Red Dead Revolver review

If there’s one thing that Rockstar titles seem to have, it’s a sense of style. Although Red Dead Revolver’s style is a strange hybrid, having originated as a Capcom game and then been adopted by Rockstar Studios after Capcom abandoned it, despite a lengthy development period. Thankfully that doesn’t mean that all we’re left with is just warmed up leftovers.

The Western genre is so under exploited in video gaming, that any new entry is worth at least a look and Red Dead goes a good way to realising the potential of the setting.

Red Dead Revolver follows the exploits of Red, an orphan out for revenge. That’s all you need to know and pretty much all you get to find out. You switch through a group of other Western stereotypes, like the Native American, English dandy and tough cowgirl, none of them more fleshed out than in a spaghetti western. What they do offer though is a different range of special abilities.

Westworld

None of the gimmicks and sub-games offered in the gameplay offer anything radically new. There is the standard variation on bullet-time slo-mo gun fighting and the horse-riding sections could have run a bit smoother. The one standout gameplay though feature is the quick draw element. You literally have to ‘reach for your guns’ by pushing the analogue stick down and then manically try to target key spots on your opponent. There’s often more luck than skill involved, but it’s yet another mark in favour of atmosphere.

Which is the real reason anyone should want to play Red Dead Revolver. A lot has been said about gameplay over graphics, but if that were completely true, the text adventure might still be around. What Red Dead does is combine a lot of gameplay features with a strong theme, making it another one of those “roller coaster ride” games where you putter along and enjoy the scenery.

The Forgiven

Not that the scenery is overly impressive. The graphics could certainly be better, especially in the texture department. But the Wild West was always a bleak place and the sparse graphics are effective enough to convey that and still give a sense of place. The music goes even further, with classic Morricone-themed pieces that would stand proud in any big screen western.

If Red Dead Revolver remained consistent in its atmosphere and gameplay, it would be an outstanding game. But the lack of polish in places, the textures, clipping errors and occasionally sluggish control all make it far from a smooth ride.

Saddle up

Yet another problem with the ride is that it doesn’t quite last long enough, you will spend some time retrying the more difficult sections, only to find that the next hour or so of gameplay breezes past without difficulty, all in all the game takes around seven hours. Again this alone can be enough to discourage many players from reaching the end of Red’s journey.

But that would be a mistake. For all its flaws, Red Dead Revolver does one thing well, and that one thing goes a long way to making the whole game worthwhile. It makes you feel like a cowboy in an honest-to-God Wild West movie. And I can’t think of a game in recent years that’s even tried to do that.

How the West was won?

For those who can’t bring themselves to leave the Old West, there’s always some multiplayer action before you ride off into the sunset. An unusual, but slightly too random and ineffectual power-up system revolving around playing cards livens up the multiplayer and there are a host of unlockables for the persistent.

If the setting and atmosphere were any different, say a sci-fi or fantasy setting, I doubt that the experience provided by Red Dead Revolver would seem anything more than mediocre, if that. What it does present is a fun rodeo ride of a game that tries its darndest to place you in the boots of an ornery cowpoke. And if those clichés don’t put you off, hop on pardner.