Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right

John Constantine — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

By the time videogames had evolved beyond batting a ball back and forth across a digital net, the Western had already lost much of its cultural currency. The Lone Ranger’s audience had ridden off into the sunset, replaced by minds and eyes hungry for space instead of the frontier. That’s why we have Spacewar! in 1961 and not Stagecoach!. The last quarter of the 20th century’s appetite for science fiction is most certainly why Bald Space Marine is the icon he is in 2009’s gaming landscape, but I don’t think it fully explains why games have yet to produce a spectacular Western. Why is it that after decades of creation, there isn’t a game about cowboys sitting on Top One Hundred Games of All Time lists? Why is Oregon Trail the entire canon of frontier gaming?

Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver seemed like a contender before it released in 2004. The game certainly sold well, one and a half million copies according to publisher Take-Two, but its critical reception was lukewarm. Despite Red Dead’s grand narrative ambitions — bounty hunting protagonist Red Harlow and his quest for revenge are Louis L’Amour vintage — and seemingly fitting open world play, it wasn’t the defining videogame Western it could have been. Now, it could have been the game’s troubled development that kept it from greatness. It started as a Capcom game in 2000, stalled out, and was sold to Rockstar, where it apparently became a Frankenstein’s monster of legacy code and newer features. I think the real problem is that the Grand Theft Auto-styled open world is not the foundation for a great Western.

On the surface it seems perfect; what better way to represent life on the range than a game world you’re free to wander, taking missions as a hired gun of dubious morality where and when you find them? I’m sure that was Neversoft’s thinking when they developed Gun, which released just one year after Red Dead Revolver and was almost identical play-wise. A great Western, though, requires incredibly tight, driven narrative focus. We’re not talking about a simulation of the Old West, after all. We’re talking about a pulp genre with recognizable tropes and a specific recipe for success. A great Western game doesn’t need a huge amount of freedom in its environment and it needs very little freedom in character. What it needs to have is the illusion of freedom and space.

Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus has an excellent play foundation for a videogame Western. (Even beyond the kick-ass horse riding.) The world is vast and seamless, much like the plains of western America, but the game is very linear, keeping the player focused on a single path towards the next challenge while enhancing the story. Picture a Western with a central frontier town with each of the game’s levels/goals structured to have you ride out into classic Canyon, desert, or even forest settings. This would lend the game a feeling of freedom without sacrificing the necessary reins on story direction, keeping the game from the classic GTA failing of having the story and play feel disconnected.

I sincerely hope that Rockstar San Diego’s Red Dead Redemption learns from its predecessors failings. From the screens released today, the game certainly has the look down pat. But the game will live or die by how well it tells a story. Remember, Rockstar San Diego: rein it in. Then maybe videogames will finally have its great Western.

Related links:

Grand Theft Auto IV's Post-Game Purgatory
The GTAIV DLC: Does Anyone Still Care?
The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto 4

New Year’s Resolutions For a Few Of Our Favorite Publishers

John Constantine — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:30:00 GMT

Now, to close out the first full week of 2009, we will do for videogame publishers what we did for console makers: we will tell them how to live their sordid, godforsaken lives! You’d think developers would make the list, but no. No, I tend to trust them, so they will be left to their own devices, free from the crushing logic of advice from 61 Frames Per Second.

In 2009, the following folks should resolve to do the following things:

EA – Stick to your guns and keep investing in new IP. 2008 was good stuff, Riccitello. Keep promoting Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space, they will find their audience. And EA Sports? How about SSX4 already.

Capcom – Resolve to support Dark Void with an aggressive marketing campaign and release it during the summer. Do not let this one die during the holiday rush. Also, Street Fighter III HD Remix. You know it would be sweet.

Atari – Do not release Ghosbusters until it is perfect.

Namco – Push Klonoa like you have never pushed a game in your entire lives. Tell people it will make them lose weight, tell them it will make them smarter. And knock it off with the nickel-and-dime DLC already, what is this, 2006?

Square-Enix – S-E, I want you to go out tomorrow, hop on a train, and pay Jupiter Games a visit. You cut them a check, and you tell them to make whatever they can imagine. The people who made The World Ends With You should be allowed to make whatever they like.

Konami – Release a press statement claiming you were forced to make Rock Revolution at gun point.

Midway – Um. Hang in there?

Activision – Give Neversoft the vacation they so desperately need and deserve.

Atlus – More PS1 reprints!

Take-Two – If Bioshock 2 looks stupid, don’t be afraid to cancel it.

Ubisoft – Release Beyond Good & Evil 2 by the end of the year. Please. PLEASE!

XSEED – Keep on keepin’ on, you guys. Can’t believe you actually localized Retro Game Master. Just awesome.

Tecmo-Koei – No Dynasty Warriors: Dead or Alive games. Just don’t. I know you're thinking about it.

SEGA – Disband Sonic Team. It’s over. Enough.

And that about covers it. Happy New Year, everyone.

Related links:

Microsoft’s New Year’s Resolution
Nintendo’s New Year’s Resolution
Sony’s New Year’s Resolution
Virtual Console New Year's Resolutions

61 Frames Per Second : take two

Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right

New Year’s Resolutions For a Few Of Our Favorite Publishers