Zadzooks: Red Dead Redemption review

Superhero and cartoon characters are integral parts of the electronic entertainment industry. With this in mind, I salute the meld of pop-culture character and video game with a look at Red Dead Redemption (from Rockstar Games, reviewed for Xbox 360, rated M for mature, $59.99).

The waning days of the American Wild West become a player’s virtual playground as he controls a gunslinger in a lawless land. In an open-ended world brimming with challenges, only the toughest and most savvy hombre will survive the third-person adventures.

What’s the story? From the manual: John Marston was a former gang member who reappraised his life and resolved to put his past behind him and settle down with his young family. As he changed, so did the landscape.

The federal government set its sights on bringing its law to the whole country by any means necessary.

When ruthless government agents kidnap Marston’s wife and child and threaten to kill them unless he brings his former gang to justice, he is left with no choice. To save his family, he must pick up his guns once more and hunt down the men he used to run with.

Play the role: Controlling Marston, a scarred warrior with looks that are a meld of Jeff Fahey and Charles Bronson with the gravely voice of Alec Baldwin (from the “Saturday Night Live” diner sketch, to be specific), a player explores the American Southwest and Mexico.

He’ll stop by locales including the cities of Armadillo and Blackwater, Bonnie MacFarlane’s ranch and the Mexican settlement of Chuparosa as he completes a story taking him down the roads of revenge and redemption.

Basically, imagine what it would be like to be a tragic Clint Eastwood character  and really live it, folks.

The cowboy rides an assortment of beautiful horses (even whistles to call them) and performs myriad tasks, including shooting jack rabbits, rescuing a boy, saving a prostitute from a drunk, buying a drink, skinning a rattlesnake, playing a hand of poker, looting dead bodies, setting up a campfire in the wilderness (to save the game), buying a room at the local saloon to get some sleep, and purchasing everything from ammunition to treasure maps, medicine to chewing tobacco.

Get to the action: Our protagonist wields lots of weapons (eight in the menu, to be precise), from fists and a knife to a revolver and shotgun as he weeds the bad guys from the good guys.

Actions such as controlling a stagecoach while in the heat of a gunfight are intuitively painless, and targeting  as well as taking cover  is always a joyous occasion.

The player can get as ornery or heroic as he wants through the game’s morality system; the player’s imagination is the only limit on bad or good. Cause too much trouble, though, and a bounty is put on Marston’s head, allowing every bounty hunter and law enforcement officer in the area to pursue him. Only hiding out of their range or paying off the bounty at a local train station will stop the attacks.

Memorable moments (in no particular order): Stupidly walking around at night and being attacked and killed by a cougar; accidentally walking behind the counter in a bank and being accused of robbing it (I felt like Don Knotts); watching a cartoon in Armadillo’s cinema house for two bucks; going on night patrol at the MacFarlane Ranch with a trusted dog; taming a horse; and having a shootout to save a rancher from rustlers in Pike’s Basin.

Violent encounters: The Dead Eye option offers an amber-filtered slowdown of the action and gives the player an easier target in foes or helps define numerous enemies for a kill. Mixing a spaghetti-Western shootout with “The Matrix,” its results are always positive for the hero as he leaves explosive, bloody head shots or an assortment of wounded or dead bodies in his wake.

Add in cussing, the spurting blood involved when skinning an animal, the constant ability to go bounty hunting, and overall adult themes, not limited to prostitution, beating women and racial discrimination, and the game’s mature rating is well warranted.

Read all about it: Enjoy the adventures of another scarred gunslinger in DC Comics’ 136-page graphic novel Jonah Hex: No Way Back ($19.99). Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti work with Hex illustrator Tony DeZuniga to help mold his past and future while offering revelations surrounding the Wild West’s deadliest bounty hunter.

Pixel-popping scale: 9.0 out of 10. One can almost smell the horse manure and feel the cactus needles as Marston rides into the sunset within the John Ford-inspired environments. It’s sometimes hard to stay focused on the game and not just explore the expansive desert and forested wonderland. One of my favorite, calming nuances was taking a stagecoach ride at night and letting the game control the full journey, allowing me to sit back and appreciate the design team’s breathtaking efforts.

Unlockables: Complete a specific set of challenges to unlock new costumes that tap into nearly every cowboy garb cliche, including a Mexican poncho, U.S. marshal gear and duster coat.

Of course, Marston collects or steals money for completing any deed or challenge, and the cash buys new weapons, horses and just about anything a gunslinger might need.

Multiplayer: If the story itself does not grip you, how about setting up an eight- to 16-player posse online and taking a historical trip to the Southwest with a bunch of buddies. Or, on the horizon, get ready for the release of the downloadable co-op mission pack.

What’s it worth? Red Dead Redemption delivers on all levels to provide an interactive, cinematic Western for the mature cowpoke in the family. It’s one of the most immersive and smartly designed games of the year.

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