RED or DEAD, The Marston Family Name has been REDEEMED.

The old Wild West of America was going through a real odd transition stage around 1911. Slowly but surely the Victorian lifestyle was giving way to the age of industry. Covered wagons were being threatened to be replaced with automobiles. Trains were a far quicker and more comfortable method of transportation when compared to horseback. Technology was slowly starting to peek around the corner, but it had yet to completely wipe out the old west, cowboy hero archetype.

It is in this setting that Rockstar North, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series of games, decided the place their latest open world action video game, Red Dead Redemption.

The epic Western tale is set around a cowboy named John Marston. We start the game with John in a bit of a situation. John's outlaw past has caught up with him. We first see him being escorted by two federal agents (Pinkertons, perhaps?) to the Southwestern town of Armadillo (in a state which could quite possibly be California or Texas). The federals want Marston to hunt down his ex gang members and as a reward, the Feds will let go of his wife and son who they are holding captive. It's been quite a long time since John has seen anybody from that old gang. He's left those days behind and is trying to make good with his life by living off of the land as a rancher. But, now he seems to be thrown back into the world of violence and danger. It's up to you, as the player, to decide if he follows the path of the righteous or falls back down into the world of the outlaw.

And that's how Rockstar North starts you out and this epic, grand adventure. With "Redemption"being an open sandbox game, much like it's more than comparative gameplay siblings in the GTA series, the "do anything you want, go anywhere you please" philosophy is wonderfully enforced. They give you a big ol' wild west world to ride around in and explore. There's tons of characters to interact with. Some are quite lecherous and seedy, others are good and decent people, while some are just plain odd and downright creepy. Many of them will put you on quests and ask you to help them out on jobs. Performing these tasks will earn you money, fame and notoriety.

The settings and graphic design work on this game is breathtaking. I found myself gazing up at the sunset that silhouetted mountain range more than a few times. I also came across many small towns that dot the old west. From the classic township of Armadillo to the white walled Mexican town of Las Hermanas to the spooky and swampy Thieves Landing. Every town has it's own character which helps give this open world setting a good amount of variety which can get lost a bit when you and your horse are traversing the constant open plains. Rockstar North does make sure to pepper the plains with lots of wildlife to hunt and / or run away from. There's also snowy, wooded mountainsides to venture into. I also had Marston exploring old gold mines, outlaw hideouts, graveyards and a couple of old forts. Suffice it to say, there's a ton of stuff to do and see in this game!

There's also a good amount of weapons and tools to use to make your stay in the wild west a little more safe. A lasso, rifles, shotguns, throwing knifes, Molotov cocktails all fall into the mix and come in handy when a gang of thieves pop out of nowhere to try and take your money.

The combat system is much like its GTA counterparts where you're able to take cover behind objects while popping up to take shots. What makes it unique is the Dead Eye feature which slows down the gameplay and zooms into the action allowing you to bead in on multiple enemies at once. Once the Dead Eye feature is released (or runs out, since it can only be used for limited time) Marston unleashes bullet furry in a flash of time. The next thing you know, a bunch of bad guy bodies are hitting the dirt ground. Some players found this feature made the shootouts too easy to get through. I found it very addictive. But, it is true that you won't always want to rely on the Dead Eye alone. I mostly used it when I found myself outnumbered or on horseback.

The main feature about this game that helps it stand out amongst others is that you get lost in the epic storyline. You'll want to see this adventure through to the very end, not just because of the gameplay, but because the game designers make you care about the story through the wonderful characterization and voice acting work. The voice acting is the very best I've heard in a game, squeaking past the work done on Mass Effect 2 by a hair. This is the closest I've every come to feeling I was actually playing a full fledged Hollywood movie. It's that frackin' good!

SPOILER ALERT (Highlight to read if you haven't finished the game yet)

There's also a huge plot twist right towards the end of the game that will stop you in your tracks! It'll have you screaming at the TV screen, "But that CAN'T be the end!?!?! They can't close the story this way!!!!" Don't worry. They don't. The story picks up several years after the plot twist and now you're in another pair of boots out for justice, or revenge. However you want to look at it. I can't recall that kind of element ever used in the story of a video game before.

You're probably hearing a lot about how this is THE best game of the year. I have to admit, it is certainly up there. However there were a couple of times where I was ready to toss the controller into the TV screen. The control scheme of the game can be quite dodgy at times. More than once I found myself trying to reach for my gun in a dire situation and the controls refused to respond, leaving my cheese in the wind and Marston's ass on the dirty ground. Not cool. Horseback riding is pretty darn smooth for the most part however you horse is a dumb animal and will fall off cliffs taking you with it if you're not careful. I also found myself getting Marston caught against surfaces I was trying to keep him under cover on. Sometimes I couldn't pull away from the surface I was hiding behind. I feel the controls could have been quite a bit better, especially when Rockstar North put so much time and effort into this epically detailed story they were telling. Some people are complaining that this game is no more than Grand Theft Auto game set in the wild west. That may be so, but there's nothing wrong with that! GTA has more than proved itself as being an excellent gameplay experience. Heck, maybe for their next game they can do something similar in a medieval setting, or perhaps a Gothic horror setting.

Once I completed the game and the credits finally rolled, I sat there a while and found myself thinking about what I had just experienced. I rarely, if ever, do that after I play a game. That's what kind of an impact this game had on me. There are those art-house curmudgeons out there who say that video games will never surpass the art of film. Well, Rockstar North took a few strides closer to that reality with Red Dead Redemption.

Check it out if you have the time.

Until the next mindless post, as a wise man once told me, stay vertical!

Zangz.