Red Dead: Redemption

Played on: Xbox 360
Played it for: roughly 10 hours

RATING: 7.5/10

Summary:
You play as John Marston, a former outlaw who is searching to right his wrongs, and seek out the former gang member who is causing him trouble. After your first confrontation with the man at the beginning of the game, you are shot, and wake up to the rough cowgirl talk of Bonnie MacFarlane, the woman who saved you. As the game progresses you find out how to shoot a gun, ride a horse, and do other odd jobs for Bonnie and others around the Old West to get the money, supplies, and man power to fight your old gang, while helping to either clean up the West, or turn it into Hell on Earth.

Review:
I only gave this game a 7.5. There are several good reasons for that, though, so don't get all riled up with me. First of all, the campaign has absolutely no direction to it. I understand that the game is supposed to be free roam, but to me, that should mean that while the campaign is open, it also has some bigger goal to work towards. The best example I have ever seen of this is in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. While you could just go around shooting stuff, there was really no point unless you had something else to work towards, like a new gun or the progression of the campaign. Redemption seems to take the opposite path, and forces you to wander aimlessly with no purpose. The multiplayer has no direction, and simply ends in hundreds of Old West shootouts that result in the winner skinning the horse of the looser.

If I was to rate the game only on this, it would get a 4. However, it does have plenty of factors that bolster its rating. The graphics are fantastic. I commend RockStar on the work they put into this game, because it is quite impressive. The voice acting is also fantastic, and the controls work very well. While the horse controls are a bit sticky, and it can only run quickly on the set horse paths, everything else works like a charm.

To summarize, Redemption was a massive project which had a lot of potential, all of which was wasted on poor campaign development and no direction. In the end, RockStar went from Grand Theft Auto: IV to Grand Theft Louisiana Purchase. Nice try, but be more different next time, guys.

FINAL NOTE: I did not include the Undead Nightmare DLC in this review, because it is basically its own separate game, and will be treated as such. The UN review will be live in about another week