Draw, Partner: Red Dead Redemption Impressions

I'm a Wild West aficionado. Living in California, ground zero during the Westward Expansion, has certainly helped that interest. Thirty minutes away, you can visit a region near the Merced River where the hills had been blasted away by hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush. Thirty minutes more, and you can visit one of the oldest Wells Fargo offices, the store where Ghirardelli Chocolate got its start, and where there's supposedly an abandoned Pony Express station (though, I dunno where it is). So when I heard this game was actually enjoyable and provided an immersive Wild West experience, I went out and bought it the very next day. And I am not one to impulse-buy brand new video games these days.

My teacher asked us during one of our classes: What is the West? Is it an actual location? Is it California? Oregon Country? Nevada, Utah, or Colorado? Or when we say "West," are we actually talking about a certain essence of it? The gunfights, the saloons, tumbleweeds, and train robberies? The hats and spurs? Maybe, maybe not. We all sorta decided it encompassed everything west of the Mississippi, but it's up to interpretation.

Rockstar Studios has chosen to give us a quasi-realistic interpretation of the Wild West for their game, Red Dead Redemption, because, more often than not, people can't help but think of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne movies whenever the subject is brought up. To most, it was a place where a man's revolver was the only law of the land. Where the day wasn't done until someone was killed in a duel and bleeding out in the sand. By putting this all in a game, they've given us the Western adventure that we've always wanted, or didn't know we wanted.

The story revolves around a man named John Marston, a man hired by the government to bring a wanted outlaw to justice. Things, of course, don't go according to plan. Marston goes and gets himself shot, gets fixed up by a local ranch owner, and proceeds to conjure up a plan to get revenge by enlisting the aid of some of the craziest characters to ever be put to disc. They are the reason the term Motley Crew was coined.

The story leaves much to be desired. It's a MacGuffin-driven plot, for sure, but its enough to allow for some truly great character development. Marston himself is great, but even though he's meant to be the badass gunslinger (kinda), he gets pushed around A LOT. Nearly everyone in this game gives him the runaround and even with the scars across his face, he starts to look like a pussy as the game goes on. Everyone else in the game outshines our main character, unfortunately. You've got the snake oil salesman, a man who's lost his livelihood looking for buried treasure, a lawman, and a drunk weapons expert by the name of Irish. As I said: a motley crew to be sure.

Though the plot is simple and the main character is meh, the twists and turns are great. The voice acting is comparable to the best moments of any BioWare game, and the expert use of motion capture adds quirky realism. It's odd not to be able to react to these cutscenes, since I'm coming down off another playthrough of Mass Effect 2 ( I keep waiting for a Paragon or Renegade option to pop up), but the cutscenes are still magnificent, and manage to draw me in like a really good movie would.

But let's get into the bread and butter of the game, which is the environment. Rockstar practically invented all that a free-roaming sandbox game should be, and they've push it to the limit with RDR. This game is vast, dreary, yet alive. Time passes; day turns into night. Some days will be cloudy, others completely clear. Sometimes you'll be able to see a storm begin to roll in from afar and overtake you with rain as lightning crashes all around you. Trees sway with it, trails become muddy. You could sit there and just watch it all and still be entertained. I know I did for awhile.

Though what you're mostly going to be dealing with the most are trails and open, dusty plains, there is still plenty to see. Sometimes, you'll stumble upon a group of rabbits jumping away to their warren, or deer bounding along, hawks soaring over your head or circling a corpse of something off in the distance. And, yes, you can kill 'em all. Animals of every shape and size can be shot and skinned for hide and other bits so's you can sell them for cash money. You can even get various awards depending on different hunting challenges the game provides.

So, that's the environment, now on to the gameplay. RDR plays almost exactly like GTA 4, so if you're still familiar with those controls, you probably won't have to think to much about it here. Everything handles very well. Most of your traveling will be done on horseback, and though I STILL have some troubles getting the horse to do what I want it to, 90% of the time everything works out.

Throughout the world, you'll have various missions to attend to at your leisure. You have: the main quests, which will open up different parts of the world as you progress; sidequests such as stranger requests, bounty hunting, horsebreaking, or nightly patrolling; games like poker, blackjack, horseshoes, and that one game where you stab a knive between the gaps of your fingers really fast like; then you have the random events. When these random events occur, you'll be given a task on the spot. For instance, you might come upon a bunch of thugs hanging a man who didn't deserve it. You can choose to ride on by, help the man, kill the man, or kill everyone. Which touches on the amount of freedom you have in this game.

Very much like GTA, you can kill just about everyone. You can rob banks, stores, and even trains. You can get your lasso, strap people to the back of your horse, or be a complete douche and drag them behind you for awhile (which I did, yes). You can even do that dastardly deed no villain should ever neglect to accomplish, and that is to tie a woman to the railroad tracks. You can do all that, or you can be the honorable sort, and help people that need it. Stay out of temptation's way. It's all up to you. The game leaves a lot of room for role playing.

But even with the 20 hour campaign, the sidequests, the free roaming, the bounties, the hunting, all of which could keep you busy for 20 hours more...there's still a multiplayer mode. This is basically where it becomes awesome. The world is completely opened up to you, and you're set loose to complete various challenges, missions, or just goof off. By the way, ANYONE can kill you. This whole thing reminds me a lot of the PvP zones of World of Warcraft. You could be sitting there, trying to shoot a certain amount of birds for a challenge and you'll randomly get your brains injected with a bullet. It's certainly not as bad as WoW, where you could get camped for hours, but the game does encourage grouping up.

The first time I tried this, I entered the game and was immediately chased around the world for hours by these two guys. I was alone, but I put up a fight, killing them enough so that I was able to get the high ground every time. Eventually, they invited me to their posse, and we then ran around killing people, completing missions, getting achievements, and riding around in a stagecoach, taking shots at any player who happened to pass by. It was amazing. And you gain XP and levels by doing just about anything, be it riding on your horse, walking, or shooting things.

Basically, I'm really liking this game so far. The story leaves much to be desired, but I wouldn't trade away the marvelous characters throughout. The missions are fun (expect shootouts aplenty), the world is fantastic and creatively designed, and the multiplayer is practically an MMO in itself. (Also, the game gives you items for your Xbox avatar as you unlock certain things! Yeah!) You're getting a huge package when you buy this game, and the sheer amount of things to do will all but convince you that the $60 you shelled out for it was well worth it.

See you, space cowboy.

(EDIT: I should also point out that the soundtrack is spectacular! Case and point: the game's opening scene.)

(ANOTHER EDIT: There's a settlement in the game called Plainview that's packed with oil derricks. Fucking win.)