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| Something tells me that I'm going to write about every Rockstar game if given the chance... |
"Red Dead Redemption" is a universally acclaimed western action- adventure game set in an open world environment (And perhaps to this day, is still known as one of the best open world games out there), developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second title in the "Red Dead" franchise and a spiritual successor to the first title "Red Dead Revolver".
Set during the decline of the American Frontier in the far 1911, the game follows John Marston, a former outlaw whose wife and son is taken hostage by the government in ransom for his services as a bounty hunger. Having no choice, Marston sets out to kill three members of his former gang as he is ordered to.
As the game allows the player to interact with the game world at their leisure (Something a few other 'open world' games seem to have a mistake of not doing for some very strange reason (But that's okay "Mafia II" I still love you)), the player can take the time to take in every little detail of the environment they are in, from West United States to Mexico. This was probably the first game that would open my eyes to quality open world games (I was blown away by how much the game had to offer, what with all the side quests and random events that are featured alongside the main story mission), it was from then on, I had pretty high standards and expected quite a lot from other titles of that genre.
While I barely know anything about the Western genre (Especially Spaghetti Westerns), I was very eager to check out some of the films that had been of great inspiration to the game such as "The Proposition", "The Quick and the Dead", "Silverado", "The Wild Bunch", "Shane" and of course "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Needless to say the game did an amazing job in showing the absolutely dark and gritty side of the game (And bless it for its dark humor too), it has given me a newfound respect for the genre (For its narrative themes, atmosphere, music, etc.), pushing me to look further into it when I have the time.
As vaguely mentioned before, I absolutely love the atmosphere for this game, I was so sure that I would be turned off by the warm color palette I was expected to see in all of their environment designs (I just kept expecting oodles and oodles of dusty towns and deserts, I'm sorry!) , but no, amazingly enough, all three main worlds (Especially the last one) differed incredibly from one another.
Every little detail was taken into account (They didn't just change the way the NPCs looked and the music used, those are just the basics!), weather patterns were different for starters, same goes for the flora and fauna (I was pathetically interested in how gorgeously golden the grass looked in West Elizabeth, while the grass in New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso just seemed a lot drier...), even the way the sun seemed to set felt different in each location, which in some ways made West Elizabeth feel so much colder than the other two (NOT because it had one small area that would snow constantly mind you)…
… The way buildings were designed, placed and spread about in each location was different too (They really knew how to make some areas more deserted than others, and where to place the bustling little towns and cities, which were very few).
And of course, being a western game… "Red Dead Redemption" took full advantage of dramatic sun sets and rises, especially during the gun fights and bounty hunts… heck, even when John Marston is just strolling through town. I can see why Rockstar was able to easily make the first part of the game into a movie for non-gamers to watch, they already had all the needed camera controls and dramatic lighting required to turn it into one.
To me their usage of lighting was the main aspect that gave the game such a strong atmosphere, the sun would range from a warm glow to lazy one clouded by dust. Rockstar San Diego really outdid themselves when it came to this game, to me everything was just perfect (With so much more still to offer (Have you seen drunk Marston? Well you should!)).
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