Red Dead Redemption (Video Game 2010)

A former member of the van der Linde gang of outlaws, John Marston is being blackmailed by government lawmen to hunt down his former partners-in-crime. Driven further into the American ... See full summary »

Directors:

Rod Edge, John Zurhellen

Writers:

Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth,

Stars:

Rob Wiethoff, Josh Blaylock, Sophia Marzocchi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rob Wiethoff	...	John Marston (voice)
Josh Blaylock	...	John 'Jack' Marston Jr. (voice)
Sophia Marzocchi	...	Abigail Marston (voice)
Spider Madison	...	Uncle (voice)
Benjamin Byron Davis	...	Dutch van der Linde / Nastas (voice)
Calvin C. Winbush	...	Easter Durden (voice) (as Calvin Winbush)
Kimberly Irion	...	Bonnie MacFarlane (voice)
Chuck Kelley	...	Drew MacFarlane (voice)
Anthony De Longis	...	Marshal Leigh Johnson (voice)
Brad Carter	...	Deputy Marshal Jonah (voice)
Frank Noon	...	Deputy Marshal Eli (voice)
James Carroll	...	Norman Deek (voice)
Don Creech	...	Nigel West Dickens (voice)
Joe Ochman	...	Professor Harold MacDougal / Government Clerk (voice)
Kevin Glikmann	...	Seth Briars (voice)

Storyline

A former member of the van der Linde gang of outlaws, John Marston is being blackmailed by government lawmen to hunt down his former partners-in-crime. Driven further into the American Southwest, Marston soon finds that Williams has crossed into Mexico, a country in the throes of a civil war. At every turn, Marston must choose whether to side with outlaws, lawmen, rebels, or innocents in the crossfire.

---

Plot Keywords:

outlaw | american southwest | colorado | spanish american war | dynamite | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Western

---

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rockstar Games, Rockstar San Diego

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

A weapon that John Marston receives in the game called the "High Powered Pistol" is modeled after the Colt M1903 or FN M1903 handgun.

---

Goofs

When a person in the game is blasted by a shotgun during game play, the wound on that person is that of a bullet wound, and not a buckshot wound. A bullet wound (what is seen) is one small hole with a little blood around it, and a buckshot wound should be seen as a large splatter of blood on the person's body.

---

Quotes

John Marston: You can only Shit on people so many times before they decide it's their turn to pull down the pants.

---

Connections

References A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

User Reviews

A quite fantastic gaming experience – fun, engaging and technically very impressive

I had enjoyed GTA4 (which I picked up long after it came out) but for some reason (perhaps a Call of Duty obsession) I never paid any attention to Red Dead when it came out - even though I only heard good things. I borrowed it recently and after 10 hours on it I bought my own copy. Similar to GTA4 there is a narrative following one character which involves lots of jobs (missions) for others, gradually getting harder as you get closer to completing the story. In addition to this there are lots of side distractions so that you can play for hours without actually progressing the story one inch.

The story missions are great. Very enjoyable, fun to play – difficult enough to avoid being a dull doddle but easy enough to get even the hardest ones after a few tries. There are a lot of cut scenes but they are well done and, if you don't rush from one story mission to the next then they don't seem crowded. The difficulty is not too bad and the options in aiming modes makes it possible to make it harder without changing the content of the game but, more importantly, the game is long. Some people prefer the games where you spent a lot of time battling one "bit" or one level to get passed it – I don't, I don't enjoy frustration, so having a game that is reasonably easy to progress is good for me – but the key thing is then that there is lots to do, since I'll do most things in one or two tries. Red Dead is awesome for this – hunting, random encounters on the roadside, missions for strangers, gambling in saloons, all of it is fun and easy to waste hours.

When I had been told of this game, the idea of riding from one point to another worried me because a lesser game would use this to "fill time" and make missions feel longer by virtue of having you spent 10 minutes crossing the map to get to a 3 minute mission. Not so here – firstly the missions are not short but also there are things to do even as you travel around – distractions that you can do or ignore whether it is a trap set by robbers or a man who needs help with wolves etc. The fast-travel is good but to be honest it is often more fun to just ride for 5 minutes and enjoy it.

Part of enjoying the ride is how simply stunning this game is technically. OK there are some minor glitches such as horses getting trapped in rocks but these are easily addressed by the player, but otherwise this is impressive. Sunsets are stunning and the vistas are as great as anything John Ford brought us – the difference being that every rock and plant and mountain here has been created – not just filmed. You can ride from one end of the world to the other without any loading screens or stuttering (which, as other Fable 3 players will appreciated, is a joy), you can see for miles and the weather effects of wind or rain are as unobtrusive and natural as they are impressive. So many games set challenges to explore and find things and often they are a chore just included to add time rather than enjoyment to the game (again, Fable 3 comes to mind) – but with RDR it is honestly just plain fun to ride round without any specific mission or story going on.

A lot of the reviews on this site are quite gushing and I was determined to be as objective as possible – but it is hard when the game is this good and this enjoyable. It is not that the game is like being in a western – it is like being in a brilliant western.