by CogitoErgoSum

Remember Oregon Trail? All the great nostalgic memories from our youth, in the computer lab with our friends? Now I want you to imagine Oregon Trail on its knees fellating John Marston, the Hero of Red Dead Redemption. Yeah.

Red Dead Redemption is a masterpiece. No joke, I’m almost certain it will win game of the year. This game plays so well, you immediately feel immersed in it. Everything from the stunning, ever changing landscape, to the perfectly picked music and voice actors, creates a superb experience.

In Red Dead Redemption, you take on the role as John Marston, a man with a past, being sent by the government to capture the members from the gang of outlaws he used to ride with. It sounds like a classic good guy vs. bad guy game, but here’s the twist: you can be as bad as you want to be (as long as you kill all the witnesses). This game handles well and the buttons make sense. This isn’t a frustrating game that takes too long to learn, which is good, since you’ll be shooting, riding horseback, and navigating with your mini-map, sometimes all at once.

The main aspects to this game are: shooting with any of your vast assortment of guns, riding horseback (so many ponies, so little time), hunting, and playing saloon games. This isn’t a typical stereotypical shooter, either. You are equipped with an on-screen sight, a quick aim ability, and the infamous Dead Eye, so it’s easier to chase after a train on the endless frontier, while Mexican Rebels are chasing after you, as you steer the horse, shoot the baddies, and save the day. Nice. Dead Eye stops time so you can specifically target your opponent, similar to the VATS system used in Fall Out 3. LT aims, RT shoots, and quickly tapping and releasing them in the direction of your enemies does the aiming for you.

Riding Horseback is your main method of travel, although there are also trains, and the ability to quick travel. You quickly learn that some horses are faster than others, and you can steal someone’s horse if yours sucks. While you’re exploring the wild terrain, you come across lots of different animals. Some of the animals are harmless, like hawks and foxes, other times they are more dangerous, like packs of wolves, and grizzlies. You also come across hooved animals, like buffalo, deer, elk, and wild horses. Equip your lasso and you can wrangle yourself a new wild mustang! Or you could just shoot the mustang and skin it. Hunting uses up a lot of your time, not because it’s time consuming, but because it’s addictive! There is an entire ecosystem at work, here. The foxes hunt the rabbits, the wolves hunt the foxes, and the bears hunt you.

To make your money, you do quests for people, sell skins, and loot everyone you shoot. Liar’s Dice is my favorite way to make cash in the saloon, though Five Finger Filet is fun too. You can travel all over the map playing Horse-shoes, or Arm Wrestling. Black Jack is fun, and if you get caught cheating in poker, you get challenged to a draw. And yes, you can loot that corpse.

There is nothing to dislike about Red Dead Redemption. This game deserves 5 spurs, it’s got trains, it’s got cops, it’s got robbers, it’s got guns, it’s got blood, it’s got titties, and it’s definitely worth turning the speakers up for. And it also has online multiplayer. Did I mention you can play the whole game online in a gang with your buddies? This is one game you can’t miss.