Red Dead Redemption: Eyes On

Rockstar’s second foray into the Wild West began its life after the release of ‘Red Dead Revolver’, a title beloved by many on the gaming fringes but due to a handover to Rockstar halfway through development (it initially belonged to Capcom), Revolver had too many cooks, resulting in a jumbled mix of disparate ideas so typical of a studio swap-over. Not to be dissuaded by its mediocre reception - unfulfilled potential can do wonderful, frightening things - Rockstar immediately began work on Revolver’s successor, a next generation title that would blow the Wild West wide open.

Many years and a Grand Theft Auto later, that successor, Red Dead Redemption, is inching towards completion. Always an ambitious lot, Rockstar’s decision to make the game entirely open-world was only beaten in gumption by their decision to build a new engine from the ground up specifically for the title. A little known fact: the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, or RAGE, was created with gunslingers and tumbleweeds in mind.

Inevitably, the game has benefitted from the years between conception and realization. The RAGE engine has been pushed further with each subsequent title – certainly, GTA IV’s huge open sandbox stretched it significantly – and this shows in Red Dead Redemption’s current build. The cowboy epic, beautiful and moody, is the best-looking game Rockstar has made to date.

Redemption’s stunningly realized wild west is a post-industrial one, a West still clinging onto the romantic ideal of gunslinging lawlessness in the face of a government determined to advance a modern America. Wide golden plains are deftly sliced by railway lines, pylons stand like dark sentinels on the horizon and telegraph wires worm their way through ramshackle towns. The sense that the ‘Wild’ West is dying is depressingly pervasive.

Redemption’s massive open world – reportedly bigger than GTA IVs – is split into three areas: the Frontiers, the Plains, and Mexico. Each area promises to be visually distinct, and there is an overall unruliness to the landscape that will entice the daring adventurer. To simply meander through the great frontier, with its endless rolling, golden sand and sprawling starry sky, is a pleasure in its own right, and there’s always the option to run through it like a madman on moonshine, shooting your pistols and shrieking a battle cry at whatever lies beyond.

Not that Redemption’s hero would ever be so crass, mind you. A grim looking (and impeccably detailed) fella, John Marston is a former gunslinger forced by a corrupt government to return to his roguish roots despite better intentions. The picture of grimy, battle-worn sexiness, Marston is one of those slippery creatures so in favour with developers these days: the morally ambiguous anti-hero. One could imagine Marston sitting down with a Niko or a Johnny Klebitz and getting wasted on a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Indeed, once you see Rockstar’s Western effort in action, you can’t help but draw comparisons with GTA IV. Although Marston moves with a unique, lackadaisical walk, he controls like our aforementioned protagonists. The GTA mini-map to the bottom left is here too, as is the mission-to-mission based narrative, and the charming, oddball supporting cast. One can’t reprimand Rockstar for lack of originality; GTA works. Redemption might feel familiar, but such familiarity translated into the Wild West is irresistible.

There are, nonetheless, fresh ideas added to the formula. The ‘dead-eye’ feature from Revolver remains: Marston has the ability to slow down time and ‘tag’ up to six enemies, shooting them in quick and deadly succession. How this ability is rewarded to the player is still vague, but is an exciting – and essential - part of Redemption’s gameplay; much like using Fallout 3s V.A.T.s, one gets the mildly perverted sensation of popping off heads in a shooting gallery.

And the animals. Rockstar has dumped up to a dozen different species into the sandbox, all of which operate within a delicate, self-sustaining ecology. At any given moment Marston can stumble across a pack of wolves chasing down an unassuming victim, a pack of vultures looming over a human body, or a wild horse, rearing up at the sound of gunfire. Their theatrics operate true to their real-life counterparts, and although this level of realism is certainly impressive, there’s always the worry of too much AI spontaneity: who wants to be chased down by a group of rabid dogs in the middle of a delicately timed mission?

On the other hand, Redemption’s main means of transportation, the good old (Grand Theft) horse, promises to have a fairly stereotypical – yet reliable - rule-book. Don’t use spurs too much, or your horse will burn out. Befriend a tameable horse and it will remain loyal in the face of adversity. Jump on the back of a wild horse, and while fast and powerful, it will leave you as soon as a bullet is fired.

Although convenient, horses should not necessarily be considered as a quick means to get from Mission A to Mission B. Much of Redemption’s promise lies in its side-quests and random events, which range from giving a stranger a lift to a train robbery, a simple card-game or a battle between good vs evil. The open-world Rockstar has created is far from an empty one – there is always something happening, and it’s up to you to pick and choose which side-quest to partake in. One can only hope there is a level of satisfaction and quality in these extras to make them worthwhile.

Much of our eyes-on of Redemption suggested great things. Stunning graphics, a thriving, vital open world, and a gritty, Clint Eastwood-inspired sensibility. What lacked, then, was information on the fundamentals. What is the story? Does the combat work? What drives the player forward? From what we’ve seen so far, Rockstar have hinted at greatness: this could be the game to tame the Wild West.