Red Dead Revolver

"A solid title, looks good in your collection"

Intro:

As a European kid, I was never really into Westerns and those buff cowboys in terms of culture, but I always found it intriguing to learn about. I liked the whole ambiance, but I never really quite got that feeling in a game. I played several other games on the genre, and they all kinda failed capture the essence of the Wild West. They all just seem like normal games/shooters to me, with the main difference being the weapons, and more sand.

That all changed when I played this game, Red Dead Revolver.
From the moment you fire up your XboX to play this, you get the Wild West feeling. It starts with slick menus, all in the sense of old Western dramas, and it immediately captures you. It has a Story Mode and a Showdown mode, both of which I'll explain in the sections to come.

Story Mode: Good

First of all, the Story Mode. This is your typical 1 person storyline based play. You play a rugged, revolver toting bounty hunter, Red, but you also switch to some other characters later on, as the story progresses. I won't tell you about those yet, but let me just say that they all have their own interesting side-stories.
In any case, as you follow Red on his quest to find the people who killed his family, you are able to unlock the places you visit in other modes, and you unlock more secrets the better you do. You get to visit interesting places and meet all sorts of people, but mostly, it's just about pummeling and of course blasting your opponents to dust.
I digged the Story Mode as it gives you that real Western feel, and you really get to sympathize for Red, though I sort of regret that some characters got pretty unrealistic. What I did like though, is the duelling part with the characters, or as they call it, the 'Showdowns'

Showdown Mode: Excellent

The Showdown part is pretty much the quick draw duelling you see in those old Westerns. You reach and draw for your gun with a certain button sequence, and the game enters some sort of Matrix slow-motion sequence, which looks awesome. You then get to aim 6 pointers at the enemy, and depending on whether you make them good shots, you are or the enemy is the last man standing. This may sound really simple, but trust me, there's nothing more satisfying than busting 6 well aimed head shots through a couple of enemies, after a slowmotion sequence, all in a single draw. It makes you feel like an original gunman, and a superb one at that.

Graphics: Average

Even though some of the animations, such as the water and the mountains and sunsets are very well done, the characters look kinda crappy and hooky to me. Also, the weapon animations don't really use the full potential of the XboX. In short, graphics are not bad, but could've been better.

Sound: Good

The sounds are pretty good in this one. There's some pretty good voice acting, with those really good Western accents. The sounds of the weapons are also pretty good, and you can actually hear some echo when you're in wide spaces. With the exceptions of some bad voice actors, who are just a little over the top, the sounds are nothing to complain about at all.

Replayability: Below Average

Once you completely finish the Story Mode (in which seems kinda tedious to get all 'Excellent' ratings for a perfect game), there's pretty much nothing left to do but the Showdown Mode. That's fun for a while, but it really loses it's charm after so many times. It's fun for the first playthrough, then you put it away for a while. Then you could pick it up again for Showdowns and all Excellent ratings, but that's about it.

Overall:

This is a very good game, which, for the first time ever for me, really captures that rugged atmosphere of the old West. But even though it offers you great fun for a while, it kinda loses it's value the more you play. It fails to really tax the XboX in terms of capacity, but it's not bad-looking or sounding either.
All in all, this is a good solid title that, should you have some extra money, should easily belong in your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/04