Red Dead Redemption: Hands On

We got a big 'Welcome back to Mexico' from Rockstar Games when NZGamer.com visited their Sydney offices recently. We followed up on what we saw back in December, and a lot has been happening since. The game is taking shape nicely for its April release, with a number of additions since our first eyes-on. And this time, we got to actually play the thing.

To reset RDR in context, you play as John Marston, a retired outlaw who must reacquaint himself with the smooth polished handles of his pistols when a posse ride in and threaten his family with death and disarray. All he has to do, these men say, is take up arms against the members of his old gang: the ones that left him bleeding out following a bad heist. These guys are members of a government department (not a friendly one like WINZ, either) and will eventually become the FBI. Not in the best position to bargain, Marston rides out.

The game is set in the US and Mexico around the time of a push toward industrialisation and the drive for a cohesive government. The Wild West isn't as wild as it was, and the world in which Marston once operated so freely is changing.

The folks at Rockstar started out by showing off a few of the game's new bells and whistles since we were last in. Much of it is cosmetic stuff - a fishbowl effect on the edges of rifle scopes, some heat shimmer - but there's also the ability now to perform close-up kills, sending your enemy's brains skyward. Zesty. They followed this up with a mission showing Marston siding with the army as they bring the pain to a rebel group. Missions like this will form up a significant part of the action as you play through RDR. The frontier is alive with conflict, crime and shady deeds, and you can often choose to be as involved as you like. Rockstar stressed the moral ebb and flow when we did our eyes-on back in December and as the game gets closer to release, this hasn't shifted at all. The mission was exciting to watch and (we can only imagine) intense fun to play. Rockstar also took the opportunity here to really show off RDR's cover system, which will be extremely useful among the ubiquitous sharpshooters aiming to end your earthly journey.

Our turn came around soon enough. We played through a couple of the game's missions and also had a chance for a bit of downtime, riding around the landscape, checking things out, and getting a feel for how it controls (and more of how it looks, which blew us away once, and was ready to do so again - let's not spend too much time on it, but RDR continues to look amazing).

First off, we rode out of Armadillo with Sheriff Johnson; this is the salt-n-pepper bearded fellow with a cheroot between his teeth in the trailer released in December 2009. When questioned about what he's doing in town, Marston says he's there to capture or kill his old riding-mate, Bill Williamson. The Sheriff seems pretty keen to do what he can, but first he needs some help with the myriad problems plaguing Armadillo. Marston accompanies Johnson as he goes after some local crooks.

Here was another opportunity to take in some of RDR's environment. As we rode on horseback to the indicated spot on the map, it was hard not to be taken in. The sheer distance it's capable to travel is staggering. There's a one button method for having your horse follow whomever you're riding with, which is helpful if you want to concentrate on other things. At any time you're able to draw a weapon and shoot from your horse (if you see a deer, perhaps, or a peasant) but it's not made easy by the punishing terrain and jouncing animal.

The gang started shooting from their hideout before we even crested the hill. Using the game's cover system, we took the bad guys down one by one, with the Sheriff in support. The ability to take cover behind any solid object, break cover and sprint, fire blind and sneak all came into play here, making for a pretty high pace of play. You can expect to see real-world-ish results of these make-believe bullets, too. Splintering rock and puffs of dust are the least of it.

After we had made our way to the hideout, the baddie we needed to bring to justice was the last man standing. He was no match for us, naturally. We shot him in the leg, meaning the Sheriff was able to take him alive, but the choice was really down to us. It took us a little while to seal the deal here, because we had let him wander dangerously close to the cliff before we took our shot. The result was that he fell down the hill as he attempted to crawl away, the bowl of his knee shattered by NZGamer.com's well-placed round. He rolled quite a distance and it was hard work finding him among the scrub.

In this case, hesitating didn't cost us the mission, but it could well have. Later, we were asked to help a man whose daughter was being held captive by some similar rapscallions. The farmer wasn't much of a marksman, so it was up to us to take down a number of prickly bastards from atop rocky outcrops and behind walls before we could get inside the fortification. Picking off the bad guys from behind our rock drew a tremendous amount of fire, but with some careful peeking, aiming, and the excellent cover system, we were able to sort them out. Inside the house, we battled our way through a few more nasties - pistols this time; a rifle's no good in close quarters - and eventually saw the man's quaking daughter lying on a bedroom floor. She had a gun to her head, so the course of action seemed pretty straight forward: shoot the dude hovering above her. Well, we did... we just took our sweet time about it... and she was killed. The cold glare of the Rockstar rep sort of stung, and it helped drive home the type of game Red Dead really is: unforgiving.

There are many other such side-missions scattered around the RDR landscape, and taking them on is entirely up to the gamer. They have no effect on the game's end-to-end, but they are a great way to pick up weapons, loot and make a name for yourself. You can kill pretty much indiscriminately while you're in a gang hideout (again, there's more than one) without raising your wanted level, and that's a kind of anarchic freedom we can surely all appreciate.

Before we got to the last mission we'd play, we took a ride and had a look at what was on offer in and around town. As soon as you get a couple of minutes' ride from the saloons and brothels, the landscape is hopping with wildlife. If you like, you can spend some time shooting deer or other game and collecting hides. These are worth a few bob at the railroad offices (basically these act as transactional stop-offs for a range of functions, like paying or collecting bounties, for example). But your hunting excursions needn't stop there. Hit a flying bird and you're Step One on the way to winning the Sharpshooter Challenge. RDR is alive with such additional gems. In town, there's poker, bounties, stories about treasure, or black-eyed prostitutes that need the protection of a strapping, upstanding, ex-con like Marston. This wasn't really something we had to have hands-on to know, because it was evident when we saw the game last time... but Red Dead Redemption is freaking huge.

Gatling guns provide obvious advantages to a man that needs to maim and kill occasionally, so the last mission we played through was to nab one of these little beauties and raise it from the depths of a mineshaft. Our partner in crime was a drunkard named Irish, and the mission - like the mission to help the Sheriff - was preceded by a short explanatory cut scene. These are all but flawless pieces of cinema, that bind the game together rather than break it up. In fact, we should take this opportunity to talk about the seamlessness of the game as a whole. There is no difficult scene chopping, and no break in the action if your character is suddenly taken over by an animation. Once animations or cinematics are through, the camera pans around and plants itself back home, so you can continue on. The voice acting is excellent, from what we've heard, and we can only hope it's consistent.

In the mine, we stalked Marston through a long, twisted tunnel that crawled at every corner with malicious gunslingers. Strategically placed crates of TNT livened things up, and again, the cover system was an extremely important tool for progression. Once we had the gun, we loaded it into a coal cart, and pushed/rode it back toward the entrance, taking out any further sneaks by firing as we moved - pushing or riding depending on the gradient of the track. This was enormous fun, as our character fired with one hand and held on for dear life with the other. Crashing into a huge stockpile of TNT at the end of the track and detonating ourselves was... yes. A bitter pill to swallow indeed.

Excepting a few minor graphical glitches (few hands-on experiences are without them) and the fear that perhaps this game is actually a little too big, Red Dead Redemption is shaping up to be one of 2010's best. Rockstar Games may not be the only masters of the open-world adventure, but their track record speaks for itself. The game's been dated for April and like everything else it has already been delayed once, so let's hope it sticks. Meantime, dust off the chaps and cowboy hat you wore to the Wellington Sevens and prepare to wear them somewhat less ironically.

Thanks to Rockstar's Sydney contingent for the Redbull and Red Dead.

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