Review : Red Dead Redemption – The Wildest West Experience is here
Red Dead Redemption – the classic Wild Westerner from Rockstar Games and a spiritual successor to 2004’s Red Dead Revolver, finally nods its release after recurring delays. Coming from developers of the cult Grand Theft Auto series, the speculation machinery has been working overtime to determine if RDR is simply GTA painted in Western colors or an absolutely new bunny from the studio’s magical hat. Laying all that (and any eager reader’s anxiety) to rest, it’s a pleasure to conclude that Red Dead Redemption is a balanced mix of both and an absolute masterpiece! While taking a step back in timeline, it takes giant leaps forward to establish genre-defining benchmarks which are both fresh and hard to surpass. Besides being the finest West based title ever, it is also one of the best games of 2010 so far.
Story & Campaign
RDR is a third person sandbox action game set at the turn of the twentieth century. It is the time when horse-riding-cigarette-smoking-trigger-happy outlaws, straight out of anyone’s childhood cow-boy fantasies, strode the vast rustic landscapes of the West. Politics, violence, greed and lust were woven into the fragile fabric of a society struggling to find a balance. Rapid technological advancements were robbing the West of its pastoral characteristics, eroding the conventional lives of villagers and ranchers and generating a cultural backlash in the process. Under these circumstances, John Marston – a former outlaw, arrives to seek out his former gangmates to trade their lives for his family members’, who have been taken hostage by government agents seeking those outlaws.
Marston’s journey takes him through three huge territories of New Austin, Nuevo Paraiso and West Elizabeth, essentially spread across United States & Mexico. The core quest is lengthy and fleshed out well through a cast of colorful & funny characters that help John’s progress (and sometime the other way around). Most of them are quite memorable thanks to their unique personalities, brilliant animations, voice-work and cultural influences. Rockstar has put in a great deal of effort in creating the living world of RDR, as it boasts of about 450 characters, each with their own features, names, voice and jobs!
While most of the core missions follow the familiar cutscene-shooting-conclusion sequence, engaging combat and gameplay fused across wide variety of settings prevents the action from getting monotonous. In fact, missions involving railroad or horse chases shall leave you with the swelling pride of a true cowboy! Many interesting plot insights are also delivered through the conversations you have with other characters while travelling during missions. As you follow John’s sojourn across towns, deserts, plains and wilderness alike, you may choose to engage in many optional activities or side quests. The main quest concludes in an explosive climax which is best experienced first-hand!
Graphics
RDR is one of the most beautiful & visually stunning games to look at! Running on a customized hybrid of both Euphoria Physics and Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (R.A.G.E. – which also powered GTA 4), it showcases better & believable character & wildlife motions while also powering the game’s brilliant horses which are your primary mode of transport. The draw distances are jaw dropping and you can travel as far as your eye goes. The game world is huge and you will easily spend a couple of minutes travelling from one end to another even on the fastest horse. Besides the usual day-night cycle (sunsets being brilliant btw), the world also experiences weather variations like sunny, cloudy, rainy and even snowy at select areas.
RDR stands tall due to its immense attention to detail. From dust specks at John’s feet to the light effects of a rolling lantern, from detailed textures in vegetation to stressed face expressions during arm wrestling, perfection is everywhere in the game. Most of the character models are highly detailed (even the bullets on John’s bandolier are visible) and their movements extremely smooth. These details come to forefront during in-game cutscenes where facial expressions manage to infuse a sense of realism that enhances mission depths. Weapons, horses, stagecoaches, settlements and even the railroad carry visible effects of this high level of detailing and you will hardly find any reasons for complaints.
The game’s landscape spreads across deserts, plains, canyons, etc and each one of them offers unique visual delights for you to marvel. Stand on top of a desert ridge to watch the distant sunset or trot through snow covered forests with sunlight seeping through the branches, the only word that shall spawn in your mind is “wow!” The game’s wildlife, featuring about 30 different species, looks amazing and it will be natural for anyone to take a break from the lawless world and admire a pack of bisons moving across the plain or even a rabbit scurrying for cover.
Whether you choose to travel the west in moonlight or daytime, the spot-on lighting & shadow effects elevate the overall ‘wow’ factor to higher levels. They also augment the brilliance in firefights and coupled with slow motion, deliver a stunning portfolio of special effects. Although there are a few graphical glitches, they are rare and easy to forget in the picturesque landscape of RDR.
A gr8 review….leaves the reader all excited to play…the playing experience has been described in detail…… unfortunately i read this while in office and now can’t manage to get out …aaaarghhhhh