Of course you might not always be feeling sociable or in the mood to help people, no problem says Red Dead Redemption, get back to nature and bring out the natural hunter in you. Several challenges exist in the game for hunting; several varieties of wildlife roam the countryside and all of these can be hunted and shot as you see fit. When you come across the animals there will normally be a couple of them roaming in a similar area, you choose your weapon of choice and begin your hunting season. If you shoot a gun into a herd of Dear then your likely going to scare them off and they'll run off into the country side giving you a moving target, however, sneak up on one of them with a knife, silently slice open its throat and you're free to move onto your next target with the minimum of fuss. The dead animals can then be plundered for their hides, their meat, and even in some cases their hearts, these can be sold at the local stores in the various towns to get you some cash to spend on other things.
Hunting isn't always about taking a stealthy approach though, you'll have access to some high-powered guns which have to be used with some caution because if you take aim at a smaller animal or bird with a high powered rifle then it's likely to explode into small pieces, leaving you with nothing but a sloppy mess and no reward. Should you manage to complete a certain set of goals then you'll gain from your experiences and be able to harvest more from each animal; a neat trick to earn some quick cash is to travel to one area where an animal is localised and sell it in another where it can't be found, you'll earn more cash that way.
Suffice to say that if you find yourself bored while playing Red Dead Redemption you're doing something wrong; the multitude of activities you can do within this environment is simply mind boggling, you could literally spend an entire evening completely ignoring the main story and still encounter more variety in a game then you would in most others. It's not just the gameplay that offers variety, the passage of time is well executed throughout the world, day turns into night and back again, the occasional storm will break throwing rain down upon Marston as he charges through the valleys, the thunder and lightning effects used are simply brilliant as the clouds light up in the far distance to denote the lighting.
The musical score fits the game perfectly; it's never too much in your face and it never leaves you with a feeling of isolation. There is one particularly clever use of the soundtrack and the weather system as you enter Mexico for the first time; it's something best discovered for yourself but it will likely make your Top Ten greatest gaming moments ever. When you trigger the event, one word of advice in this sequence is to stay on your horse or you'll lose it and you're life will never be complete. Sorry, it just won't be. Ever.
It's going to come as no surprise that Red Dead Redemption will last you hours, even if you concentrated solely on the story then it's going to take you about eight hours to complete, and you won't be able to stop yourself being distracting on at least a couple of occasions. Completely doing everything is likely to take you to 40 hours depending on your method, obviously fast travelling across the country is going to take chunks of time off your completion time which may knock this down significantly. Fast travelling your way around can will not only take away a huge portion of time spent playing but you'll also lose a lot of the content which isn't centered around the various towns and villages.
You don't have to worry about being cut out of the game once the main story has been completed either, you can go back to the game world anytime you want to complete bits and pieces you may have missed, the random elements make it worth going back to sometimes. It's worth noting that there isn't many games that end the way this one does, it might not sit right with you; there is somewhat of an epilogue to be played through once Marston's quest is completed and it can feel a bit misplaced. It doesn't spoil or sully the experience any but it can be a little frustrating and leave you wondering just what's going on, it will all make sense in the end, you've just got to stick with it.
If you're still reading and still haven't decided on whether this is your next purchase then the multiplayer should give you that final nudge, yes, you can take it online and compete amongst your piers on your own or as part of a posse comprised of your favourite gaming buddies. Ditching the more traditional method of lobbies, once you're online you find yourself in the familiar game world, this is known as the Free Roam mode. Most of the people you encounter in this mode are fellow players, this is what is used to create your public or private matches, you join a posse made up of random people or your friends and then go find something to do.
During the free roam mode you can do some of the activities you would normally expect to do in the single player mode, hunt, raid gang hideouts, or just wander around randomly shooting people. Doing practically anything earns you XP which is used to level your character up, you start off on the back of a donkey until you're respectable enough to use a horse if that wasn't embarrassing enough, when did you last see a cowboy on a donkey?
The usual suspect of game modes are available in multiplayer, you've got your standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and of course the Capture the Gold mode; a notable exception to the norm for these modes is that each level starts with a Mexican standoff. Before the match begins you must choose one of the other players to shoot while everyone is pointing their guns at each other, if any players survive they are given a short amount of time to run to a favourite spot before the other players respawn so you can grab a good sniping position if that's your thing. The online hangs together quite well and doesn't feel like a last minute addition.
Red Dead Redemption is certainly a game you should play. The story telling is top notch and you'll get involved with Marston as he truly is a likeable character and an underdog from the start; sure the story can drag from time to time and you'll be anxious to get to the next part but it's worth getting through these few and far between spots. It's not a perfect game, but then it's not far off; those little issues that have been mentioned slightly tarnish an otherwise excellent title, it's probably because Red Dead Redemption sets its own standards so high that the occasional hiccup is so obvious.
It makes a welcome change to play a game based in the Wild West era of American history. It's a time gone by that isn't visited successfully by very many video games, Red Dead Redemption proves that a Western setting for a game can be done to a very high standard and hopefully this won't be the last time we'll see the Old West through Rockstars eyes.
