It's like tombstone with GTA sensibilities.
User Rating: 8.5 | Red Dead Redemption X360
I don't care what anybody says this is Grand Theft Auto set in the old west. The change of scenery and time setting oviously affect some of the dynamics of gameplay, but if you have played a newer GTA game then you should feel right at home. You've got a centralized story about an ex outlaw named John Marston who has been forced to hunt down some of his old outlaw running mates by the government. That pesky government kidnapped Marston's wife and son and now they're forcing him to do some dirty business. You've got a huge sandbox world to explore with lots of people and locales. The land you will traverse is diverse and quite attractive. The little settlement towns look like they've been stripped straight out of a John Wayne movie. The characters are your usual old west archetypes. You will meet a wide array of people and if you choose to do so you will complete a ton of missions. The missions do become a little redundant though. You stop a robbery, you save a woman, you escort a wagon, and so on. You can choose to help people and build up a good reputation or you can go back to your outlaw ways. You know, killing and plundering and all that stuff. Just like GTA though you will have to deal with the authorities if you break the law. Because of the vastness of this world there is a certain lack of detail. Some of the people and places aren't as good looking as you might like, but that is generally expected in this sort of game. The controls are pretty responsive overall, but they will take time to master. You will spend most of your time riding horses and unfortunately this is one of the more difficult skills to master. Some of the missions seem to require more precision than the controls are willing to offer. You've got weapons typical of 1910 to choose from; revolver, carbine rifle, shotguns etc. The voice acting is excellent and most of the writing is pretty good too. I became rather attached to my horse and boy was he loyal. He was awarded to me early in the game and I never lost him. I named my horse Worther's Original for his butterscotchy colors. As if you care. The game had a number of pop in and texture issues throughout. The load times were a little annoying too.
Last Remarks: This is a fun experience that transports you to the old west pretty sucessfully. It can be exciting at times, but just like GTA it suffers from bouts of tedium.
