Red Dead Redemption

Epicest. If such a word would exist, it’s perhaps the only word that would succinctly describe Red Dead Redemption. What starts off as a run of the mill, bog-standard open world game snowballs into an experience so epic that you’d have to create an adjective to describe its scope. Yes, Red Dead Redemption is that good.

It’s 1911 in the American Old West. You don the role of John Marston, a former outlaw who traded in his gang and gun-slinging ways for a farm and a family. However federal agents have held his family hostage until three of his gang members are brought to justice. Sure it seems like a fairly straightforward tale, but with stellar production values that raise the bar immensely high, it’s tough to compare Redemption to other video games.

First up, the voice acting is as convincing as it gets. Rarely do you get a game that packs so much voice talent to the point where you feel that the characters, as unique and idiosyncratic as they are, are as real as they would be in a great movie or TV series. Mad props to the writers at Rockstar who managed to make a disturbed 30-plus grave-digging necrophiliac with mommy issues seem as believable as my morning coffee.

Combine powerful characters with some legendary dialogue and a strong script and you have a potent combination. This wouldn’t be enough if it couldn’t keep up visually but here the graphics are drop dead gorgeous, doing its part in creating an accurate portrayal of how the West once was. From character models to scenic (or sometimes morbid) towns it looks fantastic.

With rock-solid controls and some neat gameplay elements such as Dead Eye (similar to Splinter Cell: Conviction’s ”˜mark and execute’ mechanic) where you can slow down time to tag critical hits onto the bad guys and duelling where you can settle your grudges in an old-fashioned gun fight to the death.

Adding to this is the sheer amount of things you can do in-game. There is, excuse the cliché, rarely is a dull moment. If you want a break from the main storyline you can try your hand at taming horses, hunting game or doing a variety of side-quests for a colourful array of characters, known as Stranger missions, some of which put the main story’s great moments to shame.

Not in the mood for a story? How about trying your luck at blackjack, poker and liar’s dice. Clearly there really isn’t much Rockstar have left to chance. Redemption perhaps is the only possible cure for the ADD afflicted gamer.

If this was December, Redemption would have easily made game of the year. Since my crystal ball isn’t exactly working to see if any future titles come close, I guess Redemption would have to do with a perfect score. A must play for every gamer, even if you did just buy your console for play hi-def media.