Red Dead Redemption

                                                                                                                                                      Hassã

 

Red Dead Redemption is one of those games that will keep you away from the real world for a long time. As all the open world games made by Rockstar, RDP leads you throughout an incredible wave of things to do and choices to make.

The story, which is set in the Wild West, follows a man named John Marston who is trying to capture a former crime partner, in order to come back to his family. Although it might seem cliché, the story goes deeper than that, in terms of twists. Not to mention the characters.

Not just Mr. Marston, but also the other characters we find inside the game are well developed. Each one of them has a unique personality and is ruled by different moral codes. What does it mean? It means that your actions will have a direct effect upon your reputation with the citizens, leading you to different friendships.

Almost anything is possible in this game. For instance, if you are a good guy, you can spend your time riding your horse and dueling bad guys, or saving good people from smugglers and kidnappers. On the other hand, if you are more of a bad guy, it is possible to have your pretty face on a wanted poster by committing all sorts of crimes. However, if this does not call your attention, you can also go to one of the many salons spread in the map and play some games, get into horse races, or just enjoy the view on your horse.

But what if you want to practice all forms of crime without being branded as a criminal? It is possible to use a piece of tissue to cover your face, which allows you to steal, murder and do many other despicable things without any one ever noticing your real identity.

Apart from the main quest, there are many side missions that you can take. People will often ask for your help to find someone that has been kidnapped, to get back stolen properties, or collect materials. As a bounty hunter, from time to time you can try to catch or kill a wanted criminal that will give you not just fame, but also a lot of money. However, I ought to alert that this will not be easy, for these dangerous guys are always well protected by their gang fellows.

If you get bored with a small gang, you can try to clean up a whole territory dominated by criminals. Furthermore, you might be awarded with a treasure map that can lead you to incredible prizes, once the place marked with a cross is found.

In addition, there is a huge variety of horses to capture, plants to collect, wild animals to hunt, properties to buy and guns to shoot. It would not be a Wild West game if it did not have guns, right? By the way, shooting is one of the best things to do around here. Rockstar made an incredible job by adding the “Dead-eye” system, which allows you to pause the time in the middle of a firefight and mark your enemies to kill them with a single smash of a button.

With that said, it is time to talk about the graphics. If you liked GTA IV graphics, then you will probably feel very satisfied with Red Dead Redemption. Using the same graphic engine with a few changes and improvements, Rockstar managed to make every landscape of the game look gorgeous. Moreover, the movements of the characters and horses seem incredibly natural. In fact, riding a horse is so fun that you will rather do it than use the fast transportation system the game offers you.

To sum up, Red Dead Redemption is an amazing game that allows you to choose what to do and what kind of person you want to be. All of this, together in an incredible Wild West environment that reminds one of those old movies such as “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and “For a Few Dollars More”, where men shoot other men for almost no reason and little balls of dust are always flying around. One might say that Red Dead Redemption is just GTA with horses, I would say no. It is necessary to play this game to realize how different they are, but one thing is sure, you will not regret any second that you spent playing this marvelous game.

References

For a Few Dollars More. Movie directed by Sergio Leone. 1967

Grand Theft Auto IV. Game produced by Rockstar. 2008

Red Dead Redemption. Game produced by Rockstar. 2010

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  Movie directed by Sergio Leone. 1996