If by chance while roaming the maps during single player a question mark appears feel free to stop by and being one of the “stranger” missions. These missions offer no replays like the storyline missions. There is one chance at doing these, and there are some difficult choices to make at times. Many times I found myself questioning which action to take during this one shot missions, many of which come with several parts to them that become available throughout the game. One other activity that is particularly fun to participate in is the bounty hunter missions. Throughout the various towns that you will visit there will be Wanted posters that are posted in places in the town. Having Marston walk up to the poster will prompt two options to appear. One being the ability to take a closer look at the poster, and the other being accepting the bounty hunting job to track down that particular individual. After accepting the job a red skull will appear on your map hud. Once going to the location it is up to you whether you want to hogtie the individual or just kill him. Taking the person alive results in a higher reward, so that is typically in your best interest.
Marston can either be a good guy or a bad guy. That is essentially up to you. This is decided through the actions that you take throughout the game. His “level” is shown by the Fame meter. Depending on the actions taken that meter will either rise or fall. For example, shooting an innocent civilian results in a -50 Fame subtraction. Helping out others results in an addition of Fame. It is up to the player how they want Marston to be viewed as he walks through towns. Also depending on the actions he takes it affects his Honor stats. If the player has Marston do good deeds then he will have a high Honor ranking, and vice versa for wrong doings.
The player can also put Marston in various outfits. Different outfits have different perks that may be of use to accomplish different things. An example of this is that the Gentleman’s Attire allows Marston to enter high stakes poker games. There are a total of 14 available outfits to unlock, each having their own criteria to attain.
With the various towns located throughout the map Marston needs a place to rest and save his progress. Initially in the game the player starts off with one safe house. As the player progresses through the game more safe houses can be rented or purchased to give Marston other locations to rest at.
The game itself feels like a living breathing world that Marston is going through. People respond to you based upon some of the actions you have taken during the course of the game. There are things that occur that you may not see again during your entire experience with the title. Just traveling across the desert in between towns you will encounter animals, bandits, and even people camping out. Some of the camps you come across will even welcome you to join them at their camp and talk. This is a good time for Marston to relax and just listen to some stories the NPC’s will tell.
Graphically the game is definitely impressive, the scenery is breathtaking and lifelike, the characters are gritty and fit the story and world perfectly, animals are realistic looking. When taking into account the sheer size of the title as well as that there is so much going on, Rockstar did a great job with the title. The draw distance is realistic and gives you a sense of just how vast and desolate the land can be. Load times are almost non-existent, so you’re never taken out of the action
Overall the controls are essentially the same as Grand Theft Auto IV’s, minus a few different things such as horse acceleration/deceleration. If you are comfortable with those controls, then you will fit right into the control scheme of Red Dead Redemption. The controls do work very well given the way they are setup. Riding a horse can be difficult to get used to, especially those of you used to the way a car drives in GTA, however, you’ll pick the reigns in no time.
On thing to touch on that Rockstar definitely deserves credit for. That is the level of realism within this game. There is so much going on, and as you are playing you will find yourself fully immersed during the entire experience. Every little detail adds up to bring you an unprecedented level of atmosphere – you’ll feel like you’re in the wild wild west. One such example would be when a horse is becoming fatigued they will attempt to buck you off if you choose to push them too hard. Camping out to rest is essential to progressing in the game, seeing as how this allows you to not only rest, but also save your game. Through these campsites the player can also fast travel if they choose to do so, but as mentioned earlier, you wont want to, as you’ll want to take in every last bit of the game and it’s atmosphere.
