Finally "Red Dead Redemption" delivers all and much more what could have been expected after the prerelease-hype of the last months.
There have been many games which have unsuccessfully aimed at breaking the fine line between video game and movie, but "RDR" accomplishes indeed an interactive experience that could also have been effortlessly a two hours spaghetti western opera at your local theater.
The atmosphere created by state of the art graphics, the ride/interact/shoot-gameplay and the outstanding sound effects is astonishing, not to forget the wide beautiful landscapes, sharp and intelligent dialogues and the diversified, cinematic mission design such as "the great Mexican train robbery", which makes it nearly impossible to lay the controller down for while.
The story of John Marston who is in pursuit of his former gang members in order to save his family, which leads him to team-ups with several mostly dubious characters, forced contracts with men of the law and embroilments within the Mexican civil war, unfolds in three gigantic chapters, that are partitioned in 57 main missions, of which every single one succeeds to convince.
The main point of critic of Rockstars open world predecessor "Grand Theft Auto 4", that most of the time you are engaged with driving, does not affect the riding in "RDR" because of the possibility of warping, either by using stagecoaches or by camping in unpopulated areas. There are some minor flaws, like clipping errors, pop-ups and changing ammunition without collecting any, but they never change the overall feeling of taking part in one of the best games ever created.
It is not by hazard that the game trailer was shown as an ad in theaters; there are some references to the best westerns of all time; the freeze frame effect when pausing the game, the machine gun shootouts and the gloomy portrayal of Mexican people in general reminds of "The Wild Bunch", whereas the superiority during the revolver showdowns, the bounty hunter sub-missions with its "dead or alive"- "wanted"-posters and the music with its melodic whistles successfully quote the "A Fistful of Dollars"-trilogy.
If you ever wanted to participate in a western, with its bacon and beans flavor, its charismatic shootouts and its lone wolf feeling it's time to saddle the horses and go for gold: "Red Dead Redemption" has it all and much more.
9.7 out of 10
