Red Dead Redemption (2010)

The graphics are dated now for sure, but gorgeous when I first played in my childhood/early teens. Not so bad now that it takes away from my enjoyment of the game, but I'm fueled by nostalgia and a general preference for story > graphics anyway, so your mileage may vary.

The characters are genuinely iconic and full of life. John is beloved in gaming history for a reason, and I've loved Bonnie since I first played. Even characters with less obvious depth, like Bill and Javier, are seen through a completely different lens if you go back to this after playing RDR2.

Gameplay is typically Rockstar - a little clunky, LR + aim to shoot, ride around on a horse. Using the clunk to throw John around on the floor when he's drunk entertained younger me for longer than it should have.

That moment when you first ride into Mexico to the sound of Far Away is beautiful.

OPEN-WORLD ACTION - Follow John Marston as he pursues personal redemption by hunting down the former gang members he used to call his family.

PROS:

++ Great attention to detail. Typical with Rockstar Studios, every part of this game was made with great attention to detail. From how people and animals are animated, from the accurate scenery that fit that time period, from how people talked, etc.)

++ Believable dialogue. Conversations sounded organic, and the dialogue in general was written and voice acted well.

++ Great visuals. For a game from 2010, the graphics aged pretty well.

++ John Marston. A terrific protagonist who had an interesting story to unravel, and by the end, the player became quite attached to him. His road to redemption was one that was interesting to follow.

++ Ending. Excellent, but sad, ending.

++ Social commentary. Big fan of the themes and social issues discussed in the story.

++ Satisfying gunplay. Combat was incredibly easy, but was still fun because of the ragdoll physics and the "Deadeye" system.

CONS:

-- Mission structure. Mission structure is quite repetitive. If the dialogue wasn't so well-written, it would have made the mission structure even more tedious and grating.

-- Lack of mission variety. There was one too many herding missions.

-- Slow start. Story took a while to pick up, with Mexico especially, slowing down the narrative.

-- Sluggish movement. Movement on foot and on vehicles felt sluggish.

-- Performance issues. Played on PS3.

-- Boring open world. This may have been their intention, but the open world wasn't that interesting to explore.

-- Unnecessary mechanics. Needlessly made saving and fast traveling tied to campsites and sleeping.

I'm a little slow on games, but finally got around to playing this and putting in the time (~25 hours for 80% completion).

A little background - I haven't played any modern open world games other than Breath of the Wild, so I think I was less affected by some of the jank in this game, but I do think playing this game in 2020 means it's not a 5 star game for me.

I honestly think I can get past some of the controls and mechanics, but the lost star 100% comes from Mexico. Having to do quests for both sides with no alternative but to just go guns blazing was frustrating. I know it was kind of "the point", but I'm used to a little more agency in games which give you a morality meter.

If I didn't have a huge backlog I think I'd have enjoyed finishing off the treasure hunting and ambient challenges. No desire to ever use that games gatling gun ever again.

A little while ago I started playing Red Dead Redemption. Initial impressions were that it was a competent third-person shooter in a Western setting. It wasn’t anything mindblowing or groundbreaking (at least, not by my standards today. Then again, I am unfairly comparing it to masterpieces like The Last of Us), but I quickly came to like the protagonist John Marsten. He was an intoxicating mix of courteous, charming and honest-to-his-bones-good. I liked the way he referred to strangers as “friends”, friends as “sirs” and ladies as “ma’ams”. Before long I had adopted his Western drawl, just for the pleasure of it.

But despite a very loveable protagonist and very decent gameplay, an enchanting setting and a wonderful soundtrack, I am still struggling to like the game due to a moral repulsion to it. Perhaps repulsion is too harsh a word, but I frequently encounter ethical issues in the game which are more often than not glossed over. Let me give you some examples.

In the early stages of the game, it is made clear that my goal is to kill a bandit leader in a fortress. The game requires me to enlist the local sheriff’s help by essentially doing his job for him and taking care of gangs he has, for some reason, never gotten around to confronting. Having done this and proven my proficiency in storming bandit hideouts, I am keen to set my sights on the fortress and test my gun against theirs. Instead, for some reason I am not allowed to proceed until I rescue a travelling salesman and help him con villagers into buying his placebos (much like that episode of The Simpsons, when Homer and Abe team up). After cheating several honest settlers out of their money, I am encouraged to help a graverobber track down a man who is being held by the local authorities. This requires me to steal the horses of the lawmen so that the graverobber can break into the prison. My next task is to help a drunken Irishman who is receiving a beating from two thugs. I disarm them both hoping to scare them away, but the game will not proceed until they are both killed. Reluctantly, I shoot the cowering men in the heads. My next mission is to retrieve a gattling gun from a group of strangers, whom I slaughter in cold blood without so much as a “Howd’you-do, can-we-maybe-talk-about-taking-that-gun-off-your-hands?”. It is only after these despicable acts that the game reveals why I enlisted the help of such shady characters (reasons that are shaky at best) rather than storming the fortress with the sheriffs.

What bothers me most is that the game starts by having Marston shot, so that it can show you how painful and expensive it is to recover. Yet in spite of this, I am encouraged at every turn to shoot people without concern for the consequences. If I see a man running away from other men, I’m expected to assume he’s an outlaw and am rewarded for gunning him down. If a man is slowly jogging away with a tied up woman over his shoulder, rather than chase him down or ask him what he’s doing, I’m directed to shoot him. If I deal him a less-than-mortal-blow, he turns his own gun on me until I finally end his life. If I see a man with a knife about to kill a prostitute, trying to lasso him results in his instant death because the game doesn’t expect me to care about trying to stop him without murdering him.

Long time readers of my blog (haha, just kidding. There are none.) might recall that I place a huge level of importance on moral decision makings in games. Red Dead Redemption creates the illusion that there is a morality system based on honour where you can choose to be a “good guy” or a “bad guy”. In actuality, the choice is between being “a heartless outlaw” and being “a sociopathic lawman”. I’ve shot and killed plenty of innocent people because I’ve mistaken them for criminals at a distance, and what have the consequences been? Have bounties been placed on me, like those that I regularly take on for people charged with lesser crimes such as assault or kidnapping? Nope. I lose a small amount of honour and no one’s any the wiser. Hell, I was caught cheating during a poker game and was challenged to a duel, and when I shot the unfortunate man in the arm, I was actually awarded honour for sparing his life.

As loveable as the characters are, (and as addictive as poker is), I just can’t stand being forced to make terrible moral decisions if I want the game to proceed.

Post script: In the end I abandoned it about halfway through. Red Dead 2 looks amazing in every way except one: playing as a gang member and robbing innocent people just doesn't sit well with me. I might try it out, but I'll do so cautiously.

Platform: Xbox 360

In my opinion Red Dead Redemption is the perfect example for an enormous and still exciting open world atmosphere. The world is full of great possibilities: there is a journal, outfits, weird strangers, great minigames and so many animals to hunt - even rare or unique ones. Besides Tommy Vercetti from GTA: VC John Marston is the best protagonist ever. And so is the story. People who watched a few western movies might say that the story isn´t that innovative but still it´s fun. Also the world is full of funny people. The weird strangers I mentioned but also some more important characters like Seth, Irish, Bonnie, West Dickens or my favorite Landon Ricketts.

"Call me Bonnie you idiot".

So looking forward to Red Dead Redemption 2!