Red Dead Redemption - Grand Theft Horse

I get the feeling that I'm not the first person to make that joke. Red Dead Redemption is a Sandbox style game set in the Old West. It was released for the Playstation 3 May 2010. Developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. This is my first time playing and I don't think there's a difficulty setting so we'll call it "Normal Mode".

Considering the massive success of the Grand Theft Auto series (also developed by Rockstar) you should know how this game plays. The Sandbox genre has a lot of promise to it. You get a wide open space with lots of room to run around and a wide variety of things to do. Red Dead Redemption has all of that, the question is does it do them well?

The beginning of this game was painfully slow for me. We're introduced to our hero Mr. John Marston as he's being escorted to a train. He's being sent to the fictional state of New Austin to help clean up some local gang problems. You have to endure the train ride all the while listening in on two conversations. It's a long ride and nothing happens. I do recommend listening to the conversations as they do paint a pretty decent picture of how people behaved and thought back then.

I do find it amusing how much Mr. Marston stands out among the other people on the train. It's hard not to recognize him as an actual character. Everyone else is so dull looking and he's got a more "flamboyant" look to him. He doesn't look out of place, he just stands out.

Once you get to your destination you meet some guy and you go for a very long horse ride together. There's more conversation between the two but I don't really remember any of it. The ride is long and I kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever does.

You finally reach your destination, a place called Fort Mercer. Mr. Marston is here for one Bill Williamson. That means his name is actually William Williamson. Some people just have mean parents. Ft. Mercer is where some big bad group of outlaws is hanging out and I guess Bill is the leader of them. He doesn't really strike me as the gang leader type. The conversation is pretty brief. Mr. Marston wants to "save" Bill, Bill is happy being the leader of a dangerous gang. Marston gets shot. The end.

Sadly, you're awarded a trophy for this. Trophies/Achievements really do suck.

Your first 10 minutes or so of this game is just boring as can be. All you've learned is that Marston and Bill have a history and Marston is stupid enough to pull his gun on a Fort full of criminals. He really deserved to get shot. Thankfully the shot doesn't kill him and some nice lady comes and takes Marston away from the Fort where he's lying in the middle of the night.

Marston is out for three days, but he'll live and he'll recover pretty quickly after he wakes up. Your helper was a Bonnie McFarland Daughter of a ranch owner, she's full of spitfire. She's actually a pretty like-able character overall. I'm not fully sure for her reasons for saving Marston, but she's seems to an ally for the entire game. I'll find out more later on.

This is where you get your first mission, which is ride around the ranch with Bonnie. It was at this point that I was starting to get impatient. I wanted to actually do something interesting. All I've gotten for the last 20 minutes or so is story setup. Couldn't I have at least shot people at Ft. Mercer, but ultimately fallen in the end or something and then gotten rescued? But no, I have to endure boredom first.

Oh wait, that's right. I get to shoot some rabbits that are raiding the garden. Big whoopty-doo. Then I get to shoot some coyotes. A little more exciting then the rabbits, but only because you get to learn how to use your Dead Eye ability. Basically a "slow down time" "bullet time" effect that allows you to shoot more accurately. It's useful so get to know it.

Still not all that exciting so after the mission I randomly beat people up in town, then I stole someone horse. At least then I got chased by the Marshal, that was pretty interesting.