PS3 Recap: Red Dead Redemption
by: Oliver Layco
Next on my list of PlayStation 3 greatest hits is Red Dead Redemption. Cowboy tales never sparked an interest in me; no movie, TV show, or song changed my mind over the years. Even when my sister first bought Red Dead Redemption, it wasn’t on my radar. One reason being because it was a western tale; the other being it was made by Rockstar and I never liked their games. Grand Theft Auto never appealed to me because it didn’t seem like it was made for a good story but rather everything else you could do in the game. However, when I first started playing Red Dead Redemption I fell in love right away. What initially drew me in were the vast vistas of the old American West. Whether it was sunrise, during the day, sunset, or at night the country side really felt like it was mine to explore. Although the world was vast that they created for us, it didn’t really feel that big to me when I was riding on horseback through the plains. The overall feel, especially with the music, made me feel like I was John Marston. Speaking of John, I was really feeling for him throughout the whole story and I just wanted him to be back with his family. While the story was nothing we haven’t seen before anywhere else, I think what separated it in terms of video games was the western setting. They brought in so many characters throughout my time in this world, yet none of them felt too rushed; it felt like each had a good balance that fleshed out their character properly. Even the characters who I particularly didn’t like I didn’t like them because of who they were; there are other games where I don’t like characters because they seem unnecessary, but everyone played a role in this one. Even the side missions didn’t feel out of the way for me. While some of them were mundane like herding cows, they would ramp it up by having you herding them in the rain! Then you would also have to make sure none fell off the cliff, or at least not that many fell off a cliff. One other side mission I really liked was to collect the four horses of the apocalypse! There was so much they offered players to do in this that it really was time consuming. I know I didn’t complete this one to 100%, but I poured so much of my time into it that I still felt satisfied. I was also really impressed because of this; normally when I play really long games there’s a point where it felt like they were dragging it on when it could’ve ended a couple hours ago. Here, you could be gambling, hunting, or just looking for treasure and still feel like playing for another 20 hours. Then just when you think you’ve played as much as you could, Rockstar released Undead Nightmare. Now you could play as a cowboy, but kill zombies! This was a perfect piece of DLC and I think it was actually the first DLC I bought. There was just enough story to justify the purchase and they brought back several characters from the main story. I loved running through the environment and just wanting another horde to come get me. I’m already rambling, but there’s so much that I loved about this game I could probably go on for another page but I shall not. I’ll just leave it at this and say that if you haven’t played this game then you need to pick it up. I think it even comes bundled with Undead Nightmare now!