals, horse racing, night watching, poker and much more. You will have fun playing them and enjoy them but they get boring after a while. I really enjoyed the outfits that there was in the game as in order to unlock each outfit, you must complete different tasks which gives you the chance to even further enjoy the game. Apart from the side missions, you also have stranger missions which you find while roaming through the map. Challenges were a great addition to the game and in my opinion they are the most enjoyable of side missions and pack a good amount of challenges like hunting animals, finding treasures and collecting plants which keeps you busy if you want to fully enjoy the game. A nice amount of animals are in the game and apart from horses, bores, cheetah's and other animals, Red Dead Redemption also has 4 Legendary animals, they are a bit more challenging to kill. You can ride several types of transport like trains, stage coaches, mules and obviously horses.
The soundtrack in Red Dead Redemption is very pleasing and the songs in the game and the ambient noises are very fitting with the game which makes Red Dead Redemption a better experience.
The controls are simple and I found that the PS3 DualShock3 Controller works fine with Red Dead Redemption but in tight situations, especially when you are mounting a horse, I often encountered bugs and glitches and this also happened when I try to jump rocks and fences with a horse. The AI of the horses is a bit messed up so when you whistle your horse, it takes some time for the horse to realize.
Dead-eye is a targeting game mechanic which allows Marston to be invincible and shows a slow-motion sequence, this gives Marston a good amount of time, to aim at each enemy and animal and shoot them consecutively. You level up Dead-eye by completing main missions. The in-game currency is implemented very well. You have a variety of things to buy such as bait, extra maps horses and guns. You can also buy things like bandoliers which give extra ammo which are very useful. You gain money by hunting animals and selling their bones and meat and by completing missions and other side quests.
Multiplayer was quite a pleasant experience. You can have a free-roam session where everyone can shoot each other or have a 'Friendly Free Roam' where players cannot kill each other. You can invite your friends to join in a posse and play together as a team and it's much easier to communicate with friends when in a posse because it's easier to find each other and also meet up at a gang hideout.
But it's not all about killing other gangs only, you can spend a lot of time, roaming and exploring the map or hunting some rare animals. I liked the level-system where a player needs to choose from a variety of game mode to play like deathmatch, grab the bag, gang shootout and gain XP by trying to get the most points. This unlocks different horses, skins and weapons for the player to use Online. The Co-op missions were very fun to play with friends and is a good way to level up quickly while having some fun with friends. Overall I enjoyed Multiplayer a lot because of the amount of the things you can do with friends and the co-op missions are a must-play if you have friends which own the game.
Overall, Red Dead Redemption is a very interesting game. It's detailed open world design, very deep storyline and fun multiplayer make it a must-have for people that enjoy 3rd person shooters. The beautiful soundtrack and voice acting makes the game a better experience and keeps the Wild West feel to the game. It's not a perfect game but it's one of my favourite titles in my collection.