For those of you who catch public transport you may have seen posters littered around the place with a cowboy pointing a shotgun at you. For those of you that frequent the internet, you may have noticed ads with the same cowboy. For those of you with even a little finger on the pulse of modern entertainment may have also seen and heard of this cowboy. This cowboys name is John Marston, and he is the protagonist for one of 2010’s biggest gaming releases, Red Dead Redemption.

Developed by the same crew of people that brought the world the Grand Theft Auto series of games, Red Dead Redemption (RDR) has kicked down the door of this hear varmints saloon, had a shot of whiskey and is now chatting up one of the whores in my mind. John Marston has in many ways pushed Commander Shephard and Alan Wake (thoughts/musings to come shortly) aside and taken pride of place at the bar. I had planned on offering some thoughts regarding Alan Wake, but as I said, Marston has rode into town and taken over.

Screenshot from Red Dead Redemption – 2010

I love a good story. I love a good story with characters that are given time to develop, mature and be fleshed out. I love a good story with these characters set in a believable world that I can spirit myself off into. When all of these things combine it is truly something special; a big bang of awesome, a smashing together of great ideas, great visuals and superb acting. I honestly fail to see how any game will be able to walk into my saloon and challenge John Marston and RDR.

Classic ending shot from John Wayne’s
1956 film ‘The Searchers’

A brief back story would help as you load the game up and follow John on a train to Armadillo. Marston used to run in a gang, an outlaw gang, and now he has tried to move his life forward, out of that life and into one of normalcy. But as we all know, the anti-hero’s journey is never smooth. The gov’ment have forced John through threats to his family, to hunt down and kill the members of his gang. And so begins your epic journey. Actually, epic is a really good word for this game. The scale of everything in this game is huge.

As you step off the train after the opening cinematic, you are hit with a realisation that what you can see is a world completely devoid of barriers. At times I have found this freedom quite daunting, but through the sheer brilliance and artistry of the games creation, I have happily ventured forth into the world known as New Austin. Within the first ten minutes of playing the game I was witness to a stunning sunset over the vast landscape and equally breath-taking horizon. This game is just amazing. Whilst it may sound slightly gay to talk about a lovely sunset, until you see this game in motion, you have to take my word for it that it is truly stunning.

I loved the TV series Deadwood as it was another big bang of awesome; gritty, dirty, violent and cussin’. But the key was an impeccably well written script and excellent acting. And RDR certainly ticks those boxes. John Marston is portrayed as an anti-hero; an honourable outlaw looking to turn is life around and onto the straight and narrow. He is forced to hunt his gang. He seems to have the a dry sense of humour and a gentlemanly gamesmanship that combine to create a likable if at times threatening character. The voice-acting is top-class, from Marston to all of the peripheral characters you meet. Sure, there are some walking talking wild west clichés, however Rockstar have managed to make them believable in the changing landscape of New Austin.

As the story unfolds and you deal with characters of note, the game reveals its open-ness. Whilst you might have spoken to Bonnie Macfarlane about doing night patrols on her farm, you are free to wander the land as you see fit. The land is not without its perils, as rogue bandits, wild animals and water will pop up out of nowhere to kill you. Its a shame water is deadly as it looks so nice. The last game to make me want to do the little things to get full enjoyment was Mass Effect 2. In New Austin you can hunt the aforementioned wild animals and collect pelts, meat and fangs. These can be exchanged for money at the stores in each of the townships. I never thought I would enjoy so much, the feeling of racing across the land with a rifle in my hand and taking down some wild deer or coyotes. So enjoyable.

Every now and then a stranger will grab your attention and ask you to do them a favour and these side missions are heaps of fun and can range from looking for a lost loved one, catching an escaped horse or even winning a land deed in a game of liar’s dice. I haven’t yet mentioned the side games in New Austin. You can play poker, blackjack, horseshoes, liar’s dice and possibly more. You can bet on these games and actually spend an infinite amount of time trying to win money, it is that good. The game is just bursting with awesome.

Last night I noticed I had played for nearly twenty hours and have only completed around 30% of the entire game. This is truly remarkable. This game is truly remarkable. It is so enjoyable, even my brother likes to watch me capture and hogtie bandits before galloping back to the sheriff. If you have had any doubts about this game, I hope for your sake you ignore them. John Marston is a character you simply have to let take you on what has been so far and will no doubt be in the future, the most impressive, immense and grand gaming experience of 2010. I best be going now as I have just made it to Mexico.

