• Summary: Developed by Rockstar San Diego, as a follow up to the 2004 hit game Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. The story of former outlaw, John Marston, Red Dead Redemption takes players on a great adventure across the American frontier. Utilizing Rockstar's proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), Red Dead Redemption features an open-world environment for players to explore, including frontier towns, rolling prairies teeming with wildlife, and perilous mountain passes - each packed with an endless flow of varied distractions. Along the way, players experience the heat of gunfights and battles, meet a host of unique characters, struggle against the harshness of one of the world’s last remaining wildernesses, and ultimately pick their own precarious path through an epic story about the death of the Wild West and the gunslingers that inhabited it. [Rockstar Games] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 73
  3. Negative: 0 out of 73
  1. It was a world I was gutted to leave, and as such stands among the best that PS3 has to offer. [June 2010, p.107]
  2. The game itself is absolutely spectacular...The sheer quality of Red Dead Redemption is evident right from the word go.
  3. 100
    A single player game that keeps on giving, is as good as if not better than Grand Theft Auto IV and is as beautiful as a Hollywood epic.

See all 73 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 10 out of 151
  1. Beautiful, stylish and engrossing. If you ever had the yearning to be a cowboy in the old west then Rockstar have got all the bases covered. From duels in the streets to poker in a bar in Mexico to watching the sun set ove rthe mountains there is every activity you could ever want to enjoy in the game. Story wise the tale of John Marston is engrossing and you feel deeply connected to the character throughout the game. This is one of Rockstar's best moments and one which has gameplay for many months to come. Expand
    • 6 of 6 users said yes
  2. JustinJ
    6
    Hype over Substance. It seems to be a mainstay of the video game review industry the last few years, which has done nothing to dissuade the developers from buying into it as well. Red Dead Redemption is a prime example. The graphics are gorgeous in places, mainly the sweeping outdoor and city locations, while the textures can be flat and uninteresting with a muted palette in more confined spaces. This is especially noticeable on the PS3, which is, uncharacteristically, the lesser of the two platforms graphically in the case of RDR. The gameplay is similiar in feel to GTA4, and the same problems that plagued that game and other "Sandbox" styled games are still prevalent here. Side-missions are varied, unlike in say, "inFamous," where the same exact 4-5 missions were recycled ad inifinitum throughout the game. But that doesn't mean they don't end up feeling the same. Each Bounty plays out in the same manner, every "Challenge" is merely a repetition of the previous rank with a new target, and the "Stranger" missions, while varied and interesting, are far too short to make up for the recycled mechanics in other parts of the game. Likewise, the large selection of mini-games may hold your attention at first, but with the exception of the well-done Texas Hold-'em poker tables, will probably be passed by after you've seen each of them once or twice. Overall, this is more a genre failing than a failing of the game itself. RDR is certainly a high-quality sandboxer, but the entire genre is in need of a facelift, and this coming from someone who has been a fan since before the name was even given. Red Dead Redemption is one of the most hyped and awaited games of the past year, and as such you can be certain that it will receive critical acclaim. But all you'll really find here is a polished version of a gameplay mechanic that is starting to feel its age, much as RPG's did in the mid 90's before Black Isle came along with Baldur's Gate to raise them to prominence once again. If you still love sandboxers, and don't mind the repetitive missions that serve essentially as an excuse to draw a games play-time out well beyond what the actual, unique content would warrant, then you'll find plenty to love in RDR. On the other hand... if the genre is starting to wear thin for you, even this new coat of polish isn't going to be enough to make you forget that you just did the same exact thing for the 40th time. Expand
    • 17 of 44 users said yes
  3. TuesdayS.
    4
    This game was an utter disappointment. After loving Red Dead Revolver, I knew this game would be so great - I didn't grow skeptical until I saw that it was made by Rockstar. The controls are absolutely terrible from the start. The default actions available to you for 'driving' your horse (which is something you have to do a lot with how big the world is and for a lot of the missions) are stuffy and difficult to use. Everything seems to be slow to react and unpolished. The graphics are also sub-par, but that's to be expected from Rockstar judging by their track record. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much after seeing the first trailers, but come on... it's 2010, and this looks like some of the earlier xbox360 releases, even some of the later PS2 releases that aren't high-def. I at least expected there to be some evidence of effort, especially after playing current gen games like Dante's Inferno and Prototype. The dialogue is probably the most enjoyable part of this game as I've played it thus far. Although the story doesn't seem to be all that interesting, the voice acting was done pretty well, and the script is convincing and engaging. Really, it's probably the saving grace of this game for me. As far as game function in itself, it was glitching out for me within the first 5 minutes of actual play. The AI doesn't seem to have even been fully developed before release, and I had to restart the first rabbit-shooting mission because rabbits were glitching out inside of the fence. I can't rightly judge the weapons selection and the fullness of the world or the multiplayer as I haven't played too far into it, but at this point, I'm not holding my breath. This was a complete waste of my money, and it will probably be traded in to Gamestop by the end of the week. Expand
    • 13 of 58 users said yes

See all 151 User Reviews

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