Red Dead Redemption, another win for Rockstar, GTA4 revised

Rockstar Games has done it once again for me, this time in the form of a Wild West Style RPG if you can call it that, I spose you can. For those of you who don't know Red Dead Redemption is third person style RPG where you play as John Marsden a Rancher/Cowboy/Bounty hunter who is on a government mission to capture or kill his former gang members and save his family from government clutches and start up his own ranch and goes on an adventure through the Wild US West and also Mexico etc. Being made by Rockstar, you can probably guess this is practically a Wild West version of Grand Theft Auto 4, which with all the main parts ie. big place to roam around, npc's doing random things, side missions, story missons, etc, I think the main difference between the two is the huge amount of untamed landscape teeming with dozens of different kinds of animals/plants places in which you can meet anyone and anything and where certain random events take place (people being chased by wolves, stolen carriage etc) in which you have to decide whats the right (or the wrong whichever you prefer, to do).

What the hell are those damn posts sticking out of the mexican buildings for?

Maybe it's cause I'm playing this on the PS3, or maybe it's because it's set mainly in the wilderness rather then the city, but Red Dead just seems to work, compared to GTA4 which is polished but seems to be awkward. I think the PC is the problem in that regard, I play GTA3 on the PC in order to use a mod called 'simpletrainer' which allows you to do a large amount of fun and useful things which would be unavailable on the PS3 version, that said my brother does have the PS3 version at the moment and I suppose I should have a go of it.sometime. I can't use my PS2 style controller for driving in GTA on the PC so that does have an effect, while running and shooting is much easier with a keyboard and mouse. Maybe whats missing from GTA is the ways you can make money, you do things like skin animals and collect herbs in the field and sell them at the general store.Maybe it's the various costumes you can unlock and wear rather then buying your own clothes in GTA4 or maybe it's the ambient challenges i.e. sharpshooter/hunter/survivalist that are an addition for you to do as well as the basic story missions one major flaw with the game as the outfits you unlock do not carry over between saves, there is one very cool looking outfit which I was only able to obtain pretty much once I'd completed the whole game and was kind of annoyed when I could not use it in a new save.

Scenery is awesome to look at, the world is quite large cause i can't exactly remember where this is.

Red Dead Redemption also has a few multiplayer feature packs and an expansion entitled "The Undead Nightmare" which you can pretty much guess what it's about it introduces zombies to the game and allows you to play through a fictional storyline as John sets out once again this time to find a cure for his family who have turned into zombies, visiting and meeting up with familiar faces along the way, doing the original storyline is an absolute must for this as it won't make much sense if you haven't done it.

Whatever the difference is both are very good and deserve a place on my list of favorite games. I have currently started Red Dead over again and can say that I look forward to going home and playing it each day.

Bears, Boars and Wolves! aaaaargh!
JD