There has never really been a Wild West game made before for Xbox 360 or PS3, which is one reason gamers and critics alike looked forward to the release of Red Dead Redemption. There was a lot of media buzz and talk amongst gamers about the game. Many thought it would be great, many others thought it could not possibly live up to the hype. Suffice it to say, Red Dead Redemption more than satisfied the gaming community.

Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar Games, producers of the legendary GTA series, also made Red Dead Redemption. The engine is basically the same, with the same sort of gun controls, and a similar cover system. The games are also similar in the freedom presented to the player. In Red Dead Redemption, you can literally do whatever you want. You can follow the main storyline, or you can just mess around until you get bored – which won’t be for quite a while, considering all this game has to offer. For instance, if you don’t feel like doing a storyline mission, you can simply wander the massive map, looking for things to do. You can hunt, participate in contests, collect herbs, rescue (or kill) damsels in distress, and much, much more.

The Red Dead Redemption graphics are absolutely phenomenal. You can be entertained just by riding around the map, looking at the surroundings. You will notice as you continue in the game that as time moves on, so do your surroundings. If you are wandering around at night, you will notice the light from the moon lighting your way through the shadows. When dawn approaches, you will notice a glow coming from the east, and you can even watch the sunrise if you want. The horse graphics are very good, despite the fact that that part of the engine had to be completely re-done, as GTA’s vehicle engine simply could not adapt to the western setting.

Red Dead Redemption is rated M, and for good reason. This is not a game you want your young kids to be playing. Between the massive bloodbath battles and the hogtying of innocent civilians, this is not really a “family appropriate” game. Just like GTA, getting drunk in this game is not only possible, but also very fun. But be careful – drink too much and you may pass out! Or, maybe you’ll just get into a fistfight with the entire bar.

One of my favorite parts of this game is that you can choose your path. With Red Dead Redemption’s Honor system, every choice you make affects the future of your game. If you save civilians and do the main missions, your honor will be high, and you will receive benefits such as discounts at stores. If you kill innocents and break the law with people watching, you will loose honor, essentially starting the path to evil.

The Good:
-Amazing graphics
-Hours and hours of gameplay (20+ hrs JUST for the main storyline)
-Detailed and fun storyline
-Sandbox gameplay
-Ability to choose your destiny
-Good selection of weapons, outfits, horses, etc.
-Great replay value
-Huge map, lots to explore

The Bad
-Hunting/gathering gets boring quick
-Auto-aim makes gameplay too easy

The Ugly
-A few minor glitches

OVERALL: 9.5/10

Nazi Zombies, a popular sub-game of Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War, is easy to begin and nearly impossible to master. If you have never played before and are wondering how it works, or if you play often and would like a competitive edge, check below for some Nazi Zombie tips.

Remember when 50 Cent released that crappy game Bullet Proof? I sure do, it was one of the crappiest games I had ever played. But his new game 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is quite impressive. Of course 50 Cent didn’t forget to put his taste in the game, he is the main character, along with G unit. The story takes place in the Middle East. 50 and the crew are promised to be paid with a crystal skull, which gets stolen. I didn’t know our economic problems had pushed us this far back to bartering.

Of course the game has sick fights, and cursing. It’s not all about 50 Cent though; G unit also does some action in this game, they fight alongside 50 on his crazy adventure to find his crystal skull. But of course, what would a game about 50 Cent be, without the 50 Cent music. The game features over 50 tracks from rappers albums. So if you think about it, you’re getting a nice deal here, a couple of 50 Cent albums, and a game.

The in-game graphics remind me Gears of War and Crysis for some reason(Good thing). The graphics are pretty good, and if you are a graphics lover, you will want to play the game. It’s not one of those intense games, but it can look good on Low and High settings. The game does have some interesting parts as well though, like the strip clubs and environment make the game somewhat enjoyable. The artificial Intelligence is pretty stupid though, it needs some optimizing. Either these terrorist are new recruits, or they just suck. So the game is pretty easy, and I guess it’s true what they say about 50 and all those gunshots he can take, because it is hard to die in this game. Sometimes you may notice some weird defects in the game though. There are a couple of bugs in the game, but overall, it’s a fun game to play. The story line is pretty stupid as well, waste all this money, just to get a stupid skull back, if you just want to have fun, get the game. When you’re bored and its 12 A.M. you’re going to want to play. Overall however, it’s not a game I recommend buying, because it just gets boring quick, I do recommend renting it, because it is fun.

The second part of the Call of Duty range is Call of Duty 2. Released in 2005, the game hasn’t aged much and is still great fun, and a great game to play!

Gameplay

Single player follows the same campaign-style setup as many games of its time, with the player being able to play as Private Vasili Ivanovich Koslov, Sergeant John Davis and Corporal Bill Taylor.

The three main campaign settings that the player takes on are set in North Africa, Battle of Normandy with the finale in the Crossing of the Rhine. The North Africa campaign sees you playing as the British soldier, Sergeant John Davis, fighting against the Germans taking on their HQ and strategic points they hold. The Battle of Normandy part of the campaign allows the player to take part in D-Day at the assault of Point-De-Hoc, and goes on to destroy strategic points in the German line-up. The final main campaign section, the Crossing of the Rhine (playing as an American), which is another round of anti-German fighting, it would seem, that ends with you having to defeat 2 German Tiger I’s.

Single player mode is relatively easy to complete in the easiest setting, but when you increase this you have to get a lot more tactical in order to win the game, or you just get blown away!

Multiplayer mode isn’t as great as the later versions of this game, mainly due to the capabilities not been in place when it was released. None the less, it does feature a useable online-multiplayer system for PC gaming and for Xbox 360 gaming. Here, players can choose to be American, British or Soviet soldiers to take on other players, on many different maps available from the campaign locations featured in single player mode.

Popularity

Call of Duty 2 has been met with good reviews from the gaming community, with the following excellent ratings:

• Metacritic gave the PC version 86/100 and the Xbox version 89/100
• IGN gave the Xbox version a highly respected 9/10
• A Gamespot reviewer gave it 8.8/10 (and 10/10 for sound!)

A rather amazing figure released by Douglass C. Perry stated that 77% of people that bought an Xbox 360, also bought Call of Duty 2!

Best Bits

• Very aggressive computer enemies.
• Really makes you feel like you are in there in the war.
• Multiplayer good fun.
• Varied campaign.