Red Dead Redemption - Blackwater Down

The music in Blackwater is very creepy. It has this decidedly ominous feel to it. A foreboding about the future that just can't be placed yet. I've had my feelings about how this game would end and I wonder if the music isn't some sort of foreshadowing.

One last mission with McDougal and I can't say I'm sad to see this guy go. McDougal has decided to return to Yale, this place is far to dangerous for a man of science like himself. That's all fine a good but Dutch shows up and demands McDougal's life.

Marston sneaks McDougal onto to the roof but Dutch's men were waiting. I'm actually glad for moments like these. I get to put the sniper rifle to decent use and that's a rare treat.

This is another escort mission in the end. The goal is to get McDougal to a train station outside of town. It ends up being another run and gun mission that's fairly simple overall. I was hoping for some more action across the rooftops but alas, that was not to be.

Once McDougal is safely gone there's one more Agent Ross mission available. I almost balked when I learned that this was the assault on Dutch's compound. It is a fairly long mission with floods of enemies, but I wanted Dutch to mock the agents some more before we got to this mission.

You get to ride in a armored truck with a machine-gun mounted on the back. Machine-gun sections are always fun, but it was hard to shoot forward in this truck. Every time I tried the machine-gun would hit the truck. Once that was over it was a long ride to Dutch's actual forest. Sadly I spent it in the company of the Marshals. I didn't know you could talk to the army captain until we were almost to Dutch's, he made for some better conversation.

Dutch's compound is also huge with lots of enemies to take down. This took me a few tries as I'm not the most careful guy around. I tend to stand out in the open and shoot people. It works for me in the end.

The final battle battle with Dutch is literally at the point where he's on a machine-gun turret and you're on the ground. All you have to do is shoot a lantern near Dutch to chase him off the turret, that is the entire, completely disappointing showdown.

Sure you still have to chase Dutch through some tunnels, but there's not concern most of it is cutscenes. You can't shoot Dutch and he can't shoot you. In the end Dutch and Marston have a conversation on  cliff. The end result is Dutch throwing himself off of the cliff. It's supposed to be a poetic moment with Marston not being able to shoot Dutch, but I don't feel the connection between Marston and Dutch. In the end all I really felt was cheated out of a final battle.

Turns out this isn't the final battle though. After agent Ross leaves a song begins playing and the letter A shows up on your map. Marston gets to head home to his wife and kid. I was actually surprised by this, I thought Ross was going to shoot Marston after Dutch was dead. Ross asked for Marston's gun, who actually handed it over. I was determined that Ross was going to shoot Marston and call it good. First Ross shot Dutch's body, then gave Marston back his gun and told Marston to go back home to his farm.

So Marston is home again. Guess I get to deal with his family next.