- Red Dead Redemption 1 does everything great except for some things.
- One of those things is the lack of mission variety, as almost all missions involve shooting people.
- The less screen time for some important characters affected the story badly.
- Horse riding physics also could have been better.
Nostalgia in video games can change one’s opinion of it. Whether the game is good or not, the player will likely be biased towards it if it was a part of their childhood.
Red Dead Redemption 1 is also one of those games which is considered nostalgic by most players. Due to that reason, it mostly gets positive reviews today. But if you ask someone who has recently played it, you will find a considerable difference in the opinions.
I am not saying Red Dead Redemption 1 is a bad game; it does some things better than its renowned sequel. But if we look at the whole picture, it is not as good as people remember it to be.
Underwhelming Story
Firstly, the story and the characters needed a bit more work. If you have played Red Dead Redemption 2 first and then the prequel, you may have no complaints regarding the story. However, the story may feel boring if you do not know the characters’ backgrounds and backstories.
Don’t get me wrong—it has a pretty decent story, but it wasn’t as good as the reviews I heard before playing it. The story takes place after the events of Red Dead Redemption 2 and is based on John’s revenge, in which the government was also involved, in some way, against his former gang, especially their leader, Dutch van der Linde.
John kills every last member of the gang, including the Dutch. In the end, the government kills him and his wife, and only his son, Jack, survives. The story progresses slowly and dramatically, giving John enough time to enter the players’ hearts with his badass personality. But for other players, the screen time isn’t enough.
Not Enough Screen Time For Some Characters
The gang members deserved more time than they got, as they were incredible characters. That is even more applicable to Dutch as his character is one of the best in the franchise, and he barely has enough time to shine and make an impression.
Again, if you already know these characters, you would not need more time for them to understand their personalities better.
The story should have focused more on these characters to make them relevant. The overall story certainly revolved around them, but with less screen time, their characters got buried.
Clunky Gameplay
The gameplay was also quite clunky and lacked the fun element. The ragdoll physics and the shooting are amazing, though, especially when you shoot an NPC on the shoulder, and they get turned around by the bullet’s force and fall to the ground, just like the old Wild West movies.
However, other than these things, I believe there wasn’t much to the gameplay. The horse riding was boring, and the animations looked bad at times. The physics was also weird for horse riding as whenever you are riding at a high speed and come across an obstacle, the horse doesn’t react to the object and suddenly stops.
This breaks the whole momentum and takes the fun away from horse riding. You also can’t do much with your horse except ride it, but I won’t complain about that much because there’s a technology barrier.
Missions Needed More Variety
The missions also lack variety. Almost all missions feel the same. You have to shoot down people, which is fun, but some variety would have greatly improved the gameplay. The story has some interesting side missions, but their gameplay element could have been improved.
The maps feel empty, as there isn’t much to look at. Most of the map is just plain land; we do see some mountains in Mexico, though.
Final Verdict
Despite all the bad things, Red Dead Redemption 1 still does many things correctly. The side activities are fun, including shows, duels, poker, Ler’s dice, and more. It isn’t much compared to Red Dead Redemption 2, but it is still enough for its time. The gun shooting is also fun and is done pretty well in terms of physics and animations.
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Moiz Banoori, with a decade of experience in gaming and tech journalism and a degree in journalism, is a notable figure in the industry. He has contributed to various esteemed platforms, showcasing his expertise in both reporting and opinion writing.
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