https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBctl1h_2o
Now, I have never really been a fan of westerns. I even passed this game up for a very long time before finally sitting down to play it. And when I did? Oh, I could not put the controller down.
A third-person shooter, what makes this game stand alone from so many others that I've played is the setting and the character. We are introduced to the protagonist, John Marston, a gun-slinging cowboy with a dark past who just wants to be with his wife and child. The government, however, has contracted him to hunt down each member of his former outlaw gang and put a bullet in their head, keeping his family's known location a secret until John complies.
What makes the setting so interesting is that it takes place in the west, but not the wild west as John remembers it. No, the industrial revolution is sweeping the nation, and our protagonist must adjust to this new and unfamiliar world. Soon, it will not be a world where a gun-slinging cowboy fits in. I suppose that the struggles are what makes the character seem so believable, and allows the player to sympathize with him.
If you plan to play the game, not that there are SPOILERS ahead.
After John arrives in New Austin (all cities and towns are fictional, as Rockstar Games often does) he sets out to find the only gang member with known whereabouts, Bill Williamson. When confronted, Williamson shoots John and leaves him for dead. Luckily for John, local rancher Bonnie McFarlane finds him and helps him recover from the wound. After assembling a colorful crew, such as con-artist Nigel West Dickens, to help him take Willamson's fort, John learns that Willamson has fled, and he must venture to Mexico.
John gets caught up in a Mexican civil war, but soon finds that Williamson is seeking refuge with another former gang member, Javier Escuella. With help from locals, John is able to find and kill the men from his haunting past. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Investigations will not allow John to see his family until the leader of his ex-gang, Dutch, is put down as well. Marston returns to the U.S. and tracks Dutch down. John is not able to kill Dutch, as Dutch commits suicide, but only after warning him about the government.
John finally is reunited with his family. He puts his guns aside as he becomes a farmer, living a peaceful life with his family. However, one day the government shows up, and they don't plan on talking. John is forced to fight back against them, but in the end he sacrifices his own life so that his family can escape the violence. Several years later, his son Jack is all-grown-up and is out for some sweet, sweet revenge. The son of Marston confronts Edgar Ross, the head of the Bureau of Investigations and shoots him down. Then the credits roll, playing a song that leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the player's mouth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IgSvQsKkOo
The game also offers a completely open world, ripe for exploring with additional bonus quests that do not relate to the main story. One of the most interesting side missions in that of the man in the top hat hat. John meets him three times throughout the game. Each time, he appears to know John very well, though John has no idea who he is. Twice he asks John to perform tasks for strangers, but the third time John is angered by his vague answers and shoots him... however, the bullets pass right through him, and the strange man walks away. Interestingly enough, the "fine spot" of their final meeting is also the future burial site of John Marston.
SPOILERS END
An expansion pack, Undead Nightmare, was released for the game that allows the player to go up against zombies and other supernatural creatures. Honestly, there needs to be more wild-west zombie stories.
Overall, Red Dead Redemption is an amazing game worth a play through. I highly recommend it t readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment