Perfect 10s - Red Dead Redemption

Perfect 10s

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is a perfect game.

From first placing hands on the ultra modern meets spaghetti western box art, to the emotional end of the main story, to the excitement of the expansive multiplayer, this game oozes atmosphere, showcases game direction at its finest and still thrills players to this day.

Taking control of John Marston, players are immersed in the old wild west as it retreats during the early 20th Century. John is a throwback who is thrown back into a world he has left behind. Complicated and engaging, the lead character is a triumph of modern game storytelling, forming a genuine bond between player and fictitious world. As the story twists and turns, so the player twists and turns with it, dragged along in the most compelling way.

The world itself, set in fictional counties along the Mexican border is beautiful, large and demanding. This is no simple backdrop as players are forced to transact with their surroundings, to go off the beaten track, to explore and to find their way.

Towns are busy, roads and paths are used by locals and by travellers, dialogue drifts across the plains, screams and shouts highlight the ever present threats and dangers of the west, trains chug by, puffing and wheezing and whistling.

This world is alive and it challenges you to climb to the highest peak and peer across its vastness before exploring further still.

The music drifts in and out, dynamically adapting to each situation, gun fights explode out of the screen and every character is believably acted. There is even a Welsh character, Welshy; quite the rarity.

Upon finishing the main story, a friend text me to confess that he had cried. I had required a cigarette and a moment's contemplation myself. Never had a moment struck me with such finality, not in gaming. As the odds turn insurmountable, no amount of 'Dead Eye' bullet time can change the fact that the past has finally caught up with you. The game ends and with it, the chance of a sequel.

That end game is brave and ambitious. The fact that an enormous post game opens up immediately after was a huge surprise. This is a game that does not know when to quit.

The online multiplayer was capable of great set pieces. One particular session saw a friend and I skirmish against the odds across the map, from town to town, while fighting a large gang of American players. I can still hear the heavily accented 'son of a bitch stole my horse' ringing in my ears as I succeeded in one particularly daring escape.

Red Dead delivered on every level when released in 2010. All of the prowess that Rockstar had been honing was unleashed in one of gaming's most monumental achievements. That publishers are now seeking to delay their 2018 releases to avoid Red Dead 2 is no surprise. Red Dead is serious business.

Very few games are as accomplished, very few so perfectly capture every western fan's fantasies and very few deliver so much for so long. Even the DLC, Undead Nightmare, was fantastic; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly meets Zombieland.

An undeniable classic, a work of art from a studio at the peak of their powers.

Red Dead Redemption: 10

Keep it Dead Eye. Keep it OMG.