This game is ESRB Rated M for Mature. Parental discretion is advised.
If you love westerns like I do, then you probably couldn’t help but be interested in Rockstar’s new project, Red Dead Redemption. I stated in the past that I wouldn’t get the game simply because of it’s Grand Theft Auto ties, but after a bit more research, I felt I could give it a try. I’ll share with you some of my first impressions. I’ll try to keep it spoiler free. If you don’t mind spoilers, check out the first two hours of the game that I streamed live:
I put in about 2.5 hours in single player and an hour in multiplayer.
Single Player & Gameplay
The voice acting was up and down. There was some genius moments and there were some really dry moments. As you ride your horse with certain people, you have conversations about things ranging from general small talk to background story. Overall, I was satisfied, and judging by the genius moments I encountered, I believe the voice acting will get better.
Controls are average to decent. Horseback riding takes practice and shooting while on horseback takes even more practice. That didn’t surprise me. What DID surprise me was the awkward controls on the Playstation 3. I’m not sure if previous GTA games did this, but Rockstar decided to put aim and fire on the L2 and R2 buttons. Why!??! This was so frustrating and caused me to die or make mistakes many times. I didn’t investigate whether you could change these controls yet, but you bet I’m going to look very hard. (If you know how to do this, PLEASE let me know in the comments)
Graphics are typical for a next gen system. I wasn’t blown away like I was with Heavy Rain, but the subtle effects impressed me more than the obvious ones. The lighting to me was very well done. As you enter buildings at night, the ambience can be very convincing. I was riding to a mission and noticed a slow, subtle sunrise in the background. Very impressive.
The story line so far seemed very typical of a Western one. Good. That’s exactly why I bought it and was glad they didn’t do anything weird or stupid. I haven’t done many of the “side” missions, but I imagine they will not disappoint.
Multiplayer
My first impression of multiplayer was terrible. I don’t blame Rockstar, but as with many multiplayer games, the people you play with determine your fun factor. The first game I joined consisted of individuals with TERRIBLE microphones. Not only did they have bad mics, but they were constantly talking about nothing. I could not find the mute function in multiplayer and I hope I just overlooked it. It is absolutely essential to be able to mute the microphones of annoying individuals.
After I got past the bad mic posse, I got into some decent matches. The awkward control scheme really stood out here as I had to react quickly. Instead of aiming, I would bring up the weapon selection screen with L1, and would quickly die. Latency wise, it was an enjoyable experience and I actually had a lot of fun once I got the hang of the game modes and controls. Since I never played GTA4, I was at a disadvantage, but I heard many times on the mic that it was pretty much just like GTA multiplayer.
Conclusion
I’m glad I bought it. There’s a lot to this game that I didn’t get a chance to explore, but based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s a good buy. Some may want to dismiss it as “GTA in the Wild West” and I say to that: So what? I actually think their formula works better in the Wild West than it does in modern times. RDR is worth a rental if you’re in the fence. I think you’ll be impressed.