Red Dead Redemption Revisited
Red Dead never had the impact on me that it seemed to have on most people. Upon its release back in 2010 it was widely regarded as Rockstars best game and one of the stand out games from that generation, there was no shortage of "one of the greatest games ever" taglines being thrown its way.
One of the main reasons I like to revisit old games is that when you play lots of games it can be hard to accurately remember what it is about a certain game you liked or didn't like. I remember being very disappointed with Red Dead from a mechanics stand point but really enjoying the story and setting.
With the sequel on the horizon for later this year I thought it would be an ideal time to go back and see how time has treated Red Dead. At first I was optimistic, I have moved past my very strict mechanics focus and am far more open to narrative being a focus on games as well as the developers focusing more on the immersive aspects of the world they create.
The first few hours were going great. The slow start has become more common since 2010 but Red Dead does take care to slowly build Marstons character and give you small but clear hints at the kind of man he used to be without going to overboard to make you think of him as a saint.
The opening section of Red Dead is by far my favourite part of the game. Helping the MacFarlane ranch with their everyday tasks while trying to put pieces in place to pursue the main story all while having the freedom to fill your time with hunting, bounty quests or just enjoying the scenery of the old west was quickly turning me around on my opinion of Red Dead to the point where I was really questioning my initial review of eight years prior.
However, then the game takes you away from this and things do not go well from there. One of the biggest complaints I had back in 2010 was how buggy and glitchy the game can be. Everything from horses randomly dying, changing direction without any input, missions completely breaking to the point where a reset is needed. I couldn't play for more than a couple of hours without this kind of thing happening.
It's unfortunate that once Read Dead takes you away from the opening area and actually gives you what you want; taking to the lands of the west it reveals how badly it cannot cope with doing so. Red Dead is open world but there isn't all that much to do aside from the main story that is interesting. One thing I had forgotten about and upon this replay ended up being my favourite aspect of the world building was being able to buy newspapers and read through local events and big stories for the time. Everything else is the same side mission endlessly recycled and it results in main lining the story missions which is where the pacing of the game really falls apart.
Red Dead does not waste any time in letting you know what Marston is after but it sure does waste the vast majority of the game in letting him actually get it done. The first handful of missions are very focused but once you reach around the middle point of the game you spend an inordinate amount of time doing glorified side missions filled with painfully long conversations which aren't all that interesting. I'm aware that Marston is a former outlaw looking to go down an honest road, there really isn't a need to have a 10 minute conversation about this with every new person you meet.
At first the journeys to a mission aren't all that bad and every now and then you get a good bit of information on Marstons history but after the 30th time riding a horse and hearing the same thing they become extremely tough to endure. Some missions will let you just skip these outright and I was doing so without hesitation once I made it past the halfway point. This cycle of going to a mission, riding to a start point, getting into a gun fight (which have aged very poorly) then finding out what you want isn't actually there or you have been double crossed gets boring very quickly. The game spends quality time at the start building up the appeal of the rest of the world and unfortunately never delivers on the idea you have for it in your head.
It's a real shame Red Dead doesn't have a more engaging story to tell or a more exciting world for you to experience. Even though the game is quite old from an artistic view the land of the west it presents is still great to look at and I had most of my fun hunting, taking bounties and then reading a newspaper to relax. The missions are extremely repetitive and are recycled far too much, the cut scenes largely blur together for the most part which is another disappointment as some of them have some genuinely funny and smart moments in them.
I've never minced my words about my thoughts on Red Dead when it released but I always tend to end up with a different conclusion when I go back to a game after such a long time even in just minor areas. Red Dead is the first instance where my opinion hasn't changed in almost ten years, in fact the story aspect was much less impressive than I was remembering. It's one of those games where I feel I played something different than what everyone else must have been playing and cannot even see a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.
