Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition

Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition

Red Dead Redemption - Complete package - 1 user - Xbox 360

List Price: $ 29.99

Price: $ 20.49

When Red Dead Redemption came out I wasn't very interested, it looked like GTA in western times to me. Well that was an incredible mistake but one I am glad I made, why? Well you see, I do not have Xbox LIVE and therefore I can not get any DLC for any game I own and since the Game of the Year Edition comes with all the DLC already there it just made it that more great for me! The reason I finally bought the game was because it came with Undead Nightmare and I LOVE zombies, I could have bought the DLC alone but I decided the actual game wouldn't hurt since the DLC might be pretty short.

The Story:
The story for Red Dead Redemption blew me away John Marston (The main character) is an excellent and well made character who seems to always be in the middle of the right or wrong path. He is sent to hunt down his old gang members from when he was an outlaw in exchange for his family that the government has kidnapped. While it may sound simple at first you will soon see that it is nothing close to being easy. I expected the story to bore me, believing that the game would be more focused about sandbox environment and free roam rather than the story, boy was I wrong! This is now my favorite game, John Marston is a wonderful character that I absolutely love, I know I didn't touch much on the story but I am trying to be as spoiler free as possible.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is awesome, I also had a "meh" expectation for the gameplay because it takes place in the west so I thought I'd be using a gun or two but once again I was wrong. There are so many different weapons they all feel different in their own way, the options of weaponry let you have the option of choosing how to approach certain situations for example, you may go into an area with your guns blazing and just take an all out offensive on your enemy or you can lasso them and bring them back to the town to face what they have done. There is also some knives and throwing weapons that can be used for stealth attacks, though I didn't really seem to go into that part of the gameplay much since your usually out in the open and the general enemy would be a tad difficult to stealth kill.

Visuals/Audio:
The game looks amazing, each area has it's own unique look and there isn't a sudden abrupt change, as you move from one area to the next you'll notice the land slowly becoming more similar to the next area, the animals in the game (that you have the option of hunting and skinning so you can make a few bucks) are so much fun and there are so many animals to see and/or hunt. Some may be docile and flee while others may be aggressive and attack you, some animals will even pretend to flee and return when you have your back turned or with a group and attack you. Lets get to sound, now.. Usually I don't pay much mind to the sound, it's there but there is never anything that pops out to me personally. But this game has an amazing soundtrack, and even the sound effects of certain actions are awesome! The voice actors are incredible, the animals are realistic and the music just pulls it all together in a beautiful looking game.

DLC:
The reason I bought the game.. Well, I will admit that the DLC is very fun but I am very glad I didn't purchase it alone because I would have missed out on such an amazing story in the main game and the DLC did in fact feel very short (To me anyway) There are also DLC costume and weapon packs that are already in the game, so that was fun too but I'll focus more on Undead Nightmare here. The zombies are.. Well.. Zombies! I was so pleased to find out that only fire or a head shot could kill them, shooting them in the arm, chest, leg, or anywhere besides the head will not kill them! Isn't that awesome?! I actually found myself not really using guns because it was so much fun to get close up and smack them on the side of the head with a tomahawk. The story is good, not as good as the main one. What sticks out in this is definitely the gameplay, not only do you get to fight zombies but you also get new weapons that you can't get in the main game! Also the animals can become undead which I found to be a nice touch, an added bonus to having animals becoming undead is that your horse can become undead also! My horse was killed by a small horde of zombies and once I whistled it returned to me looking like it had been dead and chewed on. The Undead horse has unlimited stamina but is also a bit more difficult to control as it sometimes will try to steer in its own direction rather than yours. There are also a few mythical creatures in the game that I will let you find out about for yourself.

Pros:
Gameplay, story, visuals and audio is great!
DLC comes free already in the game so you don't need Xbox LIVE
Free Roam + Sandbox environment, what's not to love?

Cons:
Minor bugs and glitches
There is a Multiplayer aspect of the game but I wasn't able to even play it because it requires Xbox LIVE, so keep that in mind.
Now I don't want to scare anyone from this product, it is indeed awesome but personally I had a game freeze a few times, they were NOT often and only happened about three or four times and my game or console was not harmed by it in anyway.

Overall:
If you like westerns, free roam, huge areas for gameplay or anything like that, BUY THIS NOW. It is a great game and in my opinion it is well worth the price since you don't need internet access to get the DLC.

P.S. This is my first review, I apologize if I wasn't very good, I tried my best and just wanted to let everyone know how much I LOVE this game! Have fun!