In RDR you play as John Marston, an outlaw turned good in the old west of the United States who is hunting down his old partner in crime, Bill Williamson. On his quest to bring down his one brother in arms, John comes across many 'interesting' people who agree to help him bring down the now big gang leader.
When you start the game it is a good idea to run along with the story mode for at least the first 5 or so missions as it is a tutorial on how things work, and allows you access to new items. One example of this, is how when I kept looking for bounty's, I had no idea how to hogtie people until I did the mission that showed me how.....which resulted in a lot of bounty's returning, well dead as a door knob.
Now mentioning bounty's, they are just one of the MANY side games and quests that are in RDR. In most towns you got games you can play like Liar's Dice (fun but annoying), Texas Hold'Em Poker (my favorite), Blackjack (also fun), the list just keeps going. One interesting things, is there is an outfit you can get in the game that lets you cheat as Texas Hold'Em, and if you get caught, well you get challenged to a shoot out. Lets just say I suck as cheating.
The thing I think is the best about RDR is the sheer size of the world. I'm not even kidding, it can take you a good 6 to 10 minutes to get from point A to point B. yet in most games where this might be annoying, it is anythign but in RDR. While you are traveling through the wilderness you can come across many things, strangers in need of help, deputies chasing down outlaws, others peasants and cowboys and such. One amusing thing that I came across the other day are what I call the Greedy Loners. Now in RDR there are people who will set up camp on the side of the road, and if you approach them, they will ask you to join them, and you can sit, rest up, and here some amusing stories. Well when I first came upon the Greedy Loners, I assume that they were like that. I was proved wrong when they started shooting at me because I got to close. To which I responded with putting bullets in there head (I love the auto-aim system in this game, it really helps out those people, like me, who suck at aiming fire arms).
If you want to, you can do your best to become an outlaw and get a bounty put on your head. It's simple, all you have to do is shoot people, kidnap people, steal things, you know, break the law. And the funny thing is, in this game you could get away with it, but you'll have to either outrun the sheriffs and deputies that will be chasing you all over the place, or shoot them down because they are in your way.
Now, every game has it's glitches, and depending on what the glitches are it can make the either annoying, or fun. The few glitches I have come across in RDR, make the came fun and amusing. To take from when I was playing the game, I went and shot a deer in the head, only to have it fly 10 feet into the air, made me laugh for about 5 minutes.
All in all, RDR is a game I would highly recommend picking up if you like cowboys, adventure games, or games where you can just roam around and do whatever you bloody well want to!
In total I give it a 9.5/10 and more thumbs up than it is physically possible for me to have.
Red Dead Redemption is available for both Xbox 360 and PS3 and is available at www.GameFly.com.
Happy Shooting.
-Adam