You ain't outlaws! You're idiots!
I don’t typically care for open world action games, but given how Rockstar has continuously received universal acclaim as masters of the genre, I decided it was high time for me to try one of their “masterpieces”. Playing Red Dead Redemption was a telling experience that finally shed some light onto the Rockstar phenomenon- if you’re among the majority of players who prefer a great story over great gameplay, then Red Dead Redemption is likely the game for you.
Red Dead Redemption’s strengths clearly lie in its world, its story, and its characters, all of which are equally fantastic. Its gorgeous wild west landscape is highly detailed and teeming with life. Not only are there plenty of people roaming about, there’s also a ton of exciting wildlife all over the place- seeing a giant grizzly bear barreling towards you is quite a sight. All of this stuff is great, and goes a long way towards creating a strong sense of place. In addition, the writing and dialog are both super sharp, and do an outstanding job at characterizing the game’s large cast as they drive a superb story. The lengthy narrative hits plenty of different interesting beats, each one handled as carefully as the last, and the characters turn out to be pretty endearing. I could have done with a little more personality from John Marston’s general aloofness, but he has his moments, and the rest of the cast offer more than enough quirks to suffice. In fact, listening to Marston’s deadpan rebukes to the rest of the casts’ eccentric schemes was perhaps my favorite part of the game.
Given how good the setting and storytelling are in Red Dead Redemption, it’s a shame that you’re never able to influence the narrative in any way, and that the general gameplay is mediocre at best. The basic third person shooting is serviceable enough, but it’s never really able to conjure up memorable moments on its own. I also found getting in and out of cover to be fairly unresponsive, and having to repeatedly tap a button to run is just silly. Traversal is made extra difficult with an unwieldy fast travel mechanic that requires you to be far away from towns and roads before you can even use it, which kind of defeats the purpose. Aside from the basics, Redemption just doesn’t offer a lot of gameplay variety past generic shootouts (be it on foot or on horseback) and open world collectathons, something I ignored altogether- picking flowers and skinning rabbits aren’t the best uses of my time. Last but not least, I encountered a handful of glitches in Redemption, one of them game breaking enough to cost me twenty minutes of play time. I know that’s generally expected in a game as sprawling as this, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
Without getting into a debate on what games should or shouldn’t be, I think I finally realize the extent to which most players prefer strong storytelling to strong gameplay. It can be difficult at times for me to overcome the disconnect between its great storytelling and mediocre gameplay, but unless you’re among the minority that’s further entrenched in the “gameplay first” camp than myself, I can safely give Red Dead Redemption a hearty recommendation.
For additional information on my review style and scoring system, click here.
