There are so many games in my list of shame, it rare that I get the opportunity to return to a previous title and start again from the beginning.  Red Dead Redemption, however, is one of those titles that warranted at least a second play through.

Released in May 2010, RDR casts you in the role of John Marston; a former outlaw bullied into helping some corrupt government agents kill or capture some of his former gang members.

Set in 1911 around three distinct areas New Austin, Nuevo Parasio and West Elizabeth, Marston finds himself helping (and hindering) all manner of NPCs with whatever tasks they have in order to complete his goal and save his family.

While there is, as you'd expect, a fair amount of shooting going on, Marston also find himself taking part in a variety of less violent activities from breaking horses and gathering plants, through to playing poker or horseshoes.

In typical Rockstar style, everything is extremely well polished.  The cut scenes and voice acting are top notch and the graphics, despite being three years old, still look pretty amazing.

Combat is also a solid area with Marston sticking rather convincingly to cover and the various weapons feeling as you'd expect them to.

There are, of course, the occasional annoyances.  The animal skinning and looting animations feel rather drawn out which, while I understand has probably been done to make doing so a risky maneuver when there might be danger nearby, is completely unnecessary when you've cleared the area.  There are also the odd problems with scenery... like stepping off the train in Armadilo where I often found myself stuck between the train and a random box.  But, overall, the game does enough right that you barely notice these little problems.

In fact, since starting the main story again, I've actually pushed most of my other games aside.  It's just too involving and too much fun to put down.

With GTA V rapidly approaching, I've no doubt I'll be switching my focus... and I really hope that Rockstar do the same to start work on a sequel to RDR (with a PC version please)... Red Dead Retribution anyone?

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~ Naiboss