When this game came out I had never been a fan of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, but I still needed to give Red Dead a try. I am definitely glad I did!

First of all, the graphics were great to look at. Rockstar usually makes nice graphical leaps in between games and this was no different. Compared to, say, Grand Theft Auto IV, the lighting was great, textures seemed to be much higher resolution, characters' facial expressions looked much more realistic, and it still has some of the best looking rain & lightning storms in a game I've seen. The soundtrack mixed in perfectly and added some genuine western vibes. Seeing as how this is a story about a cowboy in the last days of the American Wild West, it was very appropriate.

The story kept you interested. It was a little slow to build in the beginning, but the introduction was necessary to familiarize yourself with this former reality, meet your character's (John Marston) acquaintance, and acquire new weapons and things of the sort. There is a somewhat interesting twist that occurs at the end of the game, but I am thankful that you are able to continue on the same save file.

While Redemption is certainly focused on single player, it does offer multiplayer elements as well. It is more of a passive thing...you can hop online and expect to occasionally run into others, whom you can kill (unless you want to get killed of course) and loot. It's something I didn't really expect from this game, but it was a welcome addition to add some replay value. Looking back, I do not think they expanded and updated it as much as they could have gotten away with.

Overall, I would love to go back (years later) and play this game again from beginning to end to refresh my memory. I will definitely have to before the next entry in the series comes out, at least.