Hello TGGamers! You ready for your next review? Well here it is!
This week I will be looking at Red Dead Redemption.

Red Dead Redemption is an action-adventure western video game, developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in May 2010.

Most of the game’s story takes place in the year 1911 in the American Old West territory and follows John Marston, a former outlaw, while he sets out to hunt down his former gang members.

Red Dead Redemption offers players a large open world environment just waiting to be explored. Players can walk, talk, kick chickens, shoot, kill, ride, run, hunt, interact with the environment and enjoy combating enemies with firearms.
Different breeds of horses are the main forms of transportation. Swimming is a no-no as the protagonist cannot swim, if you venture too far into the water he drowns.

As well as the main storyline, there are also random events to be found while exploring the West. These include public hangings, ambushes, pleas for assistance, stranger encounters, drive-bys, and dangerous animal attacks. One example is if a group of people ride into a town guns a blazing, the player can kill them and receive a bonus of honour and fame. Players can also participate in optional side activities such as standoffs, gambling, hunting animals for pelts and meat and various other items.

Red Dead Redemption makes use of a morality system where players have the ability to gain positive or negative ‘honor’. There are a number of ways to gain positive honor, these include taking an outlaw alive instead of killing him, or saving a kidnapped innocent. Negative honor can be gained for committing crimes including killing or robbing civilians. This works along with another system, ‘fame,’ showing and governing how people react based on Marston’s honor status.

The combat and gunplay are a major part of the game. Gunfights are conducted using a third-person system. The player can take cover, target specific people, blindfireand free aim. Individual body parts can be targeted to bring down enemies in a non-lethal way which can then be lassoed and hogtied to capture them alive.
The player has an arsenal of period-accurate weapons to choose from; these include revolvers, pistols, lever or bolt-action rifles, knives, explosives, lassos, mounted gatling guns, shotguns, and cannons.

A combat feature that Marston can utilize is the Dead-Eye targeting system. Dead-Eye”is used in a bullet time-like manner, allowing the player to slow down time to place a precise shot or paint in multiple shots on the body parts of one or multiple enemies. When the targeting sequence ends, Marston will fire in extremely quick succession on targeted people and objects.

Red Dead Redemption has a modified wanted system. If a crime is committed near other people some will run to the nearest police station as witnesses. The player can then choose to bribe them or kill them before they reach the station. If a crime is committed near a police officer the wanted meter will immediately appear with a bounty count where they will increase with the more crimes committed.

To escape from the law the player must escape a circular zone until the wanted meter disappears. Even if you escape successfully there will be a bounty placed upon you which will cause bounty hunters to come after you in the wilderness. The police will continue to challenge you unless the bounty is paid off at a telegraph station or a pardon letter is presented. When arrested, John pays off his bounty and is then released. If the player does not have enough money to pay back, the police will assign bounty hunting activities.

Red Dead Redemption includes online multiplayer with a maximum of 16 players. Every multiplayer game, free for all and team based games both start with a Mexican standoff. Survivors of the standoff can then move to any part of the battlefield in preparation for respawning enemies.

Crates in the environment will contain extra weapons, ammo as well as a recharge of Dead-Eye powers which have exactly the same features of the single player except for the slow motion. Players can level up and complete weapons challenges that give new rewards like new character models, golden weapon skins and new mount breeds.
Both Shootout modes follows the traditional deathmatch scenario where players or teams have to get the most kills. There are many Capture the Flag variants available also. Hold your Own is a traditional CTF, where each team has their own bag of gold to defend from the enemy team. Grab the Bag has both teams fighting over a single bag placed in a section of the map. Gold Rush is a free for all variant, where players have to try grab as many bags, which spawn at various locations across the map, as possible.

Red Dead Redemption also has its own free roaming mode. All players in the server can form and join player parties called “posses” of up to eight players and then take part in activities such as attacking computer controlled gang hideouts or other player posses, go hunting and create in server matches.

RATING 3/5

Basically GTA but set in the West. So if you’re either a fan of Rockstar Games or just like the idea of roaming around killing people this would be the game for you.