(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Well, it's been roughly 48 hours since I bought Red Dead Redemption (pre-ordered too), and I have to say, I'm very pleased in buying this. I will say though, not everything is quite up to my expectations. When I say not everything, I mean very little. So let me break it down a bit.

Single Player Story Mode

This is a great story filled with many great characters. The main character, John Marston, seems to be a bit of the "anti-hero" role. Not a villian, just not the white knight so to speak. On a quest of revenge but also for the law, he comes across a lot of other characters with in-depth personalities. The movie sequences are great, as the animation is better than what was seen in Grand Theft Auto 4, showing off the many expressions that really puts you into the game and it's characters. Excellent audio quality from the suttle chatter of an insect, to the voices of the characters, to the rumble of a lightning storm, to a powerful explosion. All the guns have unique sounds, and not that many will notice unless you're a gun buff, the difference in the pitch of the muzzle blast is appropriate. Obviously, a more powerful gun with a larger barrel will have a lower pitch and a louder bang.

The visual affects in the game are amazing, but what I really like is the response NPC's make when you shoot them. Again, like GTA4, but improved. If you shoot someone in the leg in GTA4, they'll have one of two, maybe three, different reactions, but it's never specific to what part of the leg was hit. In RDR, it becomes more specific to what parts you hit, and the number of responses is greater. Shoot off hats, shoot guns out of hands, scare a guy by shooting next to him. The horse animations leave a little left to be desired, but personally for me, if it's not an awesome car, I don't care too much what the thing looks like when I'm driving it. For what they did, it's sufficient.

Part of the experience in RDR is the open world. You can follow the story along if you want, or you can roam around trying to get achievements and unlock new things such as titles for multiplayer. The minigames are great too, giving another perspective of the Old West. Personally, I like playing Texas Hold 'Em, because it's always a favorite of mine. Maybe it's because I'm a poker addict that I love any version of it. Though the first few sets of challenges are quite simple, some of them do get pretty difficult. Finding 5 bears to kill is no problem. Killing one of them with your knife, can be tricky (have fun with it guys...Henry Repeater at his legs, and be quick with the knife when he gets near is how I did it, after about 17 deaths trying).


The Free Roam Multiplayer

Like GTA4 open multiplayer mode, this game mode allows people to connect into a world which is it's own lobby and do whatever they want. Though the options are not as vast in Free Roam as they are in the single player story mode, they can be very entertaining with a group of friends. Taking out gang hideouts is fun, and in my opinion, fairly easy with a group. Taking on the law though together, can get progressively harder unless you find a good spot to hold up and defend (check the southern cities). In multiplayer, like single player, there is a journal full of challenges that help you unlock more titles, characters, and mounts for your multiplayer experience. I can't wait to see who the legendary characters are. I hope they are real people, because I want to play as Wyatt Earp (wikipedia it if you don't know...famous lawman).

Competitive Multiplayer

What is a multiplayer game if you can't shoot up your friends or enemies in friendly (not-so-friendly?) competition. As stated in the trailers, each match starts out with an old-fashioned "mexican standoff". If in a team match, you'll be lined up with your team against the opponents. In free-for-all, you're in a circle and you get a chance to aim up against whoever you want before you can fire (and see who's aiming at YOU!)

Each of the games have various weapons to get, and if you know where it is, the sniper rifle is a great asset to your teammates, or just you. Just make sure you can get to a good place where you can snipe from for a while. When you are killed, the victim will get about a 3-5 second screen shot of you doing whatever you're doing after you kill him. This way, at least, you stand a chance of finding snipers.

Overall, the multiplayer is not laggy. Though it can be glitchy with character turning invisible. There's a few tuts out there if you want to do it intentionally, but I just let my controller automatically turn off, get killed while in a menu, turn it back on...and usually makes me invisible.

The Dead-Eye is a powerful tool to use in this game, both in single player and multiplayer. Multiplayer is a bit tricker, because you don't slow down time, but I like though because it does make it smoother and more realistic.

Suprisingly enough, I believe there are more guns in this game then there have ever been in any GTA game. So far, I've counted 7 different rifles (and I know I don't have them all yet), at least 5 sidearms, and 3 shotguns. Add in firebottles, throwing knives, a sniper rifle, and dynamite....this game has PLENTY of firepower. Of course, there's always room for more. How about a cannon? If you can find it on the multiplayer maps, you can wreck a lot of havoc.


Well, that's my early review of the game. I like it a lot. I wish there was a bit more to do in Free-Roam, but it'll keep me occupied for now. Looking forward to the DLC sometime in June.

Have funs guys, and happy trails!

Good....Very good