One of the main reasons I like to revisit old games is that when you play lots of games it can be hard to accurately remember what it is about a certain game you liked or didn't like. I remember being very disappointed with Red Dead from a mechanics stand point but really enjoying the story and setting.
With the sequel on the horizon for later this year I thought it would be an ideal time to go back and see how time has treated Red Dead. At first I was optimistic, I have moved past my very strict mechanics focus and am far more open to narrative being a focus on games as well as the developers focusing more on the immersive aspects of the world they create.
The first few hours were going great. The slow start has become more common since 2010 but Red Dead does take care to slowly build Marstons character and give you small but clear hints at the kind of man he used to be without going to overboard to make you think of him as a saint.
The opening section of Red Dead is by far my favourite part of the game. Helping the MacFarlane ranch with their everyday tasks while trying to put pieces in place to pursue the main story all while having the freedom to fill your time with hunting, bounty quests or just enjoying the scenery of the old west was quickly turning me around on my opinion of Red Dead to the point where I was really questioning my initial review of eight years prior.
However, then the game takes you away from this and things do not go well from there. One of the biggest complaints I had back in 2010 was how buggy and glitchy the game can be. Everything from horses randomly dying, changing direction without any input, missions completely breaking to the point where a reset is needed. I couldn't play for more than a couple of hours without this kind of thing happening.
It's unfortunate that once Read Dead takes you away from the opening area and actually gives you what you want; taking to the lands of the west it reveals how badly it cannot cope with doing so. Red Dead is open world but there isn't all that much to do aside from the main story that is interesting. One thing I had forgotten about and upon this replay ended up being my favourite aspect of the world building was being able to buy newspapers and read through local events and big stories for the time. Everything else is the same side mission endlessly recycled and it results in main lining the story missions which is where the pacing of the game really falls apart.
Red Dead does not waste any time in letting you know what Marston is after but it sure does waste the vast majority of the game in letting him actually get it done. The first handful of missions are very focused but once you reach around the middle point of the game you spend an inordinate amount of time doing glorified side missions filled with painfully long conversations which aren't all that interesting. I'm aware that Marston is a former outlaw looking to go down an honest road, there really isn't a need to have a 10 minute conversation about this with every new person you meet.
At first the journeys to a mission aren't all that bad and every now and then you get a good bit of information on Marstons history but after the 30th time riding a horse and hearing the same thing they become extremely tough to endure. Some missions will let you just skip these outright and I was doing so without hesitation once I made it past the halfway point. This cycle of going to a mission, riding to a start point, getting into a gun fight (which have aged very poorly) then finding out what you want isn't actually there or you have been double crossed gets boring very quickly. The game spends quality time at the start building up the appeal of the rest of the world and unfortunately never delivers on the idea you have for it in your head.
It's a real shame Red Dead doesn't have a more engaging story to tell or a more exciting world for you to experience. Even though the game is quite old from an artistic view the land of the west it presents is still great to look at and I had most of my fun hunting, taking bounties and then reading a newspaper to relax. The missions are extremely repetitive and are recycled far too much, the cut scenes largely blur together for the most part which is another disappointment as some of them have some genuinely funny and smart moments in them.
I've never minced my words about my thoughts on Red Dead when it released but I always tend to end up with a different conclusion when I go back to a game after such a long time even in just minor areas. Red Dead is the first instance where my opinion hasn't changed in almost ten years, in fact the story aspect was much less impressive than I was remembering. It's one of those games where I feel I played something different than what everyone else must have been playing and cannot even see a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.
Interesting read. I get 'what all the fuss was about,' but you're right about the story. If you've seen any Westerns or played any GTA, you basically know what's going to happen. And you're right about the middle part of the game. For someone who knows what he wants, he tolerates a lot of BS helping people he has no business caring about. Still, the climax was great, and I remember feeling gutted when he died. I personally didn't have much trouble with glitches. I'll buy it day one because it looks beautiful and getting to be a cowboy is awesome.
ReplyDelete