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Looking back - PAX East 2010 - Red Dead Redemption
The last game of the three that I was really impressed with at PAX East 2010 is Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games. In a nutshell, try to imagine GTA IV set in a collage of old westerns.
Here’s the major differences (other than the obvious lack of oceans and modern day equipment like cars and missile launchers, etc.) that I noticed.
Firstly, the wanted system finally makes sense. The wanted level system never really worked in any stretch of a realistic fashion in the GTA series but in this game it runs on a numeric bounty system. Basically, if you do something “bad” and folks see you your bounty will go up. Your bounty is basically a “trouble magnet”. If you’re worth something in a particular part of town then the folks in town will come after you with a passion. The main way to get your bounty dropped is to pay it. Of course you can also avoid the village/pueblo where you’re no longer wanted (or heavily wanted depending on how you look at it) but sooner or later you’ll have to pay the piper.
The next big difference is the lack of boundaries. As far as I can tell you can travel as far out as you would like to but eventually you’ll be hunted town by native tribes who WILL eventually overwhelm you. World size aside, I got to admit that the best part is how naturally the world unfolds before you. It hasn’t been since Ico that I felt so bad that I’ve never ridden a horse before.
There’s also a neat addition to the combat… well, two really but in different ways. The first combat addition is that as you make more kills you earn “dead eye” mode ability which allows you to mark targets in a bullet-time fashion at which point you’ll rapid fire your shots in the blink of an eye. I found this feature most useful when firing at enemies from my horse. It reminds me a good deal of the new system added to Splinter Cell Conviction. The second addition really comes after combat; you can choose to either kill your enemies or hog tie them to bring them to justice which influences a karma system. As far as I was told, the karma system only influences how people interact with you similar to the system in the Fable franchise.
Overall I’m very excited for Red Dead Redemption and will definitely be buying it when I have the chance. Personally, I think they could have called it GTA IV - Old West but you can’t really have Grand Theft AUTO without the automobiles and GTH (Grand Theft Horse) is just silly.
tags / Rockstar Games / Red Dead Redemption / PAX EAST 2010