My last post way back in January this year mentioned I would have a review of that movie that some people went to see called Avatar. It struck me as a waste of time to comment on the movie; either you have seen it and liked/disliked it or havent seen it. I sincerely hope it wasn’t the latter, because the movie was worth seeing on the big screen. Apart from that it wont live with me like some other movies. Was a great spectacle of film-making and simple story-telling. That will do. And now onto more pressing matters and bear with me as I recount (close to word for word mind you) a recent exchange I had.

Hey man you should play Mass Effect. Hmmm what kind of game is it? It’s an awesome RPG like Fallout but in space and stuff. Dude you know I don’t like RPGs. Yeah but its like Fallout with action and stuff. Hmmm I dunno man. It’s like $20 at eb! Thats a bargain, thats like four pots I spose. Well look, think of it like the Napisan challenge. Play the game for two hours and if you dont like it, I will buy it off you. Ok well I will grab it soon. I bought the game a few weeks ago and that is all I have been playing on the Xbox. Oh that and some Duke 3D and Doom of course. But back to Mass Effect.

I thought I didn’t like RPGs. I thought I wasn’t normally keen on the whole complexity of such games; having to monitor experience and skills, deal with inventory, worry about story. I just liked to jump into a game and get some enjoyment without having to devote too much into it. But all of this has changed, thanks to the incredibly impressive Mass Effect. Yes, this is Mass Effect, the game that came out in 2008, but hey, get stuffed. What impresses me most about this game is that it seems to ooze quality, class and direction. It is like a mega-budget Hollywig epic; except better.

Like all good science fiction stories, the universe in Mass Effect is filled to the brim with diverse aliens, worlds and characters. It struck me within the first few hours that the world was constructed with a hell of a lot of thought and preparation. It is not just some futuristic world with aliens and battles. Each new race has a complex history that often intertwines with that of the other races. You have your big tough looking aliens – the Krogan. You have your kinda hot humanoid looking aliens – the Asari. There are so many other types of creatures, but one, the Elcor, are big fat hairless half elephant half something else looking things. Their voices are hilarious and unique. But really, you don’t play games to simply enjoy the side characters do you?

The protagonist for this shining example of brilliant story-telling, direction, creation and engagement is Commander Shepard. He is the man (or woman if you choose) that you take control over as you assemble a squad of various races to take down the threat posed by a rogue agent. That is about as far into the story I should go. Actually, that is all I shall mention about the first game, because I have finished it (twice) and am now embarking on the sequel. And this game is the best game I have played that doesn’t involve teaming up with some friends and killing zombies.

Everything about the sequel improves upon the considerably worthy first game. Where the first felt at times repetitive, the new one offers to much more to explore, experience and engage with. The combat has been improved, the story deepened and the characters more meaningful. The hallmark of a great story be it on paper, celluloid or bits and bytes, is engaging the audience on more than a surface level type experience. Mass Effect and its sequel, cleverly named Mass Effect 2, have hooked me up completely. I care about the world I am in. I care about my team-mates, some more than others. And yes, the game does have romance and even a sex scene, but put your pitch forks and burning stakes down. It is handled really well, if in some ways unintentionally funny. But I digress.

As I mentioned, the game is the result of work done by an incredibly passionate, talented and gifted team of artists, writers, programmers at Bioware. You can tell when a studio has talent both critically and commercially acclaimed, as they are often affiliated with one of the big two – Electronic Arts (EA) or Activision Blizzard. In Bioware’s case they were initially groomed by Microsoft (hence the Xbox 360 and PC exclusivity – I am sorry PS3 owners cant get it) and are now backed by the worldwide reach of EA. Say what you want about big corporations hunting profits over creativity, but it seems EA really have given Bioware the financial means to fund such a brilliantly conceived and orchestrated masterpiece. What this connection has given, is access to EA’s vast resources and as a result, those lucky enough to have the game are given access to downloadable content to increase your enjoyment. Being a PC gamer from way back, the notion of paying for content initially rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn’t until I realised that content usually only costs the same as a pint or so, and it offered plenty of value, that I didn’t care and want more.

I spent $20 on Mass Effect and got the sequel for $54. Add about $10 for some Mass Effect 1 DLC – the Mass Effect 2 DLC so far has been free because I bought the game new – and you get to about $85. Divide that by the amount of hours I have played the game, which would be about 40 and 20 for first and second game respectively, and you get a figure of approximately $1.40 per hour of entertainment. If that ain’t fucking awesome value I do not know what is. And I would, in hindsight, have paid more for the experience.

So for those of you out in the ether that have a 360, get this fucking game. If you do not like it, no, I won’t pay you the cost of the game, but I will pay you to never speak to me again. I must go, the galaxy needs me. Awww isn’t that funny?

// From now on all my monetary comments will base value on how much it is in either pot or pint of beer