bluegargantua

Hey,

So, Red Dead Redemption is Rockstar's new open-world western game. Everyone else has said it's fantastic.

It's pretty fantastic.

One of the things you can do is go hunting. An animal pops up out of the brush and you can pull out your rifle and shoot it. Then you can go up to the body, hit a button and there's this cut scene where you skin and gut the animal. The hides and meat can be sold for cash in towns.

If it moves you can kill it and if it's not human you can butcher it for valuable prizes. You suddenly get a sense for how easy it was to wipe out buffalo or passenger pigeons even when it seemed inexhaustible. It also makes you feel supremely sorry for horses in this game. They carry you all over the terrain and they're a lot of fun to ride around on. But when a horse dies, well, don't want to let that meat go to waste. And your own mount is standing there watching you chop up it's equine brethren and knowing at the end of its days, it'll be next.

I have yet to butcher any horse that's been my mount, but that day is coming...just as surely as the day is coming when I'm going to leave some hog-tied unfortunate on the tracks for the train to run over.

But in the main, this game is awesome. There have been times when the quality of light, and the broad vistas have made me terribly homesick. Well worth your time and money.

later
Tom

(p.s.