Wild ride in Old West right on the money

The problem with most video game Westerns is that you don't need to appreciate the Old West to appreciate them.

•  One morally ambiguous cowboy

Red Dead Redemption
PS3 and Xbox 360
Rockstar San Diego

They're typically designed in the mould of other games, subbing in Old West iconography but otherwise bearing little distinction from so many other shooters covering completely different periods.

Red Dead Redemption doesn't have this problem, because while many of its underpinnings are unmistakably lifted from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto games, the degree to which Rockstar caters those parts to the setting - instead of the usual other way around - gives it more Wild West conviction than the sum of almost every virtual Western that preceded it.

The level of conviction isn't fully apparent until the storyline is a few hours old, but Redemption hints at it almost as soon as the tutorial missions end and players are free to explore the world on their terms.

At first, it's a little disconcerting.

New Austin's vast wilderness sits in striking contrast to Liberty City's bustling streets, but it's no smaller a landscape, and there appears to be less to do between towns.

Despite some clever control touches, riding horses naturally is slower and more laborious than driving cars, and the overly simple early missions provide little solace when players retreat back to the storyline for excitement.

But "Redemption" gradually brings its world alive.

Characters met early on come together for significantly more exciting (and challenging) missions, and as players' renown increases, so does the variety of activities in town (poker, duels, horseshoes, bounties and more) and on the frontier (herding challenges, persistent missions for strangers, even some light agriculture appreciation).

Perhaps most impressive is Redemption's attention to detail with regard to wildlife.

The horses display personalities and credible mannerisms.

Coyotes and wolves attack at night, and bears are to be feared just as skunks, deer and birds scurry at any sign of trouble.

(Redemption's audiovisual presentation of weather patterns and day/night cycles is magnificent.) The game offers challenges to players who wish to hunt for profit, but they're entirely optional if you'd rather just observe and save the bullets for the bandits.

Per Rockstar tradition, Redemption allows players to be as good or evil as they please, and the systems in place for outrunning the law make it tempting to be the bad guy.

But Redemption's central storyline - which puts players in the shoes of a reformed scoundrel-turned-devoted husband whose only desire is to protect his family - makes it equally difficult not to want to fly right.

All the things that made Grand Theft Auto 4's story so good - strong characters, terrific voice acting, meticulous dialogue and a true sense of setting - are present here as well, and Redemption's leading protagonist is easily the most likeable Rockstar creation yet.

Players with a morality complex might prefer to just flash their evil side online.

Redemption includes a couple of traditional competitive multiplayer modes, but its best asset is Free Roam mode, which drops up to 16 players inside a world full of AI characters and allows anything to go.

Players can level up and unlock new gear by teaming up and completing co-op challenges scattered around the map, but they just as easily can turn on each other or wreak random havoc against the AI.

It's your Old West playground, and Rockstar cares not what you do in it.

 

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