Red Dead Redemption : Online Critique

This is not a review of the game because I have not played much of the main campaign, but I should since it is so amazing. Instead, it is more a critique of the online mode. Consider this post to be more a wish list of what should have been included in the online mode of Red Dead Redemption. If you do not have a good grasp on what the campaign offers, here is a small view into the western world Rockstar Games created for us.


-Bounty Hunting
-Cattle Rustling
-Random Bandit Attacks/Highway Robberies
-Poker/Gambling
-Stores/Population
-And much more (Remember I have only played the campaign for about one - two hours, so we can only imagine how much there is to do)

All of these addicting activities create one of the best western environments to enjoy, but all of the previously mentioned activities are not included in online gameplay. I have really thought about why the Rockstar Developers would have decided to not include any of these aspects; however, I cannot produce any solid reason why. They could have easily integrated every of the previously mentioned events into a seamless online experience.

One of the largest mistakes in online is the lack of NPCs in town. It seems like you have a better chance of finding people just riding out in the desert on paths than in small villages and cities. I do not understand why that happened at all. This problem does not ruin the experience, but it definitely takes away from it. There is no excuse why there is only a small handful of people populating the towns.

As for a fun bounty hunting system, they should have incorporated a system that gives missions to hunt down NPCs as well as a mode where you can hunt down other players. However, in order to hunt other players the option would only be available when a player becomes a public enemy or something similar to that, more or less.

Cattle Rustling would just be a tiny activity that would be an entertaining as a small side mission. I do not expect some detailed mini-game; just a small activity to pass some time.

Random Bandit raids on towns would be something to think about. It would be just a spontaneous event that could help reduce monotony.

My bigger disappointment lies with the lack of the Poker System. Before we get into that, let me mention the lack of a money system. They integrated money to be the equivalent of experience points - this should not have been done. Experience should be experience and money should have been left as a currency. This money could have been used to buy whiskey, poker, and etc. Poker would have been a fun mode that would have been perfect for online gameplay. Why not integrate money? The money could be used to buy larger ammo capacities and small commodities (but not guns/mounts/skins).

I think we covered stores in the last section. All of these activities seem like it would be obvious to include; leaving them out of it makes no sense. I have spoken to a handful of others players in-game, and all of them have agreed that these changes take away from the value of online. It is also a shame that free roam activities (gang hideouts) yield all the points and other modes (free-for all/deathmatch) offer such a small amount of points - it is literally worthless. I think the comparison is close to 1000-2000 points possible in free roam as opposed to 50-100 points in deathmatch/etc. What a joke. (Technically, it depends on how many kills you get Travvy poo).

In a little more than two days I was able to reach level 34 and pretty much accomplish everything I wanted to, to the point where I was bored and completely over online mode. Do not overlook online gameplay though, because with friends it is a lot of fun. It just seems like the activities are so limited that everyone will quickly move back to the campaign or to a completely different video game. I know I have. In a sense this is a tragedy because the gameplay is a solid and unique experience that I genuinely really like, but without a large variance in activities, I find nothing keeping me hooked. The only review like comment I will say is do not buy this game solely for the purpose of online gameplay. Now I do not know the logistics of the time period, but I do believe they have left out the Indians. I mean the legit bow wielding Indians...WTF.