Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption

There is a lot that can be said for picking a theme and devoting all the time and effort available toward fleshing out and perfecting that simple concept. This is  precisely what Rockstar San Diego did for Red Dead Redemption. It is a relatively simple, single faceted experience that is rendered with such care and attention to detail that it is one of the most immersive and beautiful games ever created. Yet, because it is such a simple, easy, and sometimes repetitive experience, it lacks a certain amount of depth.
Best played in short bursts, Red Dead's campaign mode can come to be quite a grind to the finish. This is not a new problem for Rockstar, masters of the sandbox game format. I've played nearly all of their games since Grand Theft Auto 3, but actually finished only a few of them. I believe that this exposes an apparent flaw in the sandbox genre itself, or at least the way in which it has been presented in the past. So yeah, the appeal of the sandbox game is freedom. Freedom to go where you want and do what you want. To experiment in a living, breathing digital world. The campaign just kind of works around this already present world to give you things to do in it. This means that right off the bat, the world and all the fundamental mechanics of the game are there for you to explore. This creates a sense of wonder and exhilaration in the very beginning of the experience, which wears off long, long before the conclusion, 40 hours in. You just start to get bored when you fell like you have gone everywhere and seen everything, and at that point, if you are feeling like that, you probably have. Rockstar has tried to remedy this problem in the past by locking off certain areas of the map and gradually opening them up. Red Dead Redemption does this too. And while there is a certain amount of joy derived from seeing the new scenery of each area, there are no real new, unique experiences to be found in these new areas. Just more of the same gameplay set in a different setting.
Essentially, this is what Red Dead Redemption is. It is GTA set in the old west. Comparing GTA 4 and Red Dead just on on appearances could be like comparing apples and oranges. The vast open expanses of the old west certainly seem to be at odds with the cramped urban sprawl of Liberty City. However, when you boil it down, these games are extremely similar in terms of gameplay, tone, story, and mechanics. I would say Red Dead is the better game in the end though for several key reasons. Unlike GTA, which had an extremely annoying policy of making you restart a mission from the beginning if you failed, Red Dead has a checkpoint system, which relieves enormous amounts of stress. Red Dead also has a greater array of activities that the player can do on the side of the campaign. Some are just pointless and boring- picking herbs, horseshoes, cards. Some are quite a bit more fun- bounties, random roadside encounters, hunting, going to movies. While they are very hit or miss, at least they are there to mix things up a bit. Hunting, in particular is a blast and the wild animals found all over the world of Red Dead is one of it's very best features and something new to the Rockstar formula. Some of the very best experiences i had with the game came from being stranded in the wilderness with no horse and having to fend for my life against a pack of wolves of an extremely lethal cougar. These moments where I was truly struggling to stay alive were particularly notable because of the fact that they were mostly absent from the campaign mode. This game is pretty damn easy. Once you have the dead eye and a couple decent guns, you are essentially unstoppable. Unlike GTA 4, where if you broke the law, it could be pretty difficult to get away from the cops alive, in Red Dead they essentially have no chance of catching you. This is due in a big way to the fact that you a riding a fast, extremely maneuverable horse through open fields instead of trying to maneuver a difficult-to-control-car through busy streets.
    Red Dead's greatest strength is it's tone and atmosphere, which never breaks for a single second over its entire run time. Essentially, the game is an extremely beautiful Western, in which can control the main protagonist. The writing and acting is sharp and clever, if a bit repetitive, just how you would expect from Rockstar. The plot is a decent yarn filed with many of the conventions of the genre. It is at times very heartfelt and touching and contains some really great scenes that would be right at home in a classic Western. There is a certain underlying cynicism to be found in the story, something also present in the GTA games. Red Dead smartly goes for a more serious approach to homage though, as opposed to the borderline genre parodies of Vice City and San Andreas. You might not laugh as much as you did at older Rockstar games, but you will probably take the story a lot more seriously, as it tones down the outlandish comedy quite a bit.
    So yeah, Red Dead Redemption is essentially Grand Theft Auto set in the old west with a few minor changes. But then again, this same thing can be said about almost every sandbox game. Since GTA 3 simultaneously invented and perfected the formula back in 2001, not much has changed, Sure the games have allowed you to do more things than you could before, and the attention to detail and production values have improved drastically, but it's still the same basic idea. That being said, red Dead Redemption is perhaps the best sandbox game yet because it has the most beautifully crafted world, the most memorable story, the best (original) soundtrack and the most consistent tone of any of the similar games to come before it. It's a highly immersive experience that only the collective efforts of a large and highly talented studio can afford. A true next-gen experience.