Red Dead Revolver

"A game starring clint eas....I mean, red"

A few years ago, I heard about a game...called Red Dead Revolver. I heard about it in a magazine article I read, id say, 2 years ago. It was originally being made by capcom. Later that year I heard it was being cancelled.. At the time when I first heard about the game, I wasn't to much into the western genre of things. Over the years, I quickly got into westerns. But late 2003, I heard it was being brought back, not by capcom, but by rockstar. Known for such games as manhunt and most widely know, the Grand Theft Auto series. I did research when I heard the news, scavenging for pics, articles, or anything I could find on the internet. When I finally found a pic of the main character (Red Harlow), the first thing I thought of was, Clint Eastwood. And that's pretty much what you get. So when the game was released, I quickly ran out and bought it, the weekend after its release. Here's what I saw:

Gameplay: First off, there's a lot of it. From riding horses to firing Gatling guns. As you start out, there is a very well done tutorial that walks you through the steps to becoming a gunman in no time, its not confusing at all. the gun fighting in this game is nothing short of great fun. To draw your gun, you push and hold the L trigger, and you fire with the R trigger. There's a neat little duel system they incorporated into the mix. This is done with a beginning cut scene that has the two characters having a stand off, concentrating. When the stand off is over, you must quickly pull down the right thumb stick down, far enough to reach your gun, and the push up. This draws your gun. When you have your gun out of its holster, there will be a little crosshair flying around the screen, and it will change colors. Yellow is an inaccurate shot, red is a good shot, and bold red is dead on. When the cursor is flying around, you have to push down the R Trigger down so it'll lock on the enemy. When your done with that, bullets start flying, just make sure your fast enough. Another thing that was put into this game were horses. And you don't get them near the beginning of the game though. When you see one standing still you can get on them though, you can even ride bulls. Over all, the animal control is a little awkward but you can get easily accustomed to it.
9/10

Story: The story to this game is quite good. The game starts off with Red's dad getting home with some surprises. At this point of the game he gives you your first gun. And also, at this part of the game, your still a kid. His dad tells Red to go Practice shooting with his gun. So while Red is down by the lake shooting bottles and stuff. A gang comes and starts shooting at your family, the game starts its first gunfight and you must go save them. But when the fighting is over, you hear some gunshots, and you see your parents, Dead. When Red grabs his dads gun (the scorpion), its in a bit of fire, he shoots the leaders arm off. (Yea, you know rockstar :P) and from the hotness of the gun red grabbed, it burned a scorpion onto his hand. And he covers it with a piece of cloth. When you see red the next time, hes all grown up, and a bounty hunter. Seeking revenge for the death of his parents. This kick starts the good story put into this game. I didn't have much of a problem with the story at all. And I see plenty of room for a sequel.
9/10

Graphics: The graphics in this game are grainy, which gives it more of a western feel. And I like it, the character models look bland sometimes. But other than that they were pretty good and detailed. I think the environments were amazing and lifelike. There was an effect added to this game. And it makes it look like an old western movie. Which was a smart idea to put it in their. Others don't seem to think so. But hey, your reading this cause its my opinion.
8/10

Sound: This game has probably some of the best sound I've heard in a game. Its sounds blistering real. From every gunshot, every piece of wood that shatters, every bullet that rips through flesh. Its kinda creepy how accurate they were with this. The voice acting was nothing special, and doesn't compare to that of, Final Fantasy X of X-2. Or the GTA series. But its good none the less.
9/10

Replayability: With all the different things to unlock, and the addicting game play, there's a high replayability factor to this game. There's 3 different difficulty settings and a special RED WOOD mode, and bounty hunter that you must unlock by playing through the game, this game will probably take 6-8 hours to beat on the first time through, but you can fly through it the other times you play it, which you will, trust me.
9/10

overall 9/10

RENT/BUY: Id say BUY, though you might be able to beat it numerous times and unlock everything before the time period of a rental. Its highly addicting though, and you want to keep playing. This is the game fans of western were waiting for, and they all seemed pleased. This will also please any fan of shooters hopefully. All the critics who reviewed this game, were definitely off with this one. This game is great.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/20/04