DID I MISS OUT? Red Dead Redemption

"Did I miss out" is a new series where I go back and play classic or well loved titles to see if I "missed out" or "dodged a bullet". This article I talk about my first every play through of the first Red Dead Redemption. I was in my local retro shop a few months back scanning through the game cabinet and my eyes stopped on RDR for the Xbox 360. I remembered I never did play this game and the fact RDR2 was an 80+ hour religious out of body experience made me think this might be a good pickup. I have a Xbox One (kudos to Microsoft's backwards compatibility) and the price tag was only $10 so I figure this was all a recipe for a fun time.

I popped in the disc and was met wit that nostalgic Xbox 360 intro splashed across my screen followed by the infamous Rockstar logo. I started up a new game and was in the cowboy boots of the infamous John Marston. The year is 1911 and John has given up his gunslinger ways for the quiet life of running a ranch with his family. Unfortunately, the past always finds a way to catch up with you as John finds himself in trouble with the law again. The government has arrested John's wife Abigail and son Jack and will only release them if John hunts down his old gang. Having played RDR2 it was fun to hear that you need to track down Dutch, Bill, and Javier, all main characters from the 2018 title. Once he brings in the heads to the Feds John will get his Family back. Its definitely a sad tale of that criminal who is trying his hardest to go straight and put that life behind him, but its not in the cards for John.

The story starts by John tracking down Bill who now was the leader of his own gang. They have their own stronghold in an old military fort in the desert. John underestimates his old partner and is shot on the door step of the fort and left for dead. John is saved my local Rancher Bonnie McFarlane and she nurses him back to health at her homestead. On the ranch you help Bonnie out with the many chores which help you get familiar with the game.

The game mechanics feel very familiar having played the sequel. Everything feels like a very scaled back version of RDR2 and you can really see this was the foundation they built on for the second game. Some of the features like dead eye and hunting and skinning animals originated here. The horse riding is not as smooth and it took a while to get the hang of it. Shooting is also not as smooth as the series successor and there is a duel function that I would forget how it worked from one duel to the next. It was like a panic every time I got into a duel to quickly figure out what buttons I was supposed to be pressing.

I feel like the game starts off a little slow and a bit tedious. You are helping out on Bonnie's ranch so you are literally completing ranch hand tasks. Wrangling cattle, breaking horses, shooting coyotes to protect the livestock. The beginning of the game is literally a chore. It does get a lot better very quickly as you get into town and cross paths with the sheriff and his deputies. You then hook up with a snake oil selling con man, a grave robber, and a guy with a serious drinking problem and get into a ton of shenanigan's before you take on Bill again. After raiding his fort he escapes to Mexico and you have to cross the Rio San Luis to bring him in. While in Mexico you find yourself in the middle of the Mexican Revolution doing work for both sides to try to get the whereabouts of Bill who has now shacked up with Javier. I do not want to give away too much of the story as I want you guys to go out and play it. So I will say you bounce around Mexico, change the tied of history for that country and may or may not catch Bill and Javier.

The last bit of the story is about facing Dutch. Dutch has a new gang of young Native Americans he has manipulated into being his followers. His gang is up in the mountains and John will only get his family back if he puts a bullet in his old mentors skull. Again I do not want to give away details of the plot, but there will be redemption, revenge, and some tears by the time the final credits roll on Red Dead Redemption.

Overall an amazing game with a really powerful story. If you where like me and was a huge fan of RDR2, do yourself a favor and play the original. At the time of writing this article Rockstar just announced they are porting the game to Nintendo Switch and PS4. Considering fans where anticipating a complete remaster for modern systems including PC the disappointment with the publisher is immense. Fans are upset there no 60 FPS, no PC port, and no multiplayer. The $50 price tag isn't winning any hearts either. Consider I picked it up for $10 for the 360 I don't think I really need it for my Switch.

I hope you enjoyed the article and like always stay safe out there gamers.

Red Dead Redemption is the intellectual property of Rockstar games and all of there subsidiaries.

This article is subject to Fair Use (US Law) and Fair Dealing (Canadian Law) as it is informational in purpose and is a critique of the product. All rights and credits go directly to the owners. No copyright infringement is intended.