The title "Red Dead Redemption" has a double meaning. On the one hand, the game's protagonist John Marston is a recovering outlaw, a man who only wants to live the rest of his days peacefully on the Great Plains with his wife and son. The title can also be taken as a reference to "Red Dead Revolver," a title that Rockstar Games obtained half-finished from Capcom and released in 2004 on Xbox and PlayStation 2, to an underwhelming response. "Redemption" is a sequel in name only; there are certainly flaws, but this is a full-blown, open-world Rockstar production to the pretender that was "Revolver."

The Basics

If you played "Grand Theft Auto IV" (or the "Episodes from Liberty City" expandalone release), then you know what to expect here. Gigantic open world, mission markers, colorful characters and a galaxy of Wild West-themed sideline activities to engage in, from casino games like blackjack and poker (Texas Hold 'Em) to cattle herding and bounty hunting. The story opens on Marston as he confronts former partner in crime (literally) Bill Williamson. Our hero has reformed but Williamson has not; safe behind the walls of Fort Mercer with his bandit gang, Bill puts a bullet in his old pal's stomach and leaves him to die in the dirt. It wouldn't be much of a game if Marston's story ended there and, sure enough, a kind-hearted local rancher named Bonnie MacFarlane comes along to save the day.

The Highs

Familiar Ground

Despite Rockstar's insistence to the contrary, "Red Dead Redemption" is very much cut from the cloth of "GTA IV." And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There are a few things to learn of course, but veterans of past open-world titles from Rockstar will pick up the controller and immediately know what's going on.

Wild Wild West

"Redemption"'s hunting mechanic is best described as "Grand Theft Oregon Trail." Stroll out into the desert/the mountains/the forest/the plains/whathaveyou, equip your hunting weapon of choice and shoot anything that moves. Then skin your kills, bring the bits and pieces back to civilization and sell it all off for a tidy income, money which can be spent on better weapons and equipment upgrades.

Manifest Destiny In Action

The world created for "Redemption" is teeming with life; you'll rarely travel for more than a few minutes without finding something to do. The story missions do a great job of evoking the feel of a playable Spaghetti Western for the most part. Small towns and settlements are frequently home to side missions, such as the aforementioned casino games, horseshoes, nightwatch patrols, horsebreaking, arm wrestling and more. In addition to hunting, the wilderness also serves up treasure maps and randomly occurring tasks, such as helping a lawman round up escaped prisoners or protecting a speeding carriage from pursuing bandits.

The Lows

Slow Starter

Between the introduction and the cutscenes preceding many of the early missions, prepare to be introduced to Marston's world at a very slow pace. It takes several hours before the requisite tutorial missions are wrapped up and the game begins in earnest. This is fine if you're a newcomer to Rockstar's open world games, but how many of those are left?

No Help In A Lawless Land

As boring as those early missions are, pay extra attention to what's going on. If you happen to miss a lesson, there's no help screen explaining the way things work. Exacerbating this issue is the fact that several core game concepts are explained entirely in briefly appearing text windows. If you miss the explanation on fast travel, for example, there's no obvious indicator to tell you that it can only be accessed from the campsite screen (seriously-- remember that).

The Long Road

Some people are going to say it's true to life, but there's absolutely nothing fun about spending 5-10 minutes riding a horse to a mission that's going to take the same amount of time (or less) to play through. It's even less fun when you have no destination, just a friend's horse to follow. The long rides serve up plenty of exposition -- think of them as playable cutscenes -- but little in the way of entertainment. It seems that Rockstar even realized this, as midway through the game -- roughly 10 hours in -- many missions give players the option of riding shotgun in a carriage and skipping the ride.

The End... Or Is It?

This is a tough one to talk about, since it relates to the end of the game. No full-blown spoiler alert here, but beware if you want to stay completely in the dark. "Red Dead"'s story appears to come to a close at one point, only to send players off on another series of missions which have more in common with the early tutorial outings than anything else. It all ends up serving the story, but there's a cost: fun gameplay, or lack thereof

It's A Small World Online

Even when there's a pre-release multiplayer review sessions, as there was in this case, it's never fair to rate the value of a game's online play until the general gaming community joins the fray. The competitive modes are all fun -- especially the last man standing shootout that precedes each session -- but their success or failure will be determined by the community that builds around them. The Free Roam mode is another matter entirely. While there's plenty of room for fun here, Free Roam is limited in two fundamental ways: an absence of side activities and a 16-player capacity. In Free Roam, up to 16 players can travel around the world, form posses, go hunting, shoot each other and take on gang hideouts. And that's it. No card games, no cattle herding, no patrols-- all of the mini-missions that add life to the story mode are absent here. Add to that the 16-player max in "Red Dead Redemption"'s massive open world and what you're really left with is "GTA IV"'s Party Mode (ie multiplayer lobby), but with a new name.

The Verdict

"Red Dead Redemption" is a game for Rockstar fans, for better and for worse. The immersive open world and thoroughly entertaining combat are balanced by lengthy, self-indulgent cutscenes and great stretches of downtime during which players are left with nothing more to do than admire the scenery. Serving the story is fine for film and television, but a quality interactive experience should put the gameplay first and that isn't the case here. Rabid Rockstar fans -- myself included -- will be able to look past the warts, but they nonetheless remain.