Kasey Clark
Richard Sykes
Introduction to SGN
08/27/2015
My review of
Red Dead Redemption
What all could be said about a western style game?
With any video game there are certain things that makes the game unique. I will
do my best to review what makes Red Dead Redemption a fun and unique experience
with surprises, values to the game, personal motivation, and problem solving.
The
first thing to consider in this game is the overall experience. Designers and
developers work hard to try to express different experiences to the player. In
this case Designers wanted the player to experience a western type feel with
realistic settings and adventure. The essentials to this experience are the
surroundings, player interaction and weapon layout. The design of the weapons was very authentic
just like you were in the old west, the clothing was realistic, not a zipper in
sight, everything looked like it would have a hundred years ago, the
surroundings, all the buildings and the desert settings were authentic and
realistic. Now to capture the essences of these things the designers and
developers had well designed level creation. The beauty of the graphics in the
desert layout draws the player into the role of an old west character, along
with the accurate voice acting, for example the actors had south western
accents, idioms and speech patterns.
Each game will have surprises within it. Some can be a surprise
within the story, gameplay, art, and technology. In this games case the
surprises come in the story,
level progression, random encounters and hidden achievements. In the story
there are many lies and betrayals that may alter some moral choices. There are
certain areas of the game and certain weapons that you cannot unlock until
later in the game. The game has an advanced physics engine and a wonderful
horse mechanic that is surprisingly realistic.
Even though these things are great they don’t always
hold value to gamers. The values I found in this game were, Moral choices,
unlockable weapons and clothing, and accomplishments. Moral choices in this
game don’t necessarily alter the course of the story, but they do impact the
player’s interaction to NPC’s. By changing the reaction the NPC’s have towards
you, it changes the atmosphere of the game.
The game also allows the player to advance their weaponry, clothing and
abilities which can give the player a sense of accomplishment and a sense of
skill. It also allows opportunity and reason to explore the world of Red Dead Redemption.
Within all the different reactions and opportunities
the game brings different value of motivation to different people. Some
examples are, people who are more adventurous have a giant world with hours of
different things to discover, for people who are more goal driven the game
offers many quests and story, for completeness’s that can put lots of hours
into the game in order to do and find everything the game has to offer there
are thousands of activities, story lines, hidden goals, tasks, challenges, etc.
that will keep them engaged. Regardless of the person’s personality this game
offers different gameplay for multiple motivations
One big part to motivation for most people is problem
solving. This game does not lack that. Some of the main problem solving in the
game involves the main plot which is tracking down members of your old gang to
either kill or capture them, which involves many quests. Within the game there
are hidden problems as well. As part of the gameplay there are times when you
have to make decisions. Such examples are when hunting down a person you can
make the choice to ether kill them or wound and capture them. As stated earlier
doing so will earn or destroy your avatars reputation. It has the potential for
players who want to see both outcomes throughout the gameplay go back and
replay it.
The final thing I want to cover is how fun this game
is. I found the game to be a good source of entertainment with its open world
gameplay, constant action, and the story progression. I enjoy most open world gameplay because it
gives you a lot to explore and doesn’t make you feel forced in a linear line. I
do enjoy a constant flow of action to keep my mind stimulated while exploring
the games content along with an interesting story that progresses as you work
through it. I don’t really have an idea on what could make the game better for
everyone but personally I would enjoy to see more.
